Utah governor snaps back at 'conflict entrepreneur' Steve Bannon over Kirk shooting response

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Independent

Sunday 14 September 2025 16:45 EDT


Utah’s governor is firing back at Steve Bannon and other Trump allies who are working to inflame passions and encourage rage among Republicans in response to the shooting death of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.

Governor Spencer Cox appeared on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday, where the Republican responded to criticism leveled against him by Bannon on his War Room podcast last week.

Formerly Donald Trump’s chief White House strategist, Bannon remains an insider in Trump’s orbit and continues to hold many connections to the White House. He’s a fixture at the annual CPAC event in National Harbor, Maryland, and is a leader of the populist and strongman-friendly wing of the Trump-allied conservative movement.

This past week, Bannon derided Cox as a “national embarrassment” as the Utah governor — whose own ties to the GOP fall under more traditional conservative lines through the influence of Mormonism in the state — called for peace and respectful dialogue across the aisle in the wake of Kirk’s assassination on a college campus on Wednesday.

Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/spencer-cox-steve-bannon-charlie-kirk-b2826329.html

[DFW]

1. Cox seems to be torn

On his own, he calls for peace and respectful dialogue across the aisle. One call from Trump later, and he does a 180°

I would ask which is it, but being a Republican, I'd get a different answer depending on the time of day, and which way the wind is blowing at that moment.

[johnnyfins]

2. Bannon is such a sewer rat

[MaineBlueBear]

3. National embarrassment

Takes one to know one.

[gopiscrap]

9. the entire Republican Party

is a national embarrassment

[OldBaldy1701E]

4. "...a leader of the populist and strongman-friendly wing of the Trump-allied conservative movement."

BBWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAWhat? 'Strong-man'??

(I hope that was a joke. Because it is, whether the writer knows it or not.)

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. Not a joke. Truth

The truth is not tRump. tRump is not a strong man, he is a "strongman" to some degree. He wants to be autocratic, a dictator, and he is behaving autocratically with limited success and a lot of push back. Desire and reality are not the same thing. tRump is a little senile and not strong.

The truth is Bannon wants him to behave more like a "strongman", despite tRump's physical weakness. Bannon wants tRump to be more authoritarian, more fascist. The Kirk / Bannon wing of the Con moment is very definitely "strongman-friendly".

[OldBaldy1701E]

6. Yes.

What I was referring to was the idea that any of them are 'strongmen'.

I think the term they were looking for is 'delusionalmen'...

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. Yes, you understand the truth behind what you wrote.

Along your lines, I sometimes write "wannabe strongman".

[OldBaldy1701E]

8. That is perfect! (n/t)