Steve Bannon retaliates against 'destructive' George Bush

Our Foreign Staff
Updated
Steve Bannon speaks at the California Republican Convention in Anaheim, California  - FR170512 AP
Steve Bannon speaks at the California Republican Convention in Anaheim, California - FR170512 AP

Former White House advisor Steve Bannon depicted former President George W. Bush as bumbling and inept, faulting him for presiding over a "destructive" presidency during his time in the White House.

Mr Bannon's scathing remarks on Friday night amounted to a retort to a speech by Mr Bush in New York earlier this week, in which the 43rd president denounced bigotry in American politics in the era of Donald Trump and warned that the rise of "nativism," isolationism and conspiracy theories have clouded the nation's true identity.

But Mr Bannon, speaking to a capacity crowd at a California Republican Party convention, said Mr Bush had embarrassed himself and didn't know what he was talking about.

Mr Bannon said Mr Bush has no idea whether "he is coming or going, just like it was when he was president."

"There has not been a more destructive presidency than George Bush's," Mr Bannon added, as boos could be heard in the crowd at the mention of Mr Bush's name.

The remarks came during a speech thick with attacks on the Washington status quo, echoing his call for an "open revolt" against establishment Republicans.

He called the "permanent political class" one of the great dangers faced by the country.

A small group of protesters gathered outside the hotel where Mr Bannon spoke, chanting and waving signs - one displaying a Nazi swastika.

The protesters were kept behind steel barricades on a plaza across an entrance road at the hotel, largely out of view of people entering for the event. No arrests were reported.

A man protests outside the California Republican Convention - Credit: AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu
A man protests outside the California Republican Convention Credit: AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu

Mr Bannon also took aim at the Silicon Valley and its "lords of technology," predicting that tech leaders and progressives in the state would try to secede from the union in 10 to 15 years.

He called the threat to break up the nation a "living problem."

He also tried to cheer long-suffering California Republicans, in a state that Mr Trump lost by over 4 million votes and where Republicans have become largely irrelevant in state politics.

In Orange County, where the convention was held, several Republican House members are trying to hold onto their seats in districts carried by Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential contest.

"You've got everything you need to win," he told them.