Trump will be ‘off the chain’ and ‘in payback mode’ if he wins 2020 elections, Bannon says

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Donald Trump will seek vengeance on the Democratic Party over its numerous investigations into his campaign and White House administration if he wins re-election in 2020, his former chief strategist said this week.

Steve Bannon offered a wide-ranging set of predictions for the upcoming presidential elections Tuesday, while reflecting on the 2016 campaign trail that brought Mr Trump to the White House.

If the president did manage to secure a second term in the Oval Office, Mr Bannon told Politico, “You’re going to get pure Trump off the chain.”

The president’s second term would feature “four years of Donald Trump in payback mode,” the conservative operative said, suggesting Mr Trump would focus his efforts towards opposing Democrats and their agenda if given another four years in office.

“Every other day I see another person jumping into the race,” Mr Bannon continued, discussing Democrats throwing their hats into the ever-growing pool of 2020 candidates. “I think those people are rational and the people around them are rational. They must see something in the field that makes them feel like they can make a run.”

He added, “I don’t see anybody in that field as of now who can take on Trump one-on-one.”

Mr Bannon also predicted a potential third presidential campaign for Hillary Clinton if Democrats fail to rally behind a single candidate, saying Tuesday, “If they don’t think that they’ve got somebody that can beat him, the vampire is going to be in the bullpen. She did get 63 million votes.”

The president has routinely lambasted the Democratic Party since assuming the White House, while condemning Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election as a “phony witch hunt.”

He’s also called out House committees investigating everything from his inauguration fundraising efforts to his financial dealings, a move that has occurred in recent months following the Democratic takeover of Congress during the 2018 midterm elections.

Mr Bannon told Politico he did not believe the strongest candidate to take on Mr Trump would be someone like Elizabeth Warren, who has scuffled with the president in past remarks and throughout the 2016 election, when she supported Ms Clinton.

“You’re not going to beat Trump with policies, right? … Elizabeth Warren has an incredibly detailed and probably the most well thought-through set of policy prescriptions, and they keep coming every day,” he said, adding, “She’s at what, seven per cent, eight per cent?”