Coronavirus is Trump's 'Churchill moment' and will seal his re-election, says former aide Steve Bannon

Ex-White House strategist claims president will 'bring country together' amid outbreak fears

Steve Bannon compared Donald Trump to Winston Churchill and former president Franklin Delano Roosevelt as the former White House strategist claimed the president is on pace to win re-election if his administration successfully combats the coronavirus and eases the "economic contagion" as global markets suffer from the outbreak.

"This is Trump's Churchill moment", said Mr Bannon, the former chair of right-wing website Breitbart and an architect of Trump's nationalist populist platform.

He told Fox News on Sunday that the president must "bring the country together" by confronting the virus as well as the plummeting stock market. "He does that, you don't need to worry about 2020."

Mr Bannon called the 2020 race for president among Democrats the "Bernie vs the anti-Bernie movement" and claimed that African-American voters – "so critical to the Democratic party" – are not supporting the Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who is currently leading national polls.

"They're not buying the the socialism, they're not buying the radicalism, they're not buying the revolution", Mr Bannon said. "These are very practical, pragmatic people."

Coronavirus: Streets around world left empty 

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Coronavirus: Streets around world left empty 

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  A man wearing a face mask crosses a road in Wuhan, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

  Reuters

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  A view of the empty entrance to the Università Cattolica (Catholic University) in Milan, northern Italy, on 24 February, 2020.

  EPA

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  Empty streets in Daegu, South Korea, on 23 February, 2020.

  EPA

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  Empty streets in Daegu, South Korea, on 23 February 2020.

  EPA

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  A lone sanitation worker sits near the closed Hankou Railway Station in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, on February 24, 2020.

  Reuters

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  A view of a deserted street in Codogno, northern Italy, on February 23, 2020.

  EPA

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  Italian police officers set a road block in Codogno, Northern Italy, on Monday, Feb. 24, 2020.

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  A supermarket closed in Codogno, one the northern Italian towns placed under lockdown, on February 23, 2020.

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  A lone cyclist wearing sanitary masks pedals in the center of Codogno, Northern Italy.

  LaPresse via AP

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  An empty road at the entrance of the small Italian town of Codogno on February 23, 2020.

  AFP via Getty

 

 

Recent national polls, however, have reflected growing support among black voters for Mr Sanders.

He also echoed Mr Trump's frequent accusations of Mr Sanders' exclusion from the Democratic party, in the president's hopes of drawing out a contentious primary among his opponents that ultimately leaves them with a weak candidate to take on the incumbent. (Most polls show Mr Sanders narrowly defeating the president in a head-to-head race.)

Mr Bannon suggested that billionaire Michael Bloomberg will likely use his fortune to back one of the "establishment" candidates and "try to steal the nomination away from Bernie again", suggesting that the Democratic National Convention will oust Mr Sanders from the party during a brokered convention.

"That's why I think many Bernie supporters are going to come to President Trump at the end of the day", Mr Bannon said.

He also suggested Hillary Clinton or former First Lady Michelle Obama could stage a last-minute run for the nomination.

"I think if they go to the convention and they're desperate and Bernie is way behind Donald Trump, the Obamas and the Clintons will look for any alternative to try to defeat president Trump."