In an attempt to mirror his former boss’ rallies ahead of the midterm elections, Steve Bannon tried to garner support for Republican candidates, too.
But none of them decided to show up,The Guardian reported.
The one-time Presidential strategist appeared by himself to a crowd of about 200 people at a firehouse just outside of Buffalo, New York on Wednesday. Bannon was supposed to be joined — at least — by David DiPietro, a New York State Assemblyman who’s running for re-election but decided to be a no-show, noted The Guardian. DiPietro’s campaign manager Michael Caputo reportedly told Bannon that he “invited all Republicans running for office in the western New York area.” He never heard back.
“It might be no one,” Caputo said.
Bannon then riffed on his pre-White House days, recalling moments from Trump’s campaign trail and the many points he claims their candidate was behind Hillary Clinton until he stepped in.
“When I came into the campaign as CEO in mid-August (2016), we were down, what — eight, 10, 12, 16 points — double-digits down in every battleground state,” he said, according to The Guardian. “Not a lot of money, not a lot of organization.”
And the small gathering, apparently, still ate it up.
“If it wasn’t for Bannon, believe me, Trump wouldn’t have had the traction he had,” an attendee, 76-year-old racehorse owner Barry Horwitz, told the news site. “Everybody talks about the dark side of him. But read his credentials. He was in the navy, he was at Goldman Sachs. He’s filmed a lot of movies.”
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