Steve Bannon has slammed Donald Trump’s decision to allow a Qatari military facility to be built on US soil.
Bannon, a former political strategist in Trump’s first administration, criticized Friday’s announcement as ‘messed up’ during a podcast with fellow commentator Eric Bolling.
‘This whole thing is so screwed up,’ he said.
‘I have no clue what’s happening, and I’m confident we’ll eventually learn more… This situation is part of the consequences we’re facing from the Israel First group and those who supported Netanyahu.’
On Friday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth revealed that the government reached an agreement with Qatar to construct a facility at an Air Force base in Idaho.
Hegseth, making the announcement alongside Qatari Defense Minister Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani’s visit, stated that the facility will ‘accommodate a unit of Qatari F-15s and pilots to boost our joint training, increase combat effectiveness, and interoperability.’
Qatar, which hosts the biggest US military base in the Middle East, said in a statement it will cover the costs of building the training facility.
‘This will not be a Qatari air base,’ the spokesman for the embassy in Washington said in a statement posted on X.
Steve Bannon , who served as a political strategist in Trump’s first administration, said Friday’s announcement was ‘screwed up’
Trump has worked hard to improve relations with Qatar (pictured with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani) and has faced criticism over his deals
‘Instead, Qatar has committed initially for 10 years to build and manage an exclusive facility on a current US air base, aimed at advanced training and improving cooperation in defending and expanding our shared global interests.’
The Qatari defense minister hailed the ‘strong, enduring partnership’ and ‘deep defense relationship’ shared by the two countries.
However, Bannon contended that the decision still harms America. He consistently called for Trump to prioritize an America-first policy rather than addressing issues in the Middle East and Ukraine.
‘That shows you the price we’re paying for this blind following of the Israel First crowd,’ he said.
Though the Idaho facility for Qatar had apparently been in the works since the last administration of Democrat Joe Biden, Bannon wasn’t the only Trump ally to criticize the deal.
Staunch Trump advocate Laura Loomer called the plan ‘an abomination’ and accused the Qataris of being associated with Islamic terror organizations.
‘No foreign country should have a military base on US soil. Especially Islamic countries,’ Loomer wrote in one of several social media posts just hours after Hegseth’s announcement.
‘So what plans does the Department of War have to stop the inevitable construction of militarized Muslim Brotherhood Mosques all over Idaho to accommodate the animalistic, Qatari terrorist invaders our government is now forcing upon the majority white, Christian state of Idaho?’ she wrote in another scathing X post.
‘Just wait till one of those Qataris walks into a church and guns down Americans once they are on US soil. Does this mean the call to prayer will be broadcasted in Idaho five times a day?’
Bannon is a longtime Trump advocate, but has been at odds with him over his handling of Israel and Qatar
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced on Friday the government had reached an agreement with Qatar to build a facility at an Air Force base in Idaho. He was pictured with Qatar’s defense minister for the announcement
Qatar says it will not be a Qatari military base, but will be a training ground within a US base (pictured)
Loomer, 32, also previously slammed the Trump Administration for accepting Qatar’s gift of a luxury Boeing jet earlier this year.
‘I have to call a spade a spade. We cannot accept a $400 million ‘gift’ from jihadists in suits,’ she wrote at the time.
On Friday morning, she slammed Republicans for continuing to ‘Islamify our country and continu[ing] to allow funders of Islamic terrorism from Qatar to come into our country when they have a documented history of funding Islamic terror.’
She said she would forfeit voting in 2026 and ‘encourage’ others not to vote if the GOP continues in this manner.
