'We blinked': Steve Bannon warns Trump looks weak after caving to GOP outrage

Criticism of the Trump Administration's immigration crackdown in Minneapolis grew even louder when, on Saturday, January 24, 37-year-old Alex Pretti — an intensive care unit (ICU) nurse in a Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital — was fatally shot by U.S. Border Patrol agents. Pretti's death followed the fatal shooting of another Minneapolis resident, unarmed motorist Renee Nicole Good, by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent less Jonathan Ross than three weeks earlier on January 7.

Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a scathing critic of the Minneapolis operation, spoke to President Donald Trump on the phone on Monday, January 26. Trump discussed the call on his Truth Social platform, posting, "Governor Tim Walz called me with the request to work together with respect to Minnesota. It was a very good call, and we, actually, seemed to be on a similar wavelength. I told Governor Walz that I would have Tom Homan call him, and that what we are looking for are any and all Criminals that they have in their possession. The Governor, very respectfully, understood that, and I will be speaking to him in the near future. He was happy that Tom Homan was going to Minnesota, and so am I!"

One far-right MAGA Republican who is not happy about that conversation is Steve Bannon, host of the "War Room" vodcast and former White House chief strategist in the first Trump Administration.

Bannon, on "War Room," argued that Trump "blinked" and made himself look weak by talking to Walz.

"We control the federal government: the House, the Senate, the executive branch — and we blinked," Bannon told viewers. "A bun of senators ran to the microphone: we've gotta deescalate. They're all going to wet themselves. This is a time for leaders, not politicians. President Trump, why has he been so powerful? Why has he won three terms? Why does the world pay attention? Because he's not a politician. And any time the White House staff tries to get him to act as a politician, we have cloudy days. Not sunny days, we have cloudy days. And we're having a cloudy day now."

Trump won two terms as president, not three — winning the 2016 and 2024 elections but losing to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. Bannon, however, claims, without evidence, that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.

The "War Room" host argued that because the United States is "in a civilizational struggle," there is no room for Trump to make any type of compromise.

"These are long fights," Bannon told viewers. "You're going to have days when it's very cloudy and overcast, and it doesn't feel like you can do anything."

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