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Trump brings GOP establishment-basher on board
| Politico | - |
Just
two days before Donald Trump tapped him as his new campaign manager,
Breitbart News CEO Stephen Bannon was doing what he does best: punching
the GOP establishment in the face.
Trump brings GOP establishment-basher on board
Bannon's radio show gave platform to politicians ready to make outrageous, even false, claims.
Bannon, hosting his Breitbart Daily radio show on Monday, welcomed Paul Nehlen – the primary foe who Paul Ryan easily dispatched last week – and treated him like a hero.
“We came with the truth … we had the message coming out, this gives away national sovereignty,” Nehlen replied.
During a four-minute exchange, Nehlen said “people like Paul Ryan don’t care” about globalization and also bashed the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Koch brothers. He plugged a new PAC he’s running to support candidates who run on a Trump-like platform of limiting immigration, opposing multinational trade deals and “exposing career politicians on both sides of the aisle – from Paul Ryan, Hillary Clinton – who are wholly owned by corporate special interests.”
Bannon promised to plug his PAC’s website on Breitbart.com and signed off by calling him “a real warrior.” “We love you brother,” he said.
The conversation is just the latest example of the anti-establishment fervor that Bannon has fomented on his show and now brings to the Trump campaign. Bannon had great access to high-caliber guests for months – from Trump and his kids to Rafael Cruz to conservative members of Congress. He’s also given a platform to the seamier and more conspiratorial viewpoints of operatives, such as Trump confidant Roger Stone and former prosecutor Andy McCarthy, who insist Islamists have infiltrated the Obama administration and are eroding it from within.
“The president has been turning for advice, policy advice that has been implemented from the beginning of his administration to leaders of Islamist organizations with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood,” McCarthy said in a June 20 appearance on Bannon’s show.
McCarthy noted that President Barack Obama’s approval rating was hovering above 50 percent and suggested it was because compliant Republicans in Congress “believe that the country has changed.”
“Do you think it shows that our government is starting to become Sharia adherent, Sharia compliant?” Bannon wondered – and McCarthy affirmed.
Stone, a regular guest on the program, said in a July 5 interview that a top Clinton aide Huma Abedin had been linked to “terrorism” and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, a claim that has been repeated frequently in Breitbart’s coverage and like-minded outlets.
In addition to questioning Democrats’ loyalty, Bannon has made a habit of calling out establishment Republicans – and not just Ryan. On July 28, he hosted Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert, who bashed Arizona Sen. John McCain for supporting “amnesty” for undocumented immigrants. “What does he not get about this?” Bannon wondered.
But beyond the critiques of either party, Bannon’s show also reveals the potential blueprint of a Bannon-led Trump campaign. He frequently hosted guests who highlighted shortcomings in Trump’s campaign strategy. One, Raheem Kassam, noted that Trump had spent too much time sparring with “low-level surrogates” for Clinton like Khizr Khan, the Gold Star father who spoke against Trump at last month’s Democratic National Convention.
And on Tuesday, just hours before Trump announced Bannon’s hire, the Breitbart boss hosted political analyst Pat Caddell to break down why Trump has been lagging in the polls.
“The candidate kind of moved the campaign to other things that made his personality and himself the center of the issue,” Caddell lamented.
Bannon noted that Clinton had made millions of dollars since leaving the White House, and he noted wistfully, “I’ve not seen the Trump campaign mention one time.”
“People that follow Donald Trump … they understand what it’s about. For the general population, they don’t understand it’s a change election,” he said.
Bannon also had another stark warning for Trump: the media has just started to come after him. “Trump hasn’t felt anything yet,” he said.
Trump himself has appeared on Bannon’s show a few times, including the first week of May, when Trump seemed to clinch the Republican nomination after Ted Cruz quit the race. Bannon used the appearance to skewer Ryan for declining to endorse Trump.
“Did he show a lack of respect for not just you but your followers?” Bannon asked.
Trump didn’t take the bait but did say he was caught by surprise. Bannon argued that Ryan was trying to manipulate him to abandon his plan to build a wall on the border with Mexico and “to drop your philosophy of slowing down Muslim immigration temporarily.”
Trump replied that the primary results showed that the party has changed, and he noted that Bannon “got it earlier than just about anybody else.”
Though Trump has benefited from Bannon’s advocacy in recent months, he’s expressed his own wonderment at his soon-to-be adviser.
In that May 6 appearance, Trump rattled off his sudden windfall of endorsements – Ryan’s non-endorsement notwithstanding. “You might be one of them,” he said. “You’re impossible to totally figure, Steve. I must also say that to your listeners. Anyone who thinks [they know] where you totally come from, they’re making a big mistake.”
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