Steve Bannon has warned that the US decision to host a Qatari air base in Idaho violates MAGA principles.

On Friday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a finalised agreement that will allow the Qatari Emiri Air Force to build a facility at the Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho. It will also allow Qatari pilots to receive training alongside US soldiers.

In exclusive comments to UnHerd, Bannon strongly criticised the decision. “MAGA is about America First and American citizens first,” the former chief advisor to President Trump said. “Having a military base of a foreign power is against MAGA principles.”

Bannon’s comments come amid a growing chorus of MAGA criticism. Yesterday, MAGA activist and Trump ally Laura Loomer threatened to pull her 2026 midterm vote over the decision. “I cannot in good conscience make any excuses for the harboring of jihadis,” she posted. “This is where I draw the line.” “America could have been so great,” she followed up. “Now we will be a Muslim country. This must be what hell feels like.”

Other conservative voices also weighed in. “Joe Biden was criticized for a Chinese balloon flying over our airspace,” wrote GOP consultant Mike Madrid. “They’re giving Qatar an entire f’ing air base.” “What’s the strategic rationale for this? Either ours or Qatar’s?” posted the National Review’s Noah Rothman. “You could rattle off all the problems/risks we’re inviting easily. But I have no idea what the steelman case for this would be? I’m sure we don’t need to import any more Qatari covert assets into this country.”

The backlash prompted Hegseth to clarify that the air base would remain under US jurisdiction after some commentators mistakenly suggested the decision meant hosting a foreign military base on US soil.

​​Dan Caldwell, former senior adviser to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, denied that the decision would amount to having a foreign military base on US soil. “The freak out around this is of course totally unwarranted since this is actually a pretty common practice with countries that buy and operate a lot of U.S. military aircraft,” he said. “Singapore has a similar facility and detachment for its F-15 training unit at this very same airbase.”

Trump’s ties with the Qatari leadership have been growing closer in recent months. Last month, he signed an executive order “assuring the security of the state of Qatar,” following Israel’s military strike in Doha, the country’s capital. The order declares that “the United States shall regard any armed attack on the territory, sovereignty, or critical infrastructure of the State of Qatar as a threat to the peace and security of the United States.” Qatar also played a “substantial” role in the Israel-Hamas peace deal, as Hegseth noted on Friday.

Most controversially, Trump’s decision to accept a luxury Boeing 747-8 jetliner from Qatar for Air Force One has raised ethical and national security questions. At the time, Loomer described it as a “stain” on his presidency.

Bannon remained uncompromising in his interview with UnHerd. “Qatar remains the railhead of the Muslim Brotherhood — no matter how much they are allied with us in ending the war in Gaza,” he said. “There cannot be a base, a facility, or even a hangar owned by Qatar — not one square meter of the sacred soil of America. Sell them fighter jets, assist them in maintenance, train their pilots, but not one inch of our soil — ever,” he said.