Steve Bannon reportedly joked to a friend that Trump is 'like an 11-year-old child'

AP Photo/Gerald Herbert

Steve Bannon.

• Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon told friends and advisers that President Donald Trump has "lost a step" and is "like an 11-year-old child," according a Vanity Fair report.
• Trump and Bannon still reportedly speak regularly over the phone.

Since his exit from the White House in August, former chief strategist Steve Bannon has reportedly noticed a marked decline in President Donald Trump's performance, joking the president is "like an 11-year-old child," according to a new report from Vanity Fair.

Bannon, who is now back at the helm as executive chairman of Breitbart News, made the joke about Trump's mental state to a friend, saying he believes the presidential office has taken a toll on him. Bannon also told advisers he thinks the president has "lost a step," Vanity Fair reported.

Bannon left the White House in the wake of Trump's equivocal comments on the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which were reportedly made on Bannon's advice. Since then, the former chief strategist has reportedly stayed in touch with the president and the two speak multiple times a week, according to The Washington Post.

But Bannon reportedly feels more at ease in his current role than he did in the Trump administration.

"It was always a job," he said, according to Vanity Fair. "I realize in hindsight I was just a staffer, and I'm not a good staffer. I had influence, I had a lot of influence, but just influence. I have power. I can actually drive things in a certain direction."