Bannon: ‘We need the Republican establishment on board’ to reelect Trump

Former White House strategist Stephen Bannon said Monday that President Trump will need the GOP establishment on his side in order to secure reelection in 2020 given that the president has Republican challengers.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Bannon warned that GOP primary challengers such as former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld could pose a threat to Trump should they gain any traction among GOP moderates.

“We need the Republican establishment on board,” Bannon told the AP.

“If these guys can peel off 3% or 4%, that’s going to be serious,” he said of Weld and other GOP candidates.

Bannon went on to tell the news service that “only Trump can beat Trump.”

The former Breitbart News chief left the White House in 2017 after clashing with then-chief of staff John Kelly and has since taken to advising far-right nationalist candidates in the U.S. and abroad.

He recently testified at the criminal trial of Roger Stone, a close Trump associate, telling a jury that Trump viewed Stone as a link to WikiLeaks, the website responsible for publishing stolen emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee.