Former White House chief strategist and far-right firebrand Steve Bannon has accepted an invitation to speak at the University of Chicago, according to a report in the school’s student-run newspaper.
A date for the event has not been set, but Prof. Luigi Zingales told The Chicago Maroon on Wednesday that he invited Bannon to campus, and Bannon accepted.
“Whether you like his views or not, he seems to have understood something about America that I’m curious to learn more about,” Zingales told The Maroon.
University officials have not confirmed the event. Student protesters were planning to demonstrate Thursday morning against Bannon’s appearance.
Bannon has not spoken publicly since his ouster earlier this month from the Breitbart News Network as a result of his break with President Donald Trump.
Trump lashed out at Bannon for comments made in Michael Wolff’s book “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” which portrays the president as an undisciplined man-child who didn’t actually want to win the White House, and quotes Bannon as calling his son’s contact with a Russian lawyer “treasonous.”
