Steve Bannon: Trump Is Doing A Fantastic Job
LEMON: Steve Bannon singing the president's praises tonight in an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria. Is the former White House chief strategist looking for a way to work his way back on to team Trump? I want to bring in Kurt Bardella who used to work -- he's our really Bannon whisperer. He work with Bannon at Breitbart, and CNN political analyst Joshua Green, the author of "The Devil's Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump and the Storming of the Presidency." Listen, one minute, Kurt, he, you know is on team Trump, the next minute he's not on team Trump. What happened, he was fired from the White House. Trump called him sloppy Steve. He says he lost his mind and claims that he had nothing to do with his big election win. But here's Bannon tonight. Watch this.</s>STEVE BANNON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: He's Donald Trump, I think he's doing a fantastic job. Look, every day is going to be different. So you just to -- you just to -- you just got to swing with it. And you know, I know Trump for many, many years first off from the campaign not really--</s>FAREED ZAKARIA, HOST, CNN: Did he try to call you to tell you, Steve, I'm just kidding?</s>BANNON: No, trust me, he does not do that.</s>LEMON: Two things there. He looks a lot better. Maybe he's gotten some rest. I don't know what's going on. But--</s>KURT BARDELLA, PRESIDENT AND CEO , ENDEAVOR STRATEGIES: Italy agrees with him.</s>LEMON: But you worked well with him, I mean, why do you think he is still so complimentary of the, I mean, you saying nice things about the president?</s>BARDELLA: I think Steve just used CNN to have a 60-minute infomercial, to use the network that Trump loves to hate to watch to suck up to him--</s>LEMON: But watches all the time</s>BARDELLA: But watches all the time, you know, and Steve knows that. There is a reason why he did this -- this type of access. Steven isn't someone that you often times see on television, he isn't the one to give a lot of T.V. interviews, and certainly nothing this expense. I think he's done maybe two of these in all the years that you've really seen him in the public eye. The reason why he picked CNN, the reason why he picked Fareed to do the interview was so that he could basically have the 60-Minute commercial on a network that he knows Trump is going to hate watch. And see him saying complimentary things about him, seeing and calling him a great president, seeing that he's still on the team, and trying to give sound advice and council. I always thought even though Steve was in the dark house, and Trump took him to the woodshed, and obviously was disparaging of him, there's still a belief that at some point that there had be a reuniting somehow.</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>BARDELLA: And that would happen of things got bad for Donald Trump, and the worse that we for Trump that when he may turn to Steve Bannon.</s>LEMON: He also went to a place where he thought that he would get the most credibility, and that's on this network. Josh, does it sound like Bannon is trying to get back to Trump's inner circle, and if so, why would he want that?</s>BARDELLA: Oh, sure he is. You know, the reason he's want to do that is because, you know, in the age of Trump, anybody that wants to have influence in Republican politics has got to be square with Trump. And you saw what happen when Trump ex-communicated him back in January, he lost his Breitbart, he lost his benefactor in the Mercer Family. And you basically exile the Europe where he's been over with the populous nationalist over these. But you know, the reason that he's complimentary of Trump, despite the way Trump has treated him is that if you look at what the Trump administration has done especially over the last few months, big fights over immigration, in over trade, which are the two issues that Steve Bannon cares about most.</s>LEMON: Yes. So, Kurt, you know, we've been talking a lot about the up coming midterm elections, Steve Bannon says that the midterms will be Trump's second presidential race. Watch this.</s>STEVE BANNON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: This is going to be an up or down vote on November 6. And I think he understands that. The reason of that impeachment, the tax cuts, all the economy will go underneath this. But the Republicans have been running these ads on tax cut alone, it's not going to resonate. There's going to be an emotional, you know, with Nancy Pelosi or with Donald Trump. Trump's second presidential race will be on November 6th of this year.</s>LEMON: Pretty strong statement, isn't it, Kurt?</s>BARDELLA: Well, it's interesting, because for Democrats, they're hoping Steve is right. They are hoping that this is a referendum on Donald Trump, that all of their messaging that we've seen is about trying to stop Donald Trump, and having a check, and balance to hold him accountable. Republicans on the other hand are praying beyond prayer that this is not a referendum of Donald Trump because if it is, they know that their majorities in parallel net that pretty much screwed at this point. They're trying to make Donald Trump a side issue. You don't see Donald Trump going to a lot of these congressional districts. But if you're campaigning right now a targeted race that's on the map right in this midterm, the worse news you can get is the White House calling you saying, hey, Donald Trump wants to come to your district, they don't want him anywhere near this election.</s>LEMON: But, do you think Bannon really believes that Trump will do well in the midterms? I mean, let's face it, especially without someone like Bannon in his administration. He's saying, hey, listen, if you want to do well, I think what you said earlier about this interview, if you want to do well, then you need to have me back on your team, correct?</s>BARDELLA: Right. And I think as this election tightens, as we get into this after the summer season, and the fall campaign really heats up, and it looks like things are going to be bad for Republicans. They are preparing to lose the majority. Steve is positioning himself to be the savior of this midterm election.</s>JOSHUA GREEN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Exactly.</s>LEMON: So, Josh -- did you want to respond, Josh?</s>GREEN: Yes, I do think that, look, you know, Bannon has an ulterior motivate around here. And in nationalizing the election around Trump, which I think it basically will be regardless of what Steve Bannon says if Republicans get smoked in November, and lose the majority. You know, Steve Bannon will be often in Europe. You can't -- you can't hold him to blame. And Trump, as we all know is not one to take responsibility on his own shoulders, blame himself for the losses. So he's going to be angry, and going to be looking at the team of advisers around him. And he's probably going to want to get rid of them, and bring in some new guys. You have Steve Bannon out there all along saying that, you know, Trump is great, and he is misserve by the people around him. Well, then maybe that clears the path for Bannon to work his way back, if not in the White House at least into Trump's inner circle, and back into a position of influence in the Republican Party.</s>LEMON: They talked about Jeff Sessions as -- go ahead. Go ahead, Kurt.</s>BARDELLA: I just want to say too, one of the key things for the Bannon revival to even happen is if the media allows this to happen. If they keep -- if they give him 60 minutes of prime time air time to do this, you know, bring-back-to-life campaign that's he's trying to do, Bannon is begging, just as he did -- remember when he put out Clinton cash, they went to 60 Minutes, and they went to the New York Times.</s>LEMON: You're a very smart man, and he is more telegenic now. He's -- do you know what I mean. That's why I said he certainly looks better, so--</s>GREEN: I don't know what you're talking about, Don, he looks terrible. He looks like Kenny Rogers.</s>LEMON: No, no, I said better. I didn't say--</s>GREEN: All right.</s>LEMON: I didn't say it. I said better, right? So, listen, I want to get this in, they talked about Jeff Sessions and recusing himself, watch this.</s>BANNON: I think the President's wrong -- been wrong from the beginning about -- if I can respectfully disagree with the President of the United States, I think that -- I think the whole concept of recusal is not even an issue. I think that Rudy Giuliani, or Chris Christie, Jeff Sessions, anybody associated with the campaign would have had to recuse themselves. I think if you look at what Jeff Sessions' done on immigration, on migration or all key issues of the Justice Department, I think Sessions' has done an excellent jobs.</s>LEMON: Yes, so what do you make to see Bannon stand up for one of the President's favorite targets?</s>BARDELLA: Yes, absolutely.</s>LEMON: Josh. That was for Josh. Sorry.</s>GREEN: Yes, well he is. But look, you know, again, Bannon wants influence, but he also cares a lot about a certain set of issues, trade, immigration, these sorts of things, and Jeff Sessions, long before Donald Trump came alone was somebody -- almost the only person in the Senate who represented that. You know, people forget that before Donald Trump ran for president, Steve Bannon tried to talk Jeff Sessions into running for president. So clearly, this is someone that Bannon wants to keep in place -- as a lot of Republicans do, wants to keep in place in the Attorney General's job because that job comes with so much power. It's been difficult for Sessions to stay in that job, he's been humiliated, and emasculated, you know, beyond, even what Trump has directed at Bannon, but there are a lot of Republicans in there, and I think Bannon is trying to give support to this contingent that want to see Jeff Sessions survive.</s>LEMON: All right thank you. Kurt, you've get to talk more next time. Thank you very much. Have a great weekend. When we come back, we'll dig into why the President pardoned a very controversial conservative pundit. Here's a hint, it may have had to do with President Obama.