NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. ― A few days after President Donald Trump drew rebukes for calling the media the “enemy of the American people,” his top strategist Steve Bannon showed no sign that the White House was willing to reconsider its feud with the press.
Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference alongside White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus on Thursday, Bannon warned the situation between the administration and the fourth estate will only get worse.
“If you think they’re going to give you your country back without a fight, you’re sadly mistaken,” Bannon said. “Every day there is going to be a fight.”
Bannon denounced the “corporatist, globalist media” for being “adamantly opposed to an economic nationalist agenda” the president is pushing. He repeated a reference to the media as the “opposition party,” and bashed it for being “always wrong” about the workings of the administration.
Priebus agreed with the sentiment, adding that he hoped the relationship between the press and the White House would improve.
“It’s going to get worse,” Bannon said.
Bannon and Priebus laughed off reports of a power struggle between themselves, complimenting each other in their respective roles in the White House.
“I run a little hot on occasions,” Bannon said, tipping his hat to Priebus for what he said was “steady” leadership.
Bannon said a major goal of Trump’s presidency, along with renegotiating trade deals and securing the border, was the total “deconstruction of the administrative state.” He vowed that Trump would repeal hundreds of regulations imposed by Barack Obama’s administration.
“The mainstream media better understand something: All of those promises are going to be implemented,” Bannon said.
He closed out the panel by calling on the hundreds of conservative activists gathered at the conference to “hold us accountable to what we promised.”