Trump dubbed 'chief magistrate' of the US by MAGA ally

MAGA podcaster Steve Bannon – who was President Donald Trump's chief White House strategist in his first term — told right-wing streaming channel Real America's Voice that the Project 2025 didn't happen overnight, but was "years in the making," and that President Donald Trump is "Chief Executive Officer" of the country and can do what he wants.

Bannon credits Project 2025 architect and Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought, along with Trump's deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, America First Policy Institute founder and current U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, Tea Party movement leader and former Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) and former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

"All these groups working together with really Miller and Russ and the Viceroy Mike Davis, saying 'We're gonna drive the narrative here on Article 2 powers of the president,'" Bannon said, referring to Article II of the U.S. Constitution that establishes the executive branch and outlines the powers and duties of the president.

Davis founded the Article III Project (A3P) in 2019, a conservative non-profit advocating for the appointment of right-leaning federal judges.

Bannon, who spoke alongside former senior Trump official Rep. Brian Harrison (R-TX), says that Trump is the "Chief Executive Officer of the country — that means he can fire who he wants — and the Appropriations Bill is a ceiling, not a floor. He can hold money back and pound money as Commander in Chief."

In a recent Wall Street Journalpiece on Trump feeling emboldened, Bannon "likened Congress to the Duma, the Russian assembly that is largely ceremonial.”

In the interview on Friday, Bannon goes on to say that Trump can pretty much do what he wants, though "that's the big challenge we've had," he says.

"He can repel invasions, he can go after our enemies, and most importantly, I think it's been so different, he is the chief magistrate and chief law-enforcement officer of the United States government, so the Justice Department and the FBI are not hermetically sealed away from the executive branch," Bannon says.

He also said they've only just begun to expand Trump's powers. "Everything we’re doing... It’s not gonna stop," Bannon said.