Charlie Rose's sit-down interview with President Trump's former Chief Strategist Steve Bannon aired on 60 Minutes Sunday evening. The polarizing Breitbart media executive spoke on topics relating to relationships within the Trump administration with intimate detail. He gave an exclusive look inside Trump Tower in the days following the infamous Access Hollywood leak in October of last year, and did not hold back firing at establishment Republicans he views as trying to "nullify the 2016 election". In his first-ever television interview, Bannon also spoke on the missteps of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party in the last election cycle.

An out of touch Clinton campaign

Bannon believes Clinton failed to tap into the needs, concerns, or interests of working-class, middle Americans. "Hillary Clinton's not very bright," said Bannon, not known for holding back or mincing words, "She doesn't really have a grasp on what's important and what's not." The head of Breitbart went on to reference Clinton's notorious 'alt-right speech', and said it landed flat. "That speech of her's is an embarrassment: Breitbart, alt-right, Ethnonationalism, white supremacist... Not only is it morally wrong, but it's totally irrelevant."

In retrospect, many believe Clinton's speech was a mistake. Her words launched the alt-right from a deep corner of the internet to mainstream news media, making it a household name overnight.

Some say it only helped to embolden the movement.

Bannon spoke on the growing wave of populism, on both sides of the aisle, that made for a fiery 2016 election. He feels Clinton never understood this movement, instead opting for identity politics. "The smart guys in the Democratic Party, they understand what's going on," he explained.

"Sherrod Brown gets this, Tim Ryan gets this... The people around [Chuck] Schumer get this."

A desperately needed autopsy

Bannon spoke on Democratic Party failures. One of which, is that Democrats do not have a media company equivalent to his Breitbart- one that will push the party. “The Huffington Posts and Rachel Maddow, they’re just cheerleaders for the donor class of the Democratic Party, he said.

“Until they vet that, until they have their civil war, they’ll never be competitive.”

He took issue with the shortcomings of President Obama's administration following the financial crash in 2008. "That administration understood that they had to go and hold these people on Wall Street accountable, and they blinked," said Bannon.

He spoke on Clinton's 2016 primary opponent Bernie Sanders, whose vision is often seen as the left-wing populist counter punch to the Trump movement, not pushing hard enough with this platform. "Bernie Sanders had every opportunity. He knew about the Clinton corruption, he knew about how the Wall Street crowd has a lock on the Democratic Party, and he did not have the guts to take on Hillary Clinton in that primary."

The future of politics

The key takeaway from Bannon's interview may be the evident turmoil within the GOP.

He is not shy to declare establishment Republicans one of his many enemies. However, if you heed the advice of the Breitbart leader, the Democrats need to abandon the establishment and embrace populism as well. And if you can't stand Steve Bannon, cover your ears, and yell "la la la la la" every time he opens his mouth, take the advice from Elizabeth Warren or another other progressive Democrat. But in the words of Bannon himself, "Is it going to be left-wing populism or right-wing populism? That is the question that will be answered in 2020."
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