When CNN wanted to feature a stridently pro-Trump pundit in 2019, they often turned to Steve Cortes — whose willingness to defend President Donald Trump at every turn stood in stark contrast to the views expressed by conservative CNN pundits like S.E. Cupp and Republican strategist Ana Navarro. Cortes is now a senior adviser for Trump’s reelection campaign, and an article by the Daily Beast’s Scott Bixby exposes some of his more extreme views.
Navarro and Cupp are conservative but not far-right; Cortes is far-right, and Bixby offers some examples in his August 3 article. Trump drew widespread criticism when, on June 1, protesters in Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C. were violently removed by law enforcement so that Trump could walk from the White House to St. John’s Episcopal Church for a photo-op; in Cortes’ view, Trump hasn’t been harsh enough with protesters.
On the June 25 broadcast of his program, “The Steve Cortes Show,” Cortes remarked, “If Trump were the fascist that they pretend that he is, wouldn’t he have cracked down much, much harder on the unrest in the American streets? To be quite honest, you know — when there were people being bloodied, cops being attacked, businesses being smashed — I could have used a tad bit more of a fascist Trump.” Continue reading.