Bannon: McConnell, Corker and McCain trying to ‘destroy’ me

Former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon attacked top Republicans at a primary campaign rally Tuesday, accusing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and other GOP leaders of “trying to destroy him every day,” according to The Associated Press. 

Bannon also targeted Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) in his speech at a campaign fundraiser for Kelli Ward, a primary challenger to Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who is one of the many incumbent Republicans that Bannon is targeting in 2018.

The former strategist for President Trump has announced plans for a “season of war” against GOP lawmakers who do not completely support Trump’s agenda and his intention to back candidates challenging every Senate Republican up for reelection in 2018, except for Ted Cruz (R-Texas). 

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“It’s an open revolt and it should be. These people hold you in total contempt,” Bannon said at the campaign kickoff event. “When they attack Donald Trump and Dr. Kelli Ward, it’s not Donald Trump and Kelli Ward they’re trying to shut up, it’s you they’re trying to shut up,” he said. 

Early polling has shown Flake down by significant margins in popularity within his own party and against his primary challenger. Ward tenaciously called on McCain to resign his seat following his diagnosis with brain cancer this summer, garnering pushback from the senior Arizona senator’s colleagues. 

Flake, a vocal opponent of Trump’s populist agenda, told The Associated Press that he was not concerned with a primary defeat.

“I’ve had tough primaries almost every time I’ve run, mostly because of the position I’ve taken on immigration,” a hardline issue for both Trump and Bannon. “People say, ‘Well I can get to the right of Jeff on immigration.’ But we came out all right.”

Bannon previously backed Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore in his primary runoff victory against Sen. Luther Strange, a GOP establishment figure. He has also called on Corker, who has already announced his retirement from the Senate in 2018, to step down immediately for having criticized Trump in a bout of name-calling.