Steve Bannon flips out after Trump's White House 'blinks' first on Minnesota ICE crackdown

One of President Donald Trump's closest allies flipped out on Monday after the president did another U-turn on the situation in Minneapolis.

Steve Bannon, a former White House advisor, said on his "War Room" podcast on Monday that Trump "blinked" in Minneapolis after the president and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, had "a very good call." Trump announced on Truth Social that he and Walz discussed how to work together on immigration operations in the state, and that the two leaders seemed to be "on a similar wavelength."

The administration also announced that Customs and Border Patrol commander, Greg Bovino, is also leaving Minneapolis, which some analysts have described as the Trump administration retreating.

Bannon raged at Trump's comments on his podcast.

"I don't think you can call this anything but the White House blinking," Bannon said. "That Walz called up Trump and slobbered all over him."

Trump's immigration tactics have been under increased scrutiny since he surged officers into Minneapolis, Minnesota, earlier this month. The administration sent the officers under the guise of combating social benefits fraud, but agents have largely been conducting operations that stretch constitutional bounds at best.

Two U.S. citizens have been killed by immigration operations since the surge began. Renee Good, 37, was gunned down just a few blocks from her home as she tried to drive away from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid just a few blocks from her home. An ICU nurse named Alex Pretti was also gunned down by masked agents at a protest last Saturday.

Bannon also took aim at Republicans for helping to fuel the crisis in Minneapolis.

"Republicans in Congress have sat there and allowed this to happen for year after year," Bannon said. "What did they do? They call [Alejandro] Mayorkas up a couple of times, and sent some strongly worded letters? They did nothing!"