Despite Roy Moore’s shocking loss to Doug Jones in the Alabama special election for its vacated U.S. Senate seat, one of the Republican’s chief backers, Steve Bannon is pressing on. A former executive for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign turned White House chief strategist, Bannon returned to his post at Breitbart after the president fired him in August. Since then, the eccentric conservative figure has float plenty of praise and criticism for his former employer, the remaining members of his White House administration, and just about everyone else on the American political spectrum.
According to Vanity Fair‘s Gabriel Sherman, Bannon is also toying with the idea of a possible presidential run in 2020. “I realize in hindsight I was just a staffer, and I’m not a good staffer. I had influence, I had a lot of influence, but just influence,” he said of his time working for Trump. “I have power. I can actually drive things in a certain direction.” Hence, per Sherman’s reporting, Bannon’s possible presidential ambitions:
In October, Bannon called an adviser and said he would consider running for president if Trump doesn’t run for re-election in 2020. Which Bannon has told people is a realistic possibility. In private conversations since leaving the White House, Bannon said Trump only has a 30 percent chance of serving out his term, whether he’s impeached or removed by the Cabinet invoking the 25th amendment.
Whether or not Bannon will actually run for Trump’s office — or any office — in 2020 remains to be seen. Even so, as soon as Vanity Fair‘s profile went live, Twitter just couldn’t help itself.
It's worth pointing out that the odds right now of Steve Bannon becoming president in 2020 are far better than the odds of Donald Trump becoming President were in December 2013 https://t.co/fJA07nJbwO
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) December 21, 2017
I'm supposed to be working and literally all I can think about now is Steve Bannon on the campaign trail trying to impersonate a human being
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) December 21, 2017
This Steve Bannon for President story is actually defeating my usually capacious efforts to think up ways to parody it.
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) December 21, 2017
Looking forward to liberals under President Bannon saying, "You know, I never thought I'd miss President Trump."
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) December 21, 2017
As many of you know, I'm not religious. But I could be convinced god is real if this comes true: “I Have Power”: Is Steve Bannon Running for President? https://t.co/UKIplYFfnq
— S.E. Cupp (@secupp) December 21, 2017
https://twitter.com/SopanDeb/status/943944821227642880
In a separate statement from Bannon’s spokesperson, Trump’s predictable “fake news” insult was used to counter Sherman’s article.
Spokesperson for Bannon shoots down suggestion Bannon is mulling run for president: "#Fake News. Steve is 100% not running for President. He is not a politician. He is spending all his time building a grassroots organization to support the President.”
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) December 21, 2017
Even so, if the Breitbart executive cum bog monster ever decides to take a shot at the Oval Office, we’ve already got a pretty good idea as to what his grand entrance would look like.
"Send in Steve Bannon." pic.twitter.com/vOUuJyst3x
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 16, 2017
(Via Vanity Fair)