Bannon Emails: Pence Pick Is 'the Price We Pay'

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon referred to Mike Pence as "an unfortunate necessity" during the 2016 presidential election. Responding to an email from former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos, who asked Bannon's thoughts on Pence on the day he was announced as Trump's running mate, Breitbart's executive chairman wrote, "This is the price we pay for cruzbots and #nevertrump movement," reports BuzzFeed, which reviewed the emails. Two days later, on July 17, 2016, Bannon approved a column "mocking" Pence by Yiannopoulos, who noted "we want to turn the screw." Bannon would join Donald Trump's campaign a month later.

Bannon's comment referred to Pence's endorsement of Ted Cruz in the Republican primary and the belief that, as a former member of the House Republican leadership, he would bolster the Trump ticket. But in "standing by the president at every turn" as VP, Pence has "proven himself to be far less principled than Bannon might have feared," writes Abigail Tracy at Vanity Fair. Nonetheless, Bannon, back in his Breitbart role, says his goal is "to challenge every Republican incumbent except for Ted Cruz" in the 2018 midterm elections. "We are declaring war on the Republican establishment that does not back the agenda that Donald Trump ran on," Bannon told Hannity on Monday. (More Steve Bannon stories.)