Steve Bannon slams Howard Lutnick’s media – Business News
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon piled onto mounting criticism that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is making too many flubs during his media appearances.
Bannon, who served as strategist during Trump’s first administration, argued that Lutnick needs to be yanked from tv, for the reason that White House wants a unified message on its commerce coverage.
“I don’t know why Lutnick’s still doing media. Let me be blunt,” Bannon mentioned Monday on his podcast “War Room.”
President Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick unveiled the plan for “reciprocal” tariffs on April 2. REUTERS
“I think he’s close to being an unmitigated disaster. We should see a lot less of Lutnick on TV,” he added.
He praised different members of the administration, significantly Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, for being selective on which media interviews they settle for.
“We have to have a clear message so people understand what the process is,” Bannon mentioned.
Lutnick, who was confirmed to the important thing Cabinet position in February, has grow to be a go-to on President Trump’s tariffs – however he’s provided conflicting opinions on topics and made varied fake pas on stay tv.
“There is a way to have a trading order that puts America first and puts American citizens first and most important starts to bring back high-value added manufacturing to the United States,” Bannon mentioned.
“And no, Howard Lutnick, it’s not all going to be done by robots. We’re not doing this so we can set up some robots to have a better life,” Bannon mentioned.
It was a dig at one of Lutnick’s most up-to-date blunders, made whereas chatting with Fox News host Jesse Waters earlier this month.
“What’s going to happen is robotics are going to replace the cheap labor that we’ve seen all across the world,” Lutnick informed Waters.
Steve Bannon mentioned Lutnick ought to stop doing media appearances. ZUMAPRESS.com
“Our high school-educated people, they’re gonna train to do robotics mechanics. It’s kind of like a supercharged BMW mechanic. You just can fix those robots,” Lutnick continued.
The commerce secretary, previously the chief government of Cantor Fitzgerald, has additionally backtracked a number of of his statements – first promising there can be no recession, then including that if there was a recession, it might be “worth it.”
Lutnick has made different questionable remarks during his media appearances, like insinuating that solely “fraudsters” would complain about a lacking Social Security examine, or encouraging Fox News viewers to buy Tesla stock.
His TV appearances have been so difficult for the White House that he was requested to curb them final month, The Wall Street Journal reported final week.
Lutnick’s TV appearances have been so difficult for the White House that he was requested to curb them, in accordance with a report. REUTERS
Billionaire hedge fund supervisor Bill Ackman has publicly criticized the commerce secretary’s feedback, particularly his indifference as US shares tanked final week.
“I just figured out why @howardlutnick is indifferent to the stock market and the economy crashing,” Ackman wrote in a post on X. “He and Cantor are long bonds. He profits when our economy implodes.”
“It’s a bad idea to pick a Secretary of Commerce whose firm is levered long fixed income. It’s an irreconcilable conflict of interest,” he continued, although he later walked back the feedback in one other social media post.
