Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson and... Liz Truss? Exploring the Ex- PM's Attempt for Make America Great Again

The former UK leader, kicked off the inaugural episode of her YouTube show with a pledge to reveal "those with ill intent" attempting to weaken Western democracies. She stated she would lay bare how an "worldwide alliance of leftists function to undermine popular rule and the electorate's mandate."

"We're going to look at the Trump revolution and see how this can be achieved in Britain," Truss declared. "Our guests will include the leading lights of the Trumpist political sphere."

Prior to the program's debut, there was one particularly enthusiastic supporter. "This is the beginning of a kind of political shift," remarked John Solomon. The right-leaning Just the News platform will carry the ex-PM's new podcasts.

Forging Alliances in the Maga-Verse

UK-based allies, featuring a advisor linked to Reform UK, played a role in her launch the Liz Truss Show. The setup is competent, though simple. The show has attracted ten thousand followers in her debut week and her first episode garnered 67,000 views in that timeframe.

This represents a modest start, but in making common cause with Solomon, the former PM is being entering a mature right-wing media network generating and disseminating Maga talking points. Its obsessions involve claims of media suppression by the mainstream media and a desire to remove a conspiratorial 'deep state' – which Truss blames for the swift end of her short and troubled leadership.

"Just the News is not famous outside of the Maga world, but it does have influence there, mostly due to Solomon, who offers opinions on Maga platforms like Bannon's 'War Room' podcast and has even interviewed Donald Trump," noted Alex Hinton, who has analyzed the Maga movement.

A Controversial Partner

Truss's attempt to bring Maga media to the United Kingdom has aligned her more closely to contentious individuals such as the journalist.

He established his media outlet in the wake of criticism after he was accused of pushing false stories about Joe Biden's anticorruption effort in Ukraine, as well as controversial stories about one-time diplomat to Ukraine.

His claims were amplified within the pro-Trump outlets, with the journalist serving as a frequent visitor on Sean Hannity's influential Fox News program. The former president personally promoted the journalist's work.

Solomon made the allegations regarding Ukraine in a number of opinion pieces for the publication the political newspaper, where he had already been moved to a columnist role following internal criticism regarding his reporting. His narratives were central in Trump's demand for the Ukrainian government to look into the Biden family in that year. Those demands led to impeachment charges targeting Donald Trump. The Senate later found not guilty the then-president.

Weeks after Solomon left the publication in October 2019, the outlet revealed it was performing a assessment of his columns about Ukraine. It determined the journalist had relied on questionable informants and noted he "failed to identify crucial information about key Ukrainian sources, including the reality that they had been indicted or were under investigation."

Joining the Network

Solomon's own TV and radio guest spots are a indication of the political media environment Truss is joining. Solomon mentioned his backing of Truss's project on a program he presents on the right-wing channel, a rightwing cable channel that is the base for the pro-Trump commentator ex-Trump strategist Bannon and on which commentator Tucker Carlson also appears. She has already hosted the political operative on one of her first podcasts.

Through her association with Solomon and Just the News, she has become a niche participant in a broader ecosystem of pro-Trump platforms that often cross-promote stories.

The journalist's broadcasts have often featured personalities such as Mike Benz, a conservative commentator whose criticism of the US Agency for International Development was cited by Elon Musk as reasoning behind shutting down the government body.

A Global Media Play

Even though her awkward delivery and political travails have been mocked in Britain, some US observers do not dismiss her bid to reinvent herself as a British branch of the Maga media.

"It is necessary to treat people like Truss seriously, even if you may not want to accept their words at face value," said a former Biden White House aide, who was employed in the Obama White House.

"It was evident how in the last election cycle Donald Trump leveraged that alternative press to spread his narrative. Undoubtedly that network transmits and affects discourse overseas. It looks fairly obvious to me that the circumstances in the United Kingdom are akin to what allowed this alternative media ecosystem to flourish here."

Professor Alan Finlayson, said the online conservative ecosystem was already having an impact in the UK.

"Online platforms is borderless," he said. "There is a certain milieu within which ideas travel – at times taking an extreme form and sometimes less so – but which is networked."

The academic said the expansion of the digital conservative movement in the United Kingdom in recent times meant the "potential to have a growing impact is significant."

A Transatlantic Ambition

"Both Truss and the Reform UK leader in the recent past spoke at the CPAC, where I watched as they hit Maga talking points ahead of the {king of Maga|

Crystal Lewis
Crystal Lewis

A cybersecurity analyst with over a decade of experience in threat detection and digital forensics, passionate about educating users on privacy best practices.