Ousted White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon spoke at the annual Values Voter Summit on Saturday, declaring his conviction that President Trump, who spoke at the summit Friday, will win a second term by a landslide in 2020.
"The populist, nationalist, conservative revolt that's going on, that drove Donald Trump to victory ... that will drive 15 candidates to victory in 2018" will continue unabated, Bannon argued. "I hate to break it Graydon Carter and the good folks at Vanity Fair," he continued, "but yes, President Trump is not only going to finish this term, he's going to win with 400 electoral votes in 2020."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A 400-vote win is not historically inconceivable: 14 presidential elections have seen the winner take 400 or more electoral votes. Ronald Reagan won with 525 electoral votes, the largest count ever, in 1984; and George Washington received all possible votes in both of his elections (though the total number of electors was much lower then because there were fewer states). However, such a win is deeply implausible if Trump's approval ratings remain in the mid-30s.
Watch an excerpt of Bannon's remarks below. Bonnie Kristian
-
The Week contest: Pickleball protestPuzzles and Quizzes
-
Five years after his death, Diego Maradona’s family demand justiceIn the Spotlight Argentine football legend’s medical team accused of negligent homicide and will stand trial – again – next year
-
Has Google burst the Nvidia bubble?Today’s Big Question The world’s most valuable company faces a challenge from Google, as companies eye up ‘more specialised’ and ‘less power-hungry’ alternatives
-
Judge halts Trump’s DC Guard deploymentSpeed Read The Trump administration has ‘infringed upon the District’s right to govern itself,’ the judge ruled
-
Trump accuses Democrats of sedition meriting ‘death’Speed Read The president called for Democratic lawmakers to be arrested for urging the military to refuse illegal orders
-
Court strikes down Texas GOP gerrymanderSpeed Read The Texas congressional map ordered by Trump is likely an illegal racial gerrymander, the court ruled
-
Trump defends Saudi prince, shrugs off Khashoggi murderSpeed Read The president rebuked an ABC News reporter for asking Mohammed bin Salman about the death of a Washington Post journalist at the Saudi Consulate in 2018
-
Congress passes bill to force release of Epstein filesSpeed Read The Justice Department will release all files from its Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking investigation
-
Trump says he will sell F-35 jets to Saudi ArabiaSpeed Read The president plans to make several deals with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week
-
Judge blasts ‘profound’ errors in Comey caseSpeed Read ‘Government misconduct’ may necessitate dismissing the charges against the former FBI director altogether
-
Ecuador rejects push to allow US military basesSpeed Read Voters rejected a repeal of a constitutional ban on US and other foreign military bases in the country
