Alert the MAGA media! On October 29, inmate No. 05635-509 is scheduled for release from a federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut.
The inmate’s name is Stephen Bannon, and the four-month sentence he served for contempt of Congress ends precisely one week before Election Day.
For three years, Bannon, a controversial, pro-Trump warrior and a former White House adviser, waged a legal battle to avoid prison after refusing to comply with congressional subpoenas to testify about the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, in which he had allegedly been a key player and provocateur.
Bannon’s release, with its movie-like timing, will be a Hollywood ending to modern America’s wildest and contentious presidential campaign. In the last week, Bannon could motivate Trump’s base as a “poster child” for his well-versed judicial weaponization and retribution themes.
Furthermore, Bannon will likely juice Trump’s get-out-the-vote effort to “save America” from ruin. In the distorted MAGA mindset, that means only Trump can stop bloated, wasteful government, domestic fascism, economic collapse, the migrant invasion, wokeism and anti-Christianity. Only Trump can reduce inflation and the national debt, increase energy production and end foreign entanglements — with time left over each day for a few hours of Fox News watching, to monitor his loyal subjects.
Bannon, to his credit, is a renowned policy wonk. He speaks “fluent Trumpism” at levels far above the candidate — why Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) called Bannon “the intellectual ringleader of the MAGA circus” — and opponents consider him more dangerous than Trump.
Upon exiting the lockup, Bannon will continue where he left off on July 1, entering prison shouting, “I’m a political prisoner of Nancy Pelosi, I’m a political prisoner of Merrick Garland; I’m a political prisoner of Joe Biden and the corrupt Biden establishment.”
Whether you agree with Bannon’s tirade against the former House Speaker, attorney general or president depends on whether you are a proud member of Team Trump and a loyal “War Room” listener. Bannon’s influential podcast ranks 26th on Apple’s U.S. political list. The show is especially popular with the Proud Boy-Oath Keeper-set of men, to whom Bannon is a hero – especially, after he chose prison over “ratting out” Trump to the House committee investigating Jan. 6.
During Bannon’s last War Room show before incarceration, he said, “It doesn’t matter that I’m in prison. The show will be bigger….They’re making me a martyr….They’re the ones to overplay their hand.”
Proving the strength of Bannon’s brand during this four-month absence, War Room guest hosts have maintained show rankings and will celebrate the 4,000th episode as “General Bannon” makes his triumphal return just in time for the campaign’s grand finale.
One must never underestimate Bannon’s influence on his passionate, gun-owning, Trump-loving audience. They are on guard for when minor voting irregularities — real or contrived — are amplified as “another” rigged election ploy to benefit Democrats. Are MAGA shock troops awaiting their marching orders if Trump loses? Bannon is Trump’s commander in chief of outrage, misinformation and operations from his aptly named “War Room.” Thus, average angst-filled Americans fear Election Day and beyond.
Soon, we will know if Trump plans to go “full Bannon” and send his “Trump Force One” plane to fetch his top influencer from prison. If so, will he land in Washington, D.C., Florida or a battleground state, for Trump to present MAGA political prisoner number one to adoring crowds for maximum media coverage?
At the very least, expect a right-leaning media circus, and expect Trump to use Bannon’s supposed judicial victimhood as a cattle prod for voter turnout.
On the other hand, Vice President Kamala Harris could successfully leverage Trump’s embrace of Bannon and the subsequent media attention to remind voters once again that “Donald Trump tried to throw away your votes. When he failed, he sent an armed mob to the United States Capitol, where they assaulted law enforcement officers.”
Evidence about Bannon’s involvement with the events surrounding the Capitol riot has yet to be presented in court. However, as Raskin put it, “Bannon seems to have been deeply enmeshed in the planning of the disruption of the peaceful transfer of power and the seizing of the presidency for Donald Trump.”
Bannon’s contempt of Congress indictment, dated Nov. 12, 2021, identified him “as present at the Willard Hotel on Jan. 5, 2021, to persuade Members of Congress to block the certification of the election the next day.” Bannon was also “quoted as stating on January 5, 2021, that ‘all hell is going to break loose tomorrow.’”
Fortunately, democracy fought back and ultimately prevailed.
According to evidence recently filed by Special Counsel Jack Smith in the federal criminal election interference case against Donald J. Trump, Bannon had first-hand knowledge of the unsuccessful effort to convince Vice President Mike Pence there had been pervasive voter fraud, and therefore to refuse to certify the Electoral College vote.
Although prison time proved Bannon’s allegiance to the former president he had twice served, there has been much conflict between these headstrong characters, who appear to thrive off and need each other.
Election Day war clouds are forming over America, with 62 percent bracing themselves for some kind of post-election violence. That dark apprehension energizes Bannon’s War Room to prepare for a leadership role in any potential election-related upheaval. Such preparations are warranted. An American Values Survey found that “23 percent of Republicans who hold a favorable view of Trump say that if Trump loses the election, he should declare the results invalid and do whatever it takes to assume office.”
Moreover, this week, a Washington Post headline warned, “Over 230 Republican candidates have cast doubt on the 2024 election.” The report explained “a pervasive effort within the GOP to undermine public trust in the vote ahead of Nov. 5.”
Therefore, remember Bannon’s January 5, 2021, warning applied to November 4, 2024: “All hell is going to break loose tomorrow.” If Harris wins, “tomorrow” could stretch for months because, like Trump, Bannon’s War Room will not surrender or seek peace.
Myra Adams is an opinion writer who served on the creative team of two Republican presidential campaigns in 2004 and 2008.
