Steve Bannon Warns $2 Trillion Deficit Strains Scott Bessent's 3-3-3 Plan

Steve Bannon said on Friday that the federal government's $2 trillion deficit puts pressure on the Trump administration's economic plan, calling a deficit near 6 percent of GDP "not sustainable." He said the deficit is still far above the 3 percent of GDP that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent set as a goal.

On War Room, Bannon claimed he had called the $2 trillion figure on September 30 of last year. "It's officially now a two trillion dollar deficit," he said. Then he asked his guest, economist Jim Rickards: "How can we avoid being France?"

The criticism came from inside the president's coalition. Bannon aimed it at the plan Bessent brought to the Treasury, not at Donald Trump by name.

Steve Bannon on the 3-3-3 Plan

After Rickards called the ratio of debt to GDP "the key thing" and said Bessent is working on it, Bannon answered with his own numbers.

"...the whole plan was three, three, three. Three percent inflation, three percent growth, and three percent deficit to GDP. I think we're still at 6%. The French are at 6%. That's not sustainable," Bannon said.

Bessent's plan, as he laid it out before taking office, called for cutting the deficit to 3 percent of GDP by 2028, raising real growth to 3 percent and adding the equivalent of 3 million barrels of oil a day to U.S. energy production, Fox Business reported. (The third target was oil output, not inflation.)

What the Deficit Numbers Show

Bannon offered his 6 percent figure as a guess. The record backs him up. The federal deficit for fiscal 2026, which ended September 30, totaled $2.0 trillion, $218 billion more than the year before, the American Action Forum calculated from Congressional Budget Office figures.

That deficit came to about 6.2 percent of GDP, up from 5.8 percent in fiscal 2025. Interest on the national debt rose $115 billion, or 11 percent, because the debt was larger and long-term rates were higher.

Growth is also short of the target. Real GDP grew at a 1.5 percent annual rate in the second quarter, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis's second estimate. PolitiKool tracks inflation and the national debt.

The 10-Year Treasury Yield and Mortgages

Later in the show, Bannon said the War Room audience knows that "their financial life is driven by the price of the 10-year treasury. It's going to six."

"You're not gonna be able to get a mortgage. Jumbo's gonna be 8% or north," he said.

The 10-year yield has not reached 6 percent. It stood at 5.24 percent on Friday. That is 1.2 points higher than a year ago, according to Trading Economics. The 30-year fixed mortgage averaged 7.40 percent this week, up from 6.30 percent a year earlier and the seventh straight weekly increase, Fox Business reported from Freddie Mac data. PolitiKool tracks mortgage rates.

Jim Rickards Pushes Back on France

Rickards, an author and investment newsletter writer, agreed with Bannon about where yields are heading. He did not agree that the U.S. could end up like France. "The US currency role as the leading global reserve currency is not gonna change," he said. He gave two reasons: oil is priced in dollars, and Treasury securities have no real competitor.

"We're not gonna default because we can print the money. So what's the problem? The problem is inflation," Rickards said.

He also said a 6 percent yield "is not the end of the world if inflation is 4.5%." And he took his own shot at the Treasury secretary. Rickards said he is a "big fan" of Bessent but added: "We all make mistakes." Bessent had said, "I am the house," speaking of the Treasury. Rickards replied that "he's not the house. The house is the market."

What Happens Next

The deficit comes at a bad time for Republicans. Only 29.7 percent of Americans approve of Trump's handling of the economy, according to PolitiKool's polling average, with less than a month to go before the midterms.

Bessent has until 2028 to hit the 3 percent target. CBO's figures show the deficit got larger in fiscal 2026, not smaller.