Steve Bannon says Trump needs to get off Truth Social and focus on policy battles: 'You've got to get better'

• Steve Bannon criticized former President Donald Trump on his podcast on Friday, Newsweek reported.
• He said his old boss needs to "get off the Truth," referring to the social-media site Truth Social.

Steve Bannon criticized former President Donald Trump on Friday for spending too much time on social media and not enough time on policy battles, Newsweek reported.

"You've got to get off the Truth," Trump's ex-advisor said, seemingly referring to Truth Social, per Newsweek.

Speaking on an episode of his "War Room" podcast, Bannon was discussing the negotiations over the "omnibus" spending bill in Congress that, if passed, would fund government agencies through to September 30, 2023.

Democrats want to pass a bill of over $1.5 trillion by December 16, when current government funding expires, whereas some Republicans aren't happy with the costs.

Reuters reported that California Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the Republican nominee for the next Speaker of the House, has been pushing for spending cuts. Earlier this week, Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama told reporters that Democrats and Republicans are about $25 billion apart in negotiations, per Reuters.

Bannon, formerly a Trump advisor, said the bill would "kill the economy" and suggested it was a policy battle that his former boss would be better off focusing on instead of spending his time messaging on Truth Social, according to Newsweek.

"The president and Mar-a-Lago, you've got to get the game up. You've got to get better. It's just not good enough right now," Bannon said, per Newsweek. "I hate to be so brutally frank, but we're fighting for the country. You've got to get off the Truth, got to get engaged in these battles up here right now because that sets the stage for your second term."

In a statement to Newsweek, Bannon said that Trump should "go all-in to defeat" by focusing on several conservative priorities.

Insider contacted Bannon's podcast team for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Trump founded Truth Social in October 2021 after he was banned from Facebook and Twitter following the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. It launched in February 2022, and since then, the former president has used it to share QAnon posts, peddle false election-fraud claims, and attack the FBI over their search of Mar-a-Lago.