Steve Bannon unleashed on Ben Shapiro at TPUSA’s AmericaFest, calling him a “cancer” and a “hardcore never-Trumper” who undermined Trump in 2016 and backed Ron DeSantis—while Shapiro fired back, calling Bannon a “grifter” and defending his conservative credentials.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
PHOENIX — The ideological war within the conservative movement exploded at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest Friday, as Steve Bannon launched a fiery attack on Ben Shapiro, accusing him of being a “never-Trumper” and “Israel First” operative who “spreads like a cancer.”
Bannon’s Takedown
Bannon called out Shapiro during his speech, referencing Shapiro’s Thursday remarks where he criticized Candice Owens, Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson, and Bannon for failing to condemn “grifters” in the movement.
“Ben Shapiro is like a cancer, and that cancer spreads,” Bannon said. “He tried to take over Breitbart, and I ran him out of there. He tried to take over David Horowitz’s organization. He will make a move on Turning Point because he’s always been envious of Charlie Kirk.”
Bannon accused Shapiro of undermining Trump in 2016, supporting Ted Cruz, and jumping on the “Ron DeSantis train” after Trump’s 2020 loss.
“In the spring of ’16, he tried to upend Breitbart. He walked off the job, made a big deal about some incident in Mar-a-Lago with Corey Lewandowski,” Bannon said. “He called Breitbart ‘Trump Pravda’—and he was right. We had to be. There was no other news site supporting President Trump.”
Shapiro’s Response
Shapiro fired back in his Thursday speech, calling out “grifters and fraudsters“ and defending his record as a consistent conservative.
“When Steve Bannon accuses his foreign policy opponents of loyalty to a foreign country, he’s simply maligning people he disagrees with,” Shapiro said. “Which is indeed par for the course for a man who was once a PR flack for Jeffrey Epstein.”
Kelly and Carlson Weigh In
Megyn Kelly responded to Shapiro’s remarks, saying: “I found it kind of funny that Ben thinks he has the power to decide who gets excommunicated from the conservative movement, which shows a willful blindness about his position in it.”
Tucker Carlson also pushed back against Shapiro’s criticism of his Nick Fuentes interview, defending his journalistic approach.
The Core Divide
Bannon framed the conflict as a struggle for the soul of the movement: “This is not about speech. It’s not about deplatforming. This is about power politics and what Charlie Kirk believed in to the core of his being—that America makes decisions for America, and Americans make decisions for America.”
What’s Next?
The public feud highlights deep divisions between Trump-aligned populists and traditional conservatives like Shapiro. As TPUSA’s AmericaFest continues, the debate over the movement’s future—pro-Trump nationalism vs. limited-government conservatism—rages on.
“The conservative movement is at a crossroads,” a TPUSA attendee said. “Do we follow Bannon’s populism or Shapiro’s principles? That’s the question.”
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