President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Friday to embrace  former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon as one of his “best pupils” after his ex-aide appeared on CNBC and dissed Trump’s 2020 rivals. “Nice to see that one of my best pupils is still a giant Trump fan,” the president wrote on Twitter. “Steve joined me after I won the primaries, but I loved working with him!” The tweet, which also included a clip of Bannon praising Trump as a “great leader,” was a far cry from Trump’s earlier Twitter takedowns of his former aide, in which he mocked Bannon as “Sloppy Steve” and claimed he’d “cried” when he was booted from the White House. In his comments to CNBC, Bannon talked up Trump’s chances of winning a second term and said no current Democrat in the presidential race could beat Trump. “If the Democratic Party wants to take on Donald Trump, I got a news flash for them: They're not going to take on Donald Trump with Joe Biden,” he said, adding that Biden likely couldn't take Trump’s “withering assault” during the campaign. He described the rest of the Democratic field as “a pillow fight” that couldn’t withstand the “amazing campaigner” Trump is. “If they want to take out Donald Trump, I don't see anybody on the stage on either night that are going to come close to taking out Donald Trump,” Bannon said.