Steve Bannon's history of sexist, homophobic and xenophobic comments

The former White House strategist is no stranger to controversy

Mr Bannon has made controversial comments about his opponents for years (AFP/Getty Images)

Standing before a crowd in Alabama, trying to drum up support for Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore, former White House strategist Steve Bannon has channelled his inner Ivanka Trump — and in the process has joked about child molestation.

“There’s a special place in hell for Republicans who can know better,” Mr Bannon said Monday, suggesting that establishment Republicans in Congress are only using President Donald Trump to push through tax reform.

The crowd burst into applause, and Mr Bannon pointed out into the audience like he was a big-name entertainer playing a sold out night at Madison Square Garden. His words were an apparent reference to the President’s daughter, who weeks earlier said there is a special place in hell for child molesters, just after several women had come forward to accuse Mr Moore of pursuing sexual relationships with them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s.

Mr Bannon, who left the White House months ago to return to Breitbert News, and who backed Mr Moore during the Republican primary for the race, is no stranger to controversial remarks.

Here’s a roundup of some of those remarks.

“They wouldn’t be a bunch of dykes that came from the Seven Sisters schools up in New England. That drives the left insane, and that’s why they hate these women”

Mr Bannon made these comments about conservative commentator Ann Coulter, and female Republican politicians like Michele Bachmann, and Sarah Palin. The quote came in 2010, while Mr Bannon was promoting a documentary, and suggested that the “women’s liberation movement” would backfire for Democrats, because “pro-family” women with husbands would be the women who win public office.

“Sean got fatter”

Mr Bannon said this about former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer when asked by the Atlantic in a text why the White House was holding so many off-camera press briefings earlier this year. He didn’t respond to follow-up questions.

“I think that most people in the Middle East, at least 50 per cent, believe in being Sharia-compliant. If you're Sharia-compliant, or want to impose Sharia law, the United States is the wrong place for you”

Mr Bannon made this comment in 2015. Susan Hennessey, a former lawyer for the National Security Agency, later told USA Today that the comment sounded like he was using the term “Sharia-compliant” to implicate all Muslims.

“Our backup strategy is to f*** [Hillary Clinton] up so bad that she can’t govern. If she gets 43 per cent of the vote, she can’t claim a mandate”

Mr Bannon said this toward the end of the 2016 election, just as it appeared that Mr Trump was bound to lose the election to Ms Clinton. Mr Trump ended up winning the election in the Electoral College, but losing the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes to Ms Clinton.

“They’re either a victim of race. They’re a victim of their sexual preference. They’re a victim of gender. All about victimhood and the United States is the great oppressor, not the great liberator”

These comments came during a 2011 appearance on a political talk radio show, intoning that the progressive movement in the United States is based on “victimhood”, and not actual inequality as seen throughout history.

“It’s been almost a Camp of the Saints invasion into Central and Western and then Northern Europe”

These comments refer to the 1973 novel The Camp of the Saints, which details the story of immigrants destroying Western culture. The book has been criticised for reframing immigration issues as a fight to the death between races in the world.

“She’s pure evil… I’m gonna unchain the dogs”

Mr Bannon said this of former Fox News host Megan Kelly after she asked Mr Trump about his history of sexist remarks during the Republican debate in August 2015. Mr Bannon and Breitbart then launched a smear campaign against Kelly.