Steve Bannon demands John Thune's ouster as Senate Majority Leader 'betrays' Trump on voter ID bill

By CHARLIE SPIERING, US POLITICAL REPORTER Published: 22:02, 15 May 2026 | Updated: 22:07, 15 May 2026 Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon has called for Senate Republicans to remove Majority Leader John Thune from leadership. Bannon revealed his frustration with Thune in an exclusive preview of the Sean Spicer show set to air Friday evening. Bannon called it 'unacceptable' that the Senate was treating President Donald Trump as a 'lame duck.' Bannon specifically pointed to Thune's failure to force through Trump's Save America Act in the Senate, even while sending fundraising emails promising small donors that he was fighting to pass it. The SAVE Act, if passed through the Senate, would require American citizens to present proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. Thune has said he does not have the 51 votes necessary to pass the bill, angering Senate conservatives who want to push the President's signature legislation through. Bannon called Thune a 'holdover' from the team run by Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and said it was time for him to go. 'As a leader to me, he's failed the President, failed the party, and failed the country,' Bannon said. Steve Bannon, political strategist and host of Steve Bannon's War Room, speaks during the Semafor World Economy 2026 conference in Washington, DC, on April 16 Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) speaks during a news conference following a weekly Republican policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on May 12 Bannon, the host of his own War Room podcast, is famous for rallying populist nationalist grassroots activists toward important causes. Bannon confirmed in a statement to the Daily Mail that he was launching a 'call to action' to remove Thune. 'We are working now on making it happen - the only way to save the Senate,' he said. Bannon did not cite a potential Republican senator to replace Thune, but insisted it was time for him to be forced out of power. 'Anybody's going to be better than Thune,' he said. Republicans currently hold a slim Senate majority controlling 53 seats, but may lose their majority to Democrats in the midterm elections. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.