Far-right podcaster Steve Bannon's War Room took an X-rated turn Wednesday when guest Mike Davis, a Trump insider and founder of the Article III Project, called Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) a "p—" — twice.
"John Thune is such a p—, and he just proved it with that statement," Davis said, responding to a clip of Thune offering a hedged answer on whether acting Attorney General Todd Blanche would face a difficult Senate confirmation fight. "John Thune's a p—."
The eruption came hours after President Donald Trump announced at a White House dinner that he would formally nominate Blanche — his former personal lawyer who has served as acting AG since former Attorney General Pam Bondi was fired in April — to lead the Justice Department permanently.
Davis also defended Trump's appointment of Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence, a move announced Tuesday on Truth Social, pushing back against Republican senators who questioned Pulte's lack of intelligence experience.
"I like the fact that Bill Pulte is not part of the intelligence community," Davis said. "He's not James Clapper, for example, who had a career in the military and intel and then was able to weaponize the DNI against political enemies."
The attack on Thune fits a pattern. Bannon has been openly calling for Thune's removal as majority leader, predicting Republicans will lose the Senate in the 2026 midterms and blaming Thune's refusal to kill the filibuster to pass the Save America Act. When Trump endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, over Thune's ally Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) two weeks ago, Bannon called it "a vote of no confidence in John Thune."
Thune, for his part, has been increasingly willing to break with Trump publicly in recent weeks — including on the Pulte appointment itself, telling reporters: "We don't need a weaponized DNI, we need professionals there."
