Former White House strategist Steve Bannon has been helping to form an Irish “national party” as he works “behind the scenes” on what he described as “the Irish situation”, he said in an interview.
The Donald Trump ally, whose anti-EU rhetoric previously included an expressed desire “to drive a stake through the Brussels vampire”, told the Politico news website that there would soon be an “Irish Trump”.
Mr Bannon, who hosts the War Room podcast and retains influence in the grassroots of the Maga (Make American Great Again) movement of Trump-supporting populists, is quoted as supporting the new US national security strategy – and its claim that Europe is headed for “civilisational erasure”.
The official strategy document calls for “cultivating resistance” to Europe’s “current trajectory” and has met with criticism in Europe.
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Mr Bannon is cited as saying the strategy was “pleasantly shocking that it was so explicit,” particularly the document’s prioritisation of support for so-called “patriotic European parties”.
In relation to Ireland, Mr Bannon said: “I’m spending a ton of time behind the scenes on the Irish situation to help form an Irish national party.”
He said the Maga movement was being mirrored by groups in Ireland, Britain, France and Italy.
“They’re going to have an Irish Maga, and we’re going to have an Irish Trump. That’s all going to come together, no doubt. That country is right on the edge thanks to mass migration,” he said.
