Michele Bachmann may no longer be in Congress, but that doesn’t mean she’s withdrawn from the arena. On the contrary, to hear the far-right Minnesotan tell it, she has a role in the Republican presidential campaign as a policy adviser to Donald Trump.
Tea Party firebrand Michele Bachmann says she is advising Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on foreign policy.The former Minnesota congresswoman attended a fundraiser in the state for Trump on Saturday, where she revealed to the press that she has his ear on foreign policy.
“[Trump] recognizes there is a threat around the world, not just here in Minnesota, of radical Islam,” Bachmann told Minnesota Public Radio.
If this sounds vaguely familiar, there’s a good reason: Bachmann was already identified as a Trump adviser in June, when the Republican nominee announced the creation of an “executive board convened to provide advisory support to Mr. Trump on those issues important to Evangelicals and other people of faith in America.”
The name at the top of the alphabetical list: Michele Bachmann.
It’s worth emphasizing that the scope of the former congresswoman’s influence is unclear: Bachmann may see herself as a prominent Trump adviser on matters of foreign policy and religion, but whether Trump sees her input as valuable in any way is an open question.
That said, to whom a candidate listens on substantive issues matters, and if Bachmann’s correct, the far-right Minnesotan has the ear of her party’s presidential nominee.
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Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."