donald Trump’s confidant And far-right provocateur Steve Bannon speaks for nearly four hours seven days a week on his show, War Room. But starting Monday, the only people listening to Bannon will be other inmates at a low-security federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut.
Two years ago, a federal jury found him guilty of contempt of Congress for ignoring subpoenas related to the investigation into the Jan. 6 incident at the U.S. Capitol. The judge sentenced Bannon to four months in prison. Last week, the Supreme Court finally rejected his final appeal, and Bannon is scheduled to return to prison on Monday.
In the meantime, he appears to be trying to fit in as many stories as possible before going silent for most of the presidential campaign. An unrepentant Bannon has been making the rounds of mainstream media claiming he hates them. he said hour In an article in the magazine last week, he said he was ready to go to prison. “I have no fear at all… I am a political prisoner,” Bannon said. “I am at war with the ruling class of this country… I have dedicated my life to this. I have no social life. This is my life.” He added that Americans should not expect him to come out of prison “ripped”; the 70-year-old boxer would rather be languishing in a library than working out.
On Saturday, he spoke to NBC News and doubled down on what sounded like a call for political violence against innocent observers.
“Victory or death for this republic,” Bannon told NBC News when asked what his ultimate goal was.
“If we don’t win, they will destroy the Constitution first and foremost. That will be the death of the American Republic as we know it,” he said.
In an interview with ABC’s Jonathan Karl that aired Sunday, Bannon declared that Trump would win the election “in a landslide.” He also disputed claims that he has incited political violence with his frequent references to civil war. But when Karl asked whether he would accept the results of the 2024 election and urge his supporters to do the same, Bannon was evasive. “Have you ever asked the Democrats that question? Yes or no?” he said.
Karl responded, “I’ve never seen Democrats storm the Capitol to try to stop an election.” “And I have no problem asking Democrats if they will respect the election.”
Karl also asked Bannon about Trump’s plans for a second term and Trump’s “retaliatory” campaign against his perceived enemies. Bannon had a few things to say on the subject. He mentioned people he believes could be investigated and potentially face prison, including Trump’s former attorney general, Bill Barr, and FBI Director Christopher Wray. Among the key agenda items he said Trump would focus on were “mass deportations” and “attempts to dismantle the administrative state, brick by brick.”
While Bannon has made many predictions that the MAGA movement will eventually take over the country, Karl noted during the interview that many of Bannon’s favored candidates lost in the last two midterm elections.
“This is a populist nationalist revolution.” Bannon answered. “It’s a process.”
But he isn’t worried about Trump’s ability to beat Biden. “We’re 100 percent confident that we can beat Biden, beat him big, take the Senate, take the House,” Bannon said.
Nonetheless, Bannon did not support Trump debating Biden on CNN last week. This is especially true under debate conditions that allow the moderator to cut off the microphone if a candidate exceeds the allotted time. He also believed that because the debate took place so early in the campaign, it would give Democrats time to replace Biden with a better candidate. He predicted they would always do that. “I didn’t think Biden would be the candidate,” he told Carl.
But he actually said Trump brought one of his team members to the debate for the nation, suggesting the former president was trying to show the world how much Biden’s mental capacity had deteriorated. Next time, Bannon said, “President Trump should debate who the Democratic nominee is.” “It’s not Joe Biden.”
Bannon also spoke directly to supporters who watch his show and prepared them for the off-air time. On Friday he told his supporters not to send him letters, and he promised not to read them. Instead, while he was in prison, he urged them to work.
“Use your time, conserve your resources, utilize your time. and your time ~ No Sent me a letter to prison that I won’t read. Do you know why I don’t read books?” he asked. “Because I’m going to work. Besides working in prison, what will you be doing the rest of your time? “It is a complete and utter victory.”
Bannon is expected to leave prison just before the November election.
