Chicago City Wire

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon spent at least part of his segment as Steve Cortes’ first official guest on his new AM 560 Radio show reminding the host that he may have actually missed his first calling.

“I always thought you would have been a great communications director under President Trump at the White House,” Bannon said during the show. “You have a great ability to articulate President Trump’s policies, his strategies, what he wants to do.”

Bannon went on to brand Cortes as “one of the best communicators in the country,” especially when it comes to speaking to the movement that propelled Trump into the White House in 2016.

Steve Bannon

“Your show should be looked at as a call to action,” Bannon said. “You just get it. You have the unique ability, like President Trump, to connect to middle-class people, particularly people that don’t make politics the No. 1 thing they go to everyday when they go to the newspapers.”

After serving as a member of Trump’s Hispanic Advisory Council and as a political commentator on CNN, as well as a regular on CNBC, FOX Business and FOX News, Cortes recently joined Salem Media as afternoon host on WIND from 5 to 7 p.m. weekdays. On his webpage, Cortes said he hopes to make use of his close relationship with Trump to the tune of being able to provide “an exclusive, insider perspective on what’s happening in the news.”

With the 2020 election nearing, Bannon said such a strategy resonates as music to his ears.

“The most important thing heading into 2020, I think, is accurate information,” Bannon said. “That’s incumbent. For everybody, these shows are to listen, but also calls to action. It’s no longer time to just be a consumer of this content, of news; you’ve got to take action.”

The son of an immigrant who made his way to Georgetown University, where he played football and was a George F. Baker Scholar, Cortes vowed that he is again up for a new challenge.

“It always helps when you really believe in what you’re advocating for,” he said. “And I’m truly a believer in the president.”

Previous afternoon host and former Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh recently vacated the slot to launch a challenge against Trump for the Republican nomination.