By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-10-31 05:16:51 | Updated at 2024-10-31 07:27:03
2 hours ago
Steve Bannon has advice for Donald Trump on how to win the election: Keep doing your thing, be yourself and make sure outside groups maintain a fierce focus on getting out the vote.
'I would tell President Trump, continue, do your rallies,' he told DailyMail.com in an interview.
'Do what you do. Just be yourself. You're authentic.
'Just be yourself, and let your staff and let these outside groups just really power through the next six, seven days and get as many people to vote by and on November 5.'
He has had four months to think about strategy, cooped up in federal prison where he was serving a sentence for two counts of contempt of Congress.
Steve Bannon laid out his advice for his former boss Donald Trump on how to win the election during an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com
He was released on Tuesday morning. He was on the phone to his former boss within hours, but refused to discuss their conversation.
His release, one week before Election Day, returns one of Trump's most powerful supporters to the airwaves.
In the meantime, he has undergone an about-face on another of the former president's most powerful allies.
Last year, he described billionaire Elon Musk as 'a war profiteer' who is 'owned by the Chinese Communist Party' and 'who would take a check from Adolf Hitler himself.'
Now he sees the Tesla and X owner as a crucial part of the coalition of groups trying to turn out voters.
The final days, he said, should involve a 'maniacal focus on getting out the vote.'
'You know, Elon Musk is a very smart guy, and I think he has had an awakening, and I've had a lot of disagreements with Elon Musk, but Elon Musk has focused on putting his money ... many months ago, in back of get out the vote effort,' he said.
'Charlie Kirk is one of the smartest young men in politics. He focused on getting out to vote.'
Musk has relocated to Pennsylvania, the biggest prize among the seven battleground states with 19 Electoral College votes. He has deployed his billions to offer million-dollar prizes to voters who sign his petition (although that is now under legal challenge.)
Bannon was Trump's White House chief strategist before losing a power struggle with other advisers to the president. Bannon said he spoke with Trump soon after leaving prison Tuesday
Bannon drew a line under his past criticism of Elon Musk, and praised the billionaire for putting his money into a major get out the vote push
He also praised conservative activist Charlie Kirk and his voter drive
And Kirk, whose podcast is a smash hit with young conservatives, is leading the get-out-the-vote push in Arizona.
Bannon said the time for changing minds had passed.
'There no undecideds in our country, everybody has made an opinion about President Trump,' he said. 'The key is to get low propensity voters and to get them to the polls.'
Trump and his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris are criss-crossing the key swing states in the final, frantic days of campaigning.
The DailyMail.com/J.L. Partners election model shows that Trump has an overall advantage in winning the Electoral College, but the result is likely to be tight whatever happens.
