Report: MAGA’s Steve Bannon in early stages of 2028 presidential bid

Former White House adviser Steve Bannon is reportedly in the early stages of launching a 2028 presidential bid, according to the Daily Mail.

The Daily Mail reported on Thursday, citing “well-placed sources,” that Bannon has begun asking for political advice, though he is still contemplating a specific plan. One source also said that Bannon has privately criticized the prospect of Vice President JD Vance — who has not announced plans to run, but has been floated as a clear frontrunner in several recent polls — as the Republican nominee.

“Love him… but Vance is not tough enough to run in 2028,“ the source said Bannon has expressed to his inner circle, the outlet revealed.

Bannon declined to comment to the Daily Mail.

The report comes as President Donald Trump dubbed Vance as his “most likely” successor earlier this week, despite repeatedly joking about running for a third term.

Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked Trump on Tuesday if his vice president is “the heir apparent to MAGA,” and the president suggested that he would be a top contender. He also said that there are other potential candidates, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“Well, I think most likely, in all fairness, he’s the vice president. I think Marco is also somebody that maybe would get together with JD in some form,” Trump told reporters.

“I also think we have incredible people, some of the people on the stage right here. So it’s too early, obviously, to talk about it, but certainly he’s doing a great job. And he would be probably favored at this point,” he added.

In March, Bannon, one of the leading talking heads of Trump’s MAGA movement, told POLITICO that he doesn’t “think like a politician.”

“All I do is back President Trump and try to move the populist national agenda and the America First agenda,” Bannon, who hosts the “War Room” podcast, said.

When asked in the same interview about why he wouldn’t answer whether he would not be a 2028 candidate if Trump does not run, an unconstitutional idea that the MAGA firebrand has floated, he called the question “too absurd.”

Last October, Bannon completed a four-month sentence for defying a subpoena in the congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. After being released from federal prison, he immediately urged Republicans to turn out to defeat former Vice President Kamala Harris, who was the Democratic nominee at the time.

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