Steve Bannon, who has quite a reputation as a Trump loyalist, took a U-turn from his usual stance. During his recent appearance on Eric Bolling’s show of the same name, Bannon questioned United States Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s big announcement that Qatar will be granted access to an air base in Idaho by the US military.
Much to everyone’s surprise, Bannon slammed Trump’s administration decision to allow a Qatari base in Idaho. He said during the interaction that he has “no idea what’s going on. No foreign power should have a military base on the sacred soil of America. Full stop.”
Bannon added during the podcast, “With the Article 5 protection he gave to Qatar, I throw it back to this is part of the price we’re paying for the Israel First crowd, the Tel Aviv Levins and others, that had support for [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu. This whole thing is so s—–d up,” he added.
Bannon criticized Pete Hegseth’s decision on multiple platforms. In an interview with UnHerd, Steve Bannon commented, “MAGA is about America First and American citizens first.” The former chief advisor to Trump, added, “Having a military base of a foreign power is against MAGA principles.”
Pete Hegseth’a big announcement arrived post a meeting on the sidelines of a Pentagon event with Qatari Minister of Defense Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman al-Thani and Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. With discussions about Mountain Home Air Force Base taking centerstage.
Hegseth, announcing the developments of the meeting, said, “The location will host a contingent of Qatari F-15s and pilots to enhance our combined training, increase, lethality, interoperability. It’s just another example of our partnership, and I hope you know, your Excellency, that you can count on us.”
The backlash notwithstanding, Pete Hegseth shared another update on his X handle to clear out the confusion surrounding the announcement. “Important clarification: The U.S. military has a long-standing partnership w/ Qatar, including today’s announced cooperation w/ F-15QA aircraft. However, to be clear, Qatar will not have their own base in the United States—nor anything like a base. We control the existing base, like we do with all partners,” Pete Hegseth wrote in an X post.
Important clarification:
The U.S. military has a long-standing partnership w/ Qatar, including today’s announced cooperation w/ F-15QA aircraft. However, to be clear, Qatar will not have their own base in the United States—nor anything like a base. We control the existing base,…
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) October 10, 2025
The clarification post from Pete Hegseth also drew a lot of flak. “If you need to clarify a foreign military partnership on your own soil you’ve already lost the plot,” a user commented on Pete’s post. Another one wrote, “Seriously, this admin really needs to make sure they have their statements ready before speaking. It’s almost continual corrections, retractions, updates, etc. What you are saying here is materially different than what was stated during the meeting.”
Some users even reminded Pete of Trump’s 2017 statements against Qatar. “Long- standing partnerships?? Trump’s words in 2017 –‘The nation of Qatar, unfortunately, has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level. We have to stop the funding of terrorism’,” a user added on X.
The US Secretary of War, no stranger to controversies, always finds a way or two to occupy headline space. He recently released a long list of directives for military troops. Among these were bans on beards and any other tools of self-expression. Pete’s long list of dos and don’ts had a section of the Internet fuming and reminding him of his own controversial tattoos. Pete Hegseth is known to have multiple controversial far-right association tattoos. The subjects of his tattoos are seemingly potential white supremacy symbols. He also has a large Jerusalem cross on his chest.
