'We'll take US back from the globalist elites'

Steve Bannon

STEVE Bannon, the White House chief strategist, vowed the Trump administration would fight to take the US back from "corporatist, globalist" elites in rare public comments at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

Mr Bannon prefers to operate behind the scenes, but his fingerprints are all over President Donald Trump's speeches and policy initiatives, making him an enigmatic, even feared figure in Washington.

But the message was clear yesterday from the former executive at Breitbart News, the Right-wing website.

"If you think they're going to give you your country back without a fight, you're sadly mistaken," Mr Bannon said of the media, warning that relations between the White House and the "opposition party" would only get worse.

Mr Bannon said Mr Trump was intent on implementing policies outlined in his campaign speeches.

The chief strategist said: "He's laid out an agenda with those speeches, with the promises he made, and our job every day is just to execute on that. And he's maniacally focused on that."

He said nationalism would be at the heart of every decision Mr Trump made in office.

"The centre core of what we believe - that we're a nation with an economy, not an economy just in some global marketplace with open borders, but we are a nation with a culture and a reason for being, I think that's what unites us," he said.

Mr Bannon (below) shared the stage with Reince Priebus, Mr Trump's chief of staff.

There has been intense speculation about their relationship, with reports abounding that the insurgent Mr Bannon was "at war" with the more mainstream Mr Priebus, but they insisted they are "dear friends" and partners in enacting Mr Trump's agenda.

"Hold us accountable," Mr Bannon said to the overwhelmingly pro-Trump audience.

Mr Bannon pledged that Mr Trump would doggedly pursue every proposal made during the campaign - dashing the hopes of many establishment Republicans who had hoped that would not be the case.

"We're at the top of the first inning in this and it's going to take just as much fight, just as much focus and just as much determination" as winning the White House, he said.

Telegraph.co.uk