Bannon advises conservatives to fear ‘corrupt’ GOP

ST. LOUIS — Former White House strategist Steve Bannon told conservatives Sunday at a rally that they needn’t worry about Democrats but instead should focus on the “corrupt and incompetent Republican establishment.”

Bannon spoke to about 400 people at a St. Louis hotel during the rally hosted by Phyllis Schlafly Eagles, a spinoff of the conservative think tank Eagle Forum that Schlafly founded and led until her death last year at age 92.

The rally came at a tense time in St. Louis, where nearly 200 people have been arrested in protest since Sept. 15, when a judge acquitted a white former police officer in the fatal shooting of a black suspect. A small group of protesters stood outside the hotel with signs, including large letters that spelled out “Racist.”

Bannon left his White House post in August after a turbulent seven months. He immediately returned to Breitbart News, which he led before joining Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

During a three-minute speech, Bannon said he left the White House because Trump “needed a wingman to go against the Republican establishment.”

“It’s not the Democrats, we’ll get to them and we’ll beat them, like we beat Hillary Clinton,” Bannon said. “But the first thing you’ve got to get through is a corrupt and incompetent Republican establishment,” he told the crowd to cheers.