Steve Bannon, a former and frequent adviser to President Trump, argued that President Biden’s poor performance in last week’s debate could actually be bad news for the president.
“Trump’s victory on Thursday was a Pyrrhic one. … He took down someone he knew he could beat, he defeated him badly, and now he has a wild card,” Bannon said. Washington Post interview Sunday.
Bannon, who is due to report to prison on Monday to begin serving a four-month sentence for contempt of Congress, argued that Biden’s performance in last week’s debate would cause the president’s poll ratings to plummet and force him to drop out of the race. But such a development would be bad news for Trump and the Republican Party.
“He’s the best we’ve ever had,” Bannon said of facing off against Biden, arguing that not only would Trump win in a landslide victory, but Republicans would gain 53-54 seats in the Senate and six seats in the House of Representatives.
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Former White House strategist Steve Bannon arrives at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office on September 8, 2022, to turn himself in to New York authorities. (AP Photo/Eduardo Muñoz Alvarez)
Democratic lawmakers and donors have been upset since Biden’s debate gaffe, but the president’s campaign maintains that his performance did not fundamentally change the race.
In a memo released Saturday, campaign manager Jen O’Malley blamed any drop in the polls on negative media coverage of the debate, while Biden himself has not signaled he plans to withdraw from the debate.
But Bannon, who continues to talk to Trump on occasion and has high praise for the people currently running Trump’s campaign, believes it’s too late for Biden and that the Trump campaign should start preparing to work on an alternative plan.
“We have to use their methods to show the public how ruthless they were, how selfish they were, how they didn’t put the interests of the country first, they put their personal ambition first,” Bannon said.
President Biden speaks at the CNN presidential debate in Atlanta on June 27, 2024. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
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“They’re going to look for a savior and then they’re going to have a honeymoon,” Bannon continued. “By the time of the Democratic National Convention in late August, things will be so bad that Michelle Obama or Gavin Newsom or whoever it is will start out with a five to seven point lead, at minimum.”
Bannon will surrender to authorities and begin his sentence in a low-security federal prison in Connecticut after the Supreme Court denied his motion to delay sentencing. The longtime ally of President Trump was convicted in July 2022 of two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with subpoenas from House committees investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Still, Bannon, who is also a popular podcast host, said he would be able to reach out to his followers through emails and interviews, and vowed to continue speaking out from prison.
Steve Bannon appeared in court in New York on January 12, 2023. (Associated Press)
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“They can’t silence me,” Bannon said. “When I get out of prison, I’m going to be bigger.”
Neither the Biden nor Trump campaigns immediately responded to requests for comment from Fox News Digital.
