Even from behind bars, Steve Bannon’s message is clear: Republicans want Joe Biden to stay in the presidential race. Why? Because they know it will be better for Donald Trump.
In an email interview with Matthew Boyle from far-right Breitbart News, the former Trump adviser was asked what he made of the Democrats sticking with Biden amid widespread criticism of the president’s performance in last month’s debate and the calls for him to drop out of the presidential race.
“So we got the candidate we want … and the country is stuck with a nonperforming cadaver,” Bannon replied.
Bannon took over Breitbart in 2012, and directed the site to publish his patently pugnacious rhetoric and conspiracy theories cooked up by far-right activists and white supremacists. In 2016, Bannon stepped down to join Trump’s presidential campaign as its CEO and went on to mastermind the authoritarian MAGA movement.
Earlier this month, Bannon chaotically reported to Danbury federal prison in Connecticut after being found guilty on two counts of contempt of Congress. The former Trump strategist had made several desperate attempts to avoid jail time, all of which were clearly unsuccessful.
In his interview with the propaganda machine he helped build, Bannon laid out his own plan for how Republicans can use all of the discourse around Biden’s health to launch Trump back into the White House.
First, he urged the GOP-led House to force Biden’s fitness as an issue of urgent “national security.”
“This is not about whether Biden can serve four more years but can he get the country safely to January 2025?” he said. “The House should move immediately to investigate and get to the bottom of who knew this when—the cover-up is all-important.”
He also advised right-wing media to work to tarnish any attempt to switch candidates.
“The political goal here for MAGA is to ‘toxify’ the process of the Democratic bait and switch as much as possible,” he said. “This is all process, and the American voter should be armed with minute-by-minute information on what is actually going on.… I’m sure they will be repulsed.”
Bannon has a point: If MAGA Republicans are given the airtime and column inches to successfully poison the well, it could prove difficult for Democrats, the media, or voters to get fully on board with another Democratic candidate.
Still, it’s revealing that a political strategist, and one of Trump’s biggest backers, is hoping that Biden sticks around until November. If Biden doesn’t listen to Democrats asking him to exit the race, maybe he should be scared by Republicans who ask him to stay?
