'Serious as it can get': Trump facing 'coup'

President Trump speaks at his first State of the Union address on Jan. 30, 2018 (Photo: screenshot)

Steve Bannon, the former White House chief strategist, says President Donald Trump is facing a serious "coup," citing this week's anonymous New York Times column outlining resistance within the current administration.

"What you saw the other day was as serious as it can get. This is a direct attack on the institutions," Bannon told Reuters. "This is a coup, OK."

The column published in the Times noted, "Many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations."

"The root of the problem," the author writes, "is the president's amorality. Anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible first principles that guide his decision making."

Bannon says the last time America faced a similar situation was during the Civil War, specifically when President Abraham Lincoln faced fierce opposition from General George B. McClellan.

"This is a crisis. The country has only ever had such a crisis in the summer of 1862 when General McClellan and the senior generals, all Democrats in the Union Army, deemed that Abraham Lincoln was not fit and not competent to be commander in chief," Bannon said.

Steve Bannon ('60 Minutes' screenshot)

"There is a cabal of Republic establishment figures who believe Donald Trump is not fit to be president of the United States. This is a crisis," he continued.

"I am not a conspiracy guy ... I have said there is no deep state. It is an in-your-face state."

Bannon also warned progressive Democrats including Bernie Sanders not to gloat over the stormy atmosphere at the White House.

"Don't think it will be any different if you take power. Because this is the established order dictating that they know better than the people," he said.