MAGA podcaster Steve Bannon is calling on President Donald Trump to nix support for Ukraine after it carried out a surprise drone attack in Russia that blindsided the White House.
The attack inflicted $7 billion in damage on Sunday and destroyed a third of Russia’s strategic bomber fleet. Ukrainian said the strike had been in the works for over 18 months.
Bannon, one of Trump’s closest confidants, commended Ukraine for executing the attack. However, he was not pleased that it occurred without Trump’s knowledge, as the White House revealed on Monday.
“The White House has to condemn this immediately and pull all support,” Bannon said on his War Room podcast Monday.
Bannon said Kyiv should have notified Trump of the escalation. He said the supposed betrayal, which he claims has brought the United States closer to war with Russia, must have consequences for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“If they did not give us a heads up on this, full stop, no minerals deal—walk away from all of it,” he said. “They’re irresponsible. They’re dragging us into a kinetic third world war.”
The podcaster, who served as a White House adviser during Trump’s first term, went so far as to suggest that Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of Kyiv’s most prominent backers in Congress, should be arrested if he does not stop traveling overseas and “stirring it up” in Ukraine.
Bannon theorized that Graham, instead of the president, may have given Ukraine the green light to attack deep into Russia.
“Lindsey Graham’s over there saying: ‘Hey, forget Trump. I got the House and the Senate. We’re going to pass it. You’re going to see something in a couple of days.’ Remember that? He’s stirring it up over there,” Bannon said. “He’s telling them they got backing.”
Ukraine reportedly carried out its attack by smuggling drones across the Russian border in wooden crates. They were then deployed simultaneously to attack five airbases, including the Belaya airbase in the far-east Irkutsk region, 2,500 miles away from Ukraine.
Bannon said he is not convinced that the attack did not involve U.S. intelligence. If Russia reaches a similar conclusion, he fears the three-year-old conflict could soon include America.
“This is a ticking time bomb,” Bannon said. “And you see what they’re going to get us into. Because now we’re now, inexorably, we’re being drawn into this.”
Trump campaigned last year on a promise to end the war between Ukraine and Russia on day one of his presidency. That promise has fallen flat, as have any peace negotiations brokered by U.S. officials. The latest instance of talks falling through occurred on Monday, when a scheduled meeting between Russia and Ukraine to discuss peace in Turkey was brief, with no agreement reached.
“You’re supposed to be in Turkey today talking peace,” Bannon said Monday, “not 3000 miles into Russia, blowing up their strategic bombers.”
