Steve Bannon

Stephen Kevin Bannon is an American businessman, "documentarian", and former executive chairman of Breitbart.com, an alt-right online tabloid.Steve Bannon leaves Breitbart News amid Trump row --BBC News, 9 January 2018 Bannon is the self-made man Trump pretends to be: from Naval Officer to Harvard grad, to Goldman Sachs banker (oh boy), to Hollywood producer, to an anti-US globalist tool,Stephen Bannon once guided a global firm that made millions helping gamers cheat by Shawn Boburg & Emily Rauhala (August 4, 2017 at 11:15 AM) The Washington Post. to hobo,Robert O'Harrow Jr. and Shawn Boburg, "During his political rise, Stephen K. Bannon was a man with no fixed address", WaPo 3.11.17. to (eccentric) media mogul, to White House senior staffer,The alt-right Leninist to being indicted on federal fraud charges.Steve Bannon Is Charged With Fraud in We Build the Wall Campaign By Alan Feuer, William K. Rashbaum and Maggie Haberman (Published Aug. 20, 2020) The New York Times
According to Ronald Radosh, Bannon sees himself as a "Leninist", stating, "Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that's my goal too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment."Steve Bannon, Trump's Top Guy, Told Me He Was 'A Leninist' Who Wants To ‘Destroy the State’: The Breitbart executive director turned GOP leader boasted at a party about his goal of destroying the conservative establishment by Ronald Radosh (08.21.16 10:00 PM ET) The Daily Beast. And that includes the Republican Party itself.Gray, Rosie, "The Populist Nationalist on Trump's National Security Council", Atlantic (3/24/17 at 5:00AM).
The similarities between the Breitbart crowd and Project Mayhem from Fight Club are strange.Farhi, Paul, "How Breitbart has become a dominant voice in conservative media" WaPo 1.27.16. But it's not corporations they're at war with: it's cosmopolitans and elites.
After making every possible political mistake, Bannon was finally let go from the Trump administration on August 18, 2017.https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/18/us/politics/steve-bannon-trump-white-house.html He returned to Breitbart, only to be canned from that organization. The BBC reported on January 9, 2018, "Steve Bannon's fall from power is now complete." 
In November 2021, Bannon was indicted by a federal grand jury on two counts of contempt of Congress.Carrie Johnson, Justice Department charges Steve Bannon with criminal contempt of Congress. NPR, 12 November 2021.Stephen K. Bannon Indicted for Contempt of Congress. United States Department of Justice, 12 November 2021. Bannon was found guilty of both counts on July 22, 2022,"Stephen K. Bannon Found Guilty by Jury of Two Counts of Contempt of Congress", press release, United States Attorney's Office District of Columbia, 2022 July 22 and sentenced to 4 months in prison on October 21, 2022."Steve Bannon sentenced to 4 months in jail for contempt of Congress" by Kevin Breuninger, CNBC, 2022 October 21
==Oeuvre==
 
As a film director, Bannon modeled himself on Michael Moore and Pearce, Matt, "Stephen Bannon found inspiration in ancient thinkers, Ronald Reagan and Nazi propaganda", L.A. Times (12/9.16 at 1:10 PM). He bankrolled his projects with the residuals from Seinfeld, which he had a small hand in producing.Stern, Marlow, "Rob Reiner on Steve Bannon Getting Rich Off ‘Seinfeld’: ‘It Makes Me Sick’", Daily Beast (11.17.16 4:59 AM ET).
If you look at his love affair with Sarah Palin, it's clear that he has been looking for an empty vessel to enact his policy agenda for some time:
In 2012, Bannon directed Occupy Unmasked, a "documentary" about the "sinister" nature of the Occupy Wall Street movement and their connections to Obama.
==War...War never changes==
He was also involved with a loony Arizona project to test whether 8 "dedicated researchers" could live self-sufficiently and grow their own food (they couldn't, as they paired off and started fucking to pass the time, while also splitting into two factions of four that hated each other), first as a cost overrun investigator (for instance, the then-CEO of the management company has used some of the funds to redecorate her house), then as CEO. He was accused of harassing women at the project. It all ended in a lawsuit."The Strange History of Steve Bannon and the Biosphere 2 Experiment", Vice."Trump’s Campaign CEO Ran a Secretive Sci-Fi Project in the Arizona Desert", Mother Jones. Apparently, around this time, he was well acquainted with and studied the basics of global warming, believing in it and even being concerned with its ethical issues."Steve Bannon Used to Believe in Science. Now He’s America’s Top Climate Villain", The New Republic.
==Views==
His political views are hard to know. He doesn't give many interviews or talk about his personal life, and his speeches are all over the map—most likely because he has an agenda that he's not fully disclosing, so some of his stated "beliefs" are a means to an end. The best way to collect information on him would be to listen to every episode of Breitbart News Radio he's hosted. But since we can't do that, here are the facts.
===Economics===
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Bannon traced the genesis of his economic outlook to his father, Marty, who got burned by Jim Cramer and lost a lot of money in 2008.Bryan, Bob, "Trump adviser Steve Bannon attributes his worldview to a simple stock-investing mistake his dad made after listening to Jim Cramer", Business Insider (3/15/17 at 10:36 AM). This shattered his confidence in institutions (though apparently not in pundits). If we were to give Marty the benefit of the doubt at that time, starting at 39.90 a share, it would have dropped to 26.77 on October 31, 2008. This means that Marty would have had 300-400k in AT&T stock alone. Marty had enough money in the market to lose 100k on one company, and he's griping that no one was paying attention to his family during one of the biggest economic crises in history. People were being thrown out of their homes; maybe there were other pressing concerns. And the Trump cabinet is pushing for the fiduciary laws to be killed, which makes no sense in this context.Ben Protess and Julie Hirschfield Davis, "Trump Moves to Roll Back Obama-Era Financial Regulations", NYT 2.3.17.
Over the past couple of decades, you've heard from the people at Davos that the age of the "nation-state" is over. Not if Steve Bannon has anything to say about it! In the past, he criticized the political establishment for funneling wealth from the working class of the United States to create a new middle class in China.Wolff, Michael, "Ringside With Steve Bannon at Trump Tower as the President-Elect's Strategist Plots 'An Entirely New Political Movement'", Hollywood Reporter (11/18/16 at 10:00 AM PST).
The most cryptic thoughts shared by Bannon refer to the three types of capitalism. During a Vatican speech, Bannon criticized state capitalism and Ayn Rand-cutthroat capitalism. Bannon instead wants to create (or recreate) a form of capitalism based on Christian values.Purdy, Jedediah, "The Anti-Democratic Worldview of Steve Bannon and Peter Thiel", Politico 11.30.16. Mixed into the Kool-Aid is a call for a proletarian revolution."I'm the patron saint of commoners!", Breitbart News Daily with Jordan Schachtel 1.11.16. He calls on Christians everywhere to rise against "crony capitalists" and Wall StreetLevitz, Eric, "Why Steve Bannon Hates Paul Ryan", New York Magazine(11/17/16 at 10:14 a.m). and to support "a cap on wealth creation and distribution".
Democrats and Republicans support global alliances and trade deals like Bretton Woods, NAFTA, the EU, the WTO, the IMF, the World Bank, and the UN. These are the cornerstones of the liberal world order. When Bannon says he wants to "destroy" the bipartisan "establishment", this is what he wants to destroy. From his point of view, he's saving the United States from the forces that have drained its wealth. By forcing China (and Europe) back into their cage, the hope is that other nations of the world can no longer depend on American largesse and will take responsibility for their own survival and growth.
===Islam===
As to the cultural side, Bannon has said he believes a country is more than an economy. This is probably why Breitbart is so opposed to the refugee resettlement program:Blue, Miranda, "Steve Bannon’s Dystopian View Of Refugees", Right Wing Watch (1/31/17 at 12:59 pm). he sees Muslim immigration as a threat to European culture—his culture.
In the days after the September 11 attacks, former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir condemned the attackers and gave a speech in which he said, "Islam is peace." That statement was repeated by George W. Bush. On his radio program, Bannon said it was "the dumbest" comment that Bush made.Breitbart News Daily with Dr. Thomas D. Williams, 5.11.16. In subsequent shows, Bannon sarcastically refers to Islam as the "religion of peace". (In fairness, so do we sometimes.)
In various interviews on Breitbart News Daily, Bannon told his listeners that the Western world is engaged in a "global existential war": "I think that most people in the Middle East, at least 50%, believe in being 'sharia-compliant'", by which he means Islam-observant.Breitbart News Daily with Rosemary Jenks, 12.8.15. (This is pretty much the logic of ISIS, too.) In interviews with Frank Gaffney and others, he entertained claims of a "fifth column" of Islamist sympathizers that has infiltrated the government and news media.Breitbart News Daily with John Guandolo, 7.15.16.Breitbart News Daily, with Frank Gaffney, 7.29.16. 
Al-Qaeda enjoyed his saber-rattling so much that they used him as a recruiting tool in their official newspaper.Al-Qaeda likes Steve Bannon so much, they put him on the cover of their official newspaper by Amanda Erickson (March 3 at 2:35 PM) The Washington Post. Good one, Steve!
===Playing footsie with Nazis===
Bannon is most-known for promoting sexist and bigoted views through his website.How Donald Trump's New Campaign Chief Created an Online Haven for White Nationalists: Breitbart News is "the platform for the alt-right," boasts Stephen Bannon by Sarah PosnerRealist_left (Aug. 22, 2016, 5:00 AM) Mother Jones. His defenders say that Breitbart's "headlines are designed to attract attention and readers, and are not necessarily evidence that Bannon himself is an anti-Semite, a misogynist, or an anti-Muslim bigot".Steve Bannon: Five Things to Know, Anti-Defamation League, accessed April 27, 2018 But Bannon may be an ethnic nationalist, as some have said. The rumors come from a conversation he and Trump had where Trump was sympathetic toward Asian immigrants needed in the tech sector. Bannon responded by saying that he thought they had too many of them already and that they undermined civic society.Kosoff, Amy, "Steve Bannon’s Racist Comments About Silicon Valley Are Also Wildly Inaccurate", Vanity Fair (11/17/16 at 9:37 am). It's incredibly suspect that he's partnered with people/headed initiatives that push xenophobia. If he does have a white nationalist agenda, that would explain the reticence to be open on any coherent viewpoint.Bannon also supports Israel, and he is by no means an anomaly, as there are some in the alt-right who are firmly pro-Israel, insofar as it's a place where they can send Jews to get rid of them and/or use it as a model for their own white ethnostate.
In any case, he is a nationalist. He described himself as an "economic nationalist" in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. He has expressed a desire to end illegal and legal immigration, so it is more accurate to say he is a cultural nationalist. He doesn't like how the United States government operates and would rather it be replaced with another form of government. Whites make up 70% of the electorate, though they're in decline; appeal to enough whites, and it becomes easier to enact your agenda.
In August 2024, The Guardian reported (via the think-tank) that an -oriented neo-Nazi UK-designated terrorist group called ran a Telegram channel that purported to claim that it was the official home of Steve Bannon's "War Room Posse". Although one of the administrators of this channel claimed that Bannon was involved, there is no evidence that Bannon is associated with this channel in any way. But it does suggest that neo-Nazis view Bannon's audience as one who would be susceptible to their extremist fascist propaganda."Neo-Nazi terrorist group using Steve Bannon account to radicalize people" by Ben Makuch, Guardian, 2024 August 20"The Terrifying Way Literal Nazis Are Using Steve Bannon’s Podcast" by Edith Olmsted, New Republic, 2024 August 20
====The kids are alt-right====
The pipeline from Gamergate to the alt-right is well-documented. Pre-Breitbart, Milo Yiannopoulos referred to gamers as “pungent beta male bollock-scratchers and twelve-year-olds”.Twitter postTwitter post When Gamergate exploded, Yiannopoulos was brought on by Steve Bannon to appeal to gamers, which Bannon himself admits was an attempt to court them politically.Bernstein, Joseph, "Here's How Breitbart And Milo Smuggled White Nationalism Into The Mainstream", Buzzfeed (5 October 2017 at 4:28 p.m. ET).Snider, Mark, "Steve Bannon learned to harness troll army from 'World of Warcraft'", USA Today (Updated 18 July 2017 at 7:28 p.m. ET). In 2014, Yiannopoulos published his first Breitbart article on Gamergate, just a couple of weeks after Eron Gjoni began shopping the story that would become "Gamergate" on 4chan, Something Awful, and Penny Arcade.
What does that have to do with the alt-right? Yiannopoulos was a spokesman for both movements. On March 29, 2016, Milo published “An Establishment Conservative’s Guide to the Alt-Right."An Establishment Conservative’s Guide to the Alt-Right. breitbart.com, 29 March 2016. It later came out through leaked emails that he was workshopping that article with Andrew “Weev” Auernheimer (who himself publishes on The Daily Stormer) and Devin Saucier (the editor of the white supremacist magazine American Renaissance).Garcia, Catherine (6 October 2017). "Leaked emails show how Milo Yiannopoulos worked with Stephen Bannon, alt-right to transform Breitbart". The Week. Retrieved 6 October 2017. Then there was that time Yiannopoulos sang “America The Beautiful” in front of a live audience, including Richard Spencer, who gave Milo a Sieg Heil.Milo Yiannopoulos And White Supremacists At Karaoke. Youtube.
===Great Walls of Fire===
While hosting his radio show, Bannon made statements that diverged from 45 years of foreign policy:
America hereby declares war on China and volunteers Steve Bannon as our lone soldier. His bravery will not be forgotten.
But...wait, missiles on "aircraft carriers"? Aren't aircraft carriers for planes and stuff?
==Political career==
Bannon says many things, but money talks louder: he has an affinity for grassroots parties, especially those with a "center-right"Feder, J. Lester, "This Is How Steve Bannon Sees The Entire World", Buzzfeed (updated 11/16/16 at 11:49 a.m.). or "Judeo-Christian" focus. This includes European populist parties like UKIPHope, Christopher. "Exclusive: Donald Trump's new chief strategist Steve Bannon 'will call Nigel Farage before Theresa May'", Telegraph (11/15/16 at 3:07pm). and the Front National.Usborne, David, "Plans by far-right news website to launch in France thrills nationalist party of Le Pen", Independent (11/15/16 at 6:32 PM BST).'Let them call you racists': Steve Bannon delivers fighting speech to France’s National Front by James McAuley (March 10, 2018 at 4:01 PM) The Washington Post. Putin gets a pass because he has kompromat on Trump is a strong "traditionalist"/"nationalist".
So what is a traditionalist? Bannon doesn't tell us much about it, but he tells us which thinkers promote it. Specifically, he attributes it to two people: 
He doesn't mention the other by name. Still, he references one of Putin's advisors who is a proponent of "Eurasianism", which narrows things down to Aleksandr Dugin—who has also been profiled by Breitbart. Both of those men are prominent fascist thinkers. So, in other words, Bannon says the U.S. needs to consider adopting the ideology put forward by Evola/Dugin and that the movement they inspired (and their influence on Putin) is one positive thing happening in Russia right now. That's as much of an admission of sympathy for fascism as you'll get from a Beltway insider.
Shapiro also name-dropped because you can't discuss Planet Breitbart without covering the Mercers. Robert M. is a tech guru with some wingnutty libertarian views and is also Trump's biggest financier. The Mercers backed Ted Cruz until he lost momentum and realized Trump was a better vehicle.Kutner, Max, "Meet Robert Mercer, the Mysterious Billionaire Benefactor of Breitbart", Newsweek (11/21/16 at 9:59 AM). The difference between the two is that the Mercers only care about power (akin to plutocratic Russia),Gray, Rosie, "What Does the Billionaire Family Backing Donald Trump Really Want?", Atlantic 1.27.17. while Bannon is on some holy crusade. If Trump had lost the nomination, the Mercers would have shifted their allegiances, whereas Breitbart would not have been as kind—even during the general election.Swan, Jonathan, "How Breitbart turned on Ted Cruz", The Hill (08/19/16 04:08 PM EDT).
===Cambridge Analytica===
The Mercers with Bannon founded Cambridge Analytica in 2013.How Cambridge Analytica broke into the U.S. political market through Mercer-allied conservative groups by Michelle Ye Hee Lee & Craig Timberg (March 23, 2018, at 7:50 PM) The Washington Post. Cambridge Analytica is a big data company that allowed Trump to overperform in the Rust Belt and influenced Brexit's success. Guess who sits on the board of Cambridge?Hannes Grassegger and Mikael Krogerus, "The Data That Turned the World Upside Down", Motherboard via Vice (1/28/17 at 6:15am). That and Breitbart are among the tools at his disposal to nurture a return to nationalism in various countries.https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pold15c8H70
In 2018, Cambridge Analytica was alleged to have committed illegal acts before and during the 2016 Presidential election campaign, including with Facebook data.Revealed: Trump’s election consultants filmed saying they use bribes and sex workers to entrap politicians (19 Mar 2018) Channel 4. Cambridge Analytica is also associated with Frontier Services Group (whose CEO is Erik PrinceOur Team Frontier Services Group), which provides security to Chinese businesses in Africa.The Latest: Cambridge Analytica links to Blackwater founder (March 21 at 7:15 AM) Associated Press via The Washington Post.
===White House strategist===
In 2016, he became the CEO of Trump's presidential campaign. On November 13, he was appointed as the President's chief strategist.Trump Names Reince Priebus as Chief of Staff, Steve Bannon as Senior Adviser, ABC News, Nov 13, 2016
In the early days, Trump and Bannon were ticking off the signs of Putinism like it's a to-do list. The war on media and truth was probably the most blatant aspect of this,"Alt-fact: Trump's White House threatens war on media over 'unfair attacks'". Haaretz. Reuters. January 22, 2017. something Bannon was quite proud of:Has Anyone Seen the President? by Michael Lewis (February 9, 2018 at 2:00 AM PST; Corrected February 21, 2018 at 2:31 PM PST) Bloomberg.
It wasn't just CNN that was banned from the White House; it was a sizable chunk of the press pool.White House bans certain news media from briefing (25 February 2017) BBC. (While Breitbart and the Moonie Times got in.) Meanwhile, a man who wanted to tear down the world order of the last 150 years was continuously handed more power in the administration.Everett, Burgess, "McCain blasts Bannon placement on National Security Council", Politico (01/29/17 11:52 AM EST).Danner, Chas, "Bannon Had to Be Reminded He Wasn’t President", Independent (February 4, 2017 3:26 p.m.).Wemple, Erik, "Does Stephen Bannon text Paul Ryan?", WaPo (2/6/17 at 6:12 PM)."Donald Trump 'didn't realise he promoted Steve Bannon to National Security Council when he signed order'" by Andrew Buncombe (2/7/17 at 2:22 PM GMT) Independent. Trump was sealed up in a bubble by those he trusted;Bryan, Bob, "Trump reportedly called his national security adviser at 3 a.m. to ask if the US wanted a strong or weak dollar", Business Insider 2.8.17. this is how Cheney and Rumsfeld got Bush on board for the Iraq War.Breitbart News Daily with Brandon Darby & Bob Price, 11.27.15.
====Stopped clock?====
Being a self-proclaimed populist with anti-establishment views, Bannon pushed for a 44% marginal tax rate on the highest earners in the country,Grim, Ryan, "Steve Bannon is pushing for 44 percent marginal tax rate on the very rich", Intercept (26 July 2017, 3:25 p.m.) presumably in a roundabout attempt to run to the left of Obama. He also broke rank by openly opposing possible military action in North Korea,http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/08/17/steve_bannon_rules_out_a_military_option_in_north_korea_and_contradicts.html but his resignation left the future of the Land of the Morning Calm uncertain. He also called out the bullshit the DNC pulled on Bernie Sanders in an interview with Bill Maher.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUOY8wY60W4
====Downfall====
The focus on Trump's "both sides" comment by the press missed what was happening.Stanage, Niall, "Exclusive: Bannon blasts 'con artist' Kochs, 'lame duck' Ryan, 'diminished' Kelly", The Hill (8 August 2018, 6:00 AM EDT). Trump was probably only dimly aware of what was happening if even that.McLaughlin, Kelly, "Trump has reportedly said that his speech after the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville was the 'biggest f---ing mistake' he's made", Business Insider (4 September Sep. 4, 2018, 1:06 PM). But Bannon was appointed as a "strategist" to wrangle the Neo-Nazis into going out and stirring the pot. This is an old tactic by right-wing governments. People don't remember that Milo Yiannopoulos, working directly under Bannon, was having private meetings with Richard Spencer before the election. He'd give a speech in a liberal college town, the left would show up, and then the Nazi gangs would get bused in to crack some skulls.Bauer, Shane, "What the Media Got Wrong About Last Weekend’s Protests in Berkeley", Mother Jones 29 August 2017. It all blew up in Charlottesville, though, with the murder of a woman; Bannon was sacked a few days later.Woodhouse, Leighton Akio, "After Charlottesville, the American far right is tearing itself apart", Intercept (21 September 2017, 1:26 p.m.) Those 8chan guys have no idea what to do except channel that energy into the mosque and synagogue shootings.Caroline Bankoff and Jen Kirby, "27-Year-Old ‘Right-Wing Troll’ Charged With Murder in Quebec City Mosque Shooting". NY Mag. January 30, 2017.Campbell Robertson, Christopher Mele and Sabrina Tavernise, "11 Killed in Synagogue Massacre; Suspect Charged With 29 Counts", NYT 27 October 2018."New Zealand mosque attacks suspect praised Trump in manifesto", Aljazeera (16 March 2019).
And in the end, the Trump clan did what they always have done: behead their servants like celebratory bottles of champagne. Trump was annoyed by Bannon and friends pulling a fast one on him, placing Steve on the Security Council via an Executive Order Trump signed without reading.Trump insists he calls the shots Also, Bannon's at loggerheads with Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Kushner is pushing the neoliberal economic policy Bannon pretends to despise, thus ingratiating him with the Washington crowd to the exclusion of Bannon.Suebsaeng, Awsawin, "Steve Bannon Calls Jared Kushner a ‘Cuck’ and ‘Globalist’ Behind His Back", Daily Beast (4/06/17 at 9:44 AM ET). The kid learned at the knees of Charles Kushner, a guy so ruthless in destroying anyone who opposed him that he once had a prostitute seduce his brother-in-law, got it on tape, and sent the video to his sister.Mansernus, Laura, "Major Donor Admits Hiring Prostitute to Smear Witness", NYT 8/19/14. What a shocker that a day drunk racist got played.Darcy, Oliver, "Breitbart editors tell staffers to stop writing stories critical of Jared Kushner, sources say", Business Insider (4/10/17 at 12:40 PM).Blake, Aaron, "Trump just made some very strange comments about Stephen Bannon", WaPo (4/11/17 at 10:13 PM).
On January 3, 2018, President Trump cut all ties with Bannon, stating, "Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.”Trump Breaks With Bannon, Saying He Has ‘Lost His Mind’ --NYT, 3 Jan 2018, by Eileen Sullivan et al. This was in response to Bannon being quoted in a forthcoming book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, regarding Trump's election campaign The meeting included Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort:
As is his style, President Trump branded Bannon with the nickname "Sloppy Steve" on his way out the door. This was presumably a reference to Bannon's disheveled looks.https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/367724-trump-attacks-book-author-as-loser-and-sloppy-steve-bannon-as-crier Some Trump supporters expressed disappointment that "Stinky Steve" or "Skunky Steve" were not officially chosen.
With Bannon's removal from the NSC,Robert Costa and Abby Phillip, "Steven Bannon no longer a member of the National Security Council", WaPo April 5, 2017. an effort was underway to shuffle him off to some fat-salaried think tank glue factory.Henderson, Barney, "Donald Trump 'considering sacking Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus' as simmering West Wing feud engulfs White House", Telegraph 8 April 2017.Wegmann, Philip, "Will Steve Bannon take over Heritage after Jim DeMint leaves? Mike Needham won't say", Washington Examiner (30 April 2017, 12:29 PM).
==European gap year==
In 2018 he headed off to Europe, hoping to unite all of Europe's far-right parties into one populist and anti-European Union organization centered around a foundation called "The Movement", which he planned to set up in Brussels, Belgium. The Movement would provide support and possibly money to right-wing populist parties throughout the EU, in the same way he imagined George Soros controlled Europe's left.Steve Bannon plans foundation to fuel far right in Europe, The Guardian, 21 July 2018 To fulfill this scheme, he met with members of several parties: 
* Mischaël Modrikamen of Belgium's People's Party, the only politician who accepted his proposal and joined The Movement.
* Filip Dewinter of Vlaams Belang (formerly Vlaams Blok), also of Belgium.The Mayfair dinner that brought Europe's far right together, The Guardian, 21 Nov 2018
* Nigel Farage of UKIP in the UK. Like Farage, his attacks on big business are highly suspect since Bannon got rich by working in the Mergers and Acquisitions Department of Goldman Sachs.Another Goldman Sachs Alum Joins Donald Trump’s Campaign by Dan Primack (Updated: Aug 17, 2016, 5:43 PM PDT) Fortune. Rob Ford of the University of Manchester said Bannon and Farage had a lot in common: "They have an exaggerated sense of how many people actually bought into their core agenda."The Rise and Fall of Steve Bannon and Nigel Farage, Yasmeen Serhan The Atlantic, Jan 2018
* Jérôme Rivière of France's National Rally (formerly Front National).
* Kent Ekeroth, associated with Sweden Democrats, although in trouble with them for being a bit violent.
* Jacob Rees-Mogg of the UK Conservative Party met Bannon in December 2017.Jacob Rees-Mogg met Steve Bannon to discuss US-UK politics, The Guardian, 1 Dec 2017 Later Rees-Mogg and Bannon denied that they wanted to be involved with each other, making it hard to know who was genuinely opposed to working with the other and who was sulking.Jacob Rees-Mogg distances himself from Steve Bannon, Reuters, 19 Sep 2018
* Boris Johnson, also of the UK Conservatives, met Bannon in July 2018.Ignore Boris Johnson’s sex life. His flirtation with Steve Bannon is the real worry, Matthew d'Ancona, The Guardian, 9 Sep 2018
Sadly (for him and arguably nobody else), his scheme ran into several problems. Firstly, most European countries have electoral laws governing political parties' operations with bans on foreign funding (it's easy to understand how a former Trump aide would miss this). This meant most parties were legally unable to accept his support.Steve Bannon's far-right Europe operation undermined by election laws, The Guardian, 21 Nov 2018 Also, some nationalists didn't like foreign interference, including reportedly Marine Le Pen of the French National Rally.
==Book club==
His apocalyptic worldview has been partly influenced by his interpretation of the pseudoscientific book The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy by William Strauss and Neil Howe.Howe, Neil, "Where did Steve Bannon get his worldview? From my book.", WaPo 2.24.17.
Since 2015, Bannon has repeatedly referenced the dystopian French novel which has been accurately described as "shockingly racist".Blumenthal, Paul. Rieger, JM. This Stunningly Racist French Novel Is How Steve Bannon Explains The World. Huffington Post. 03/04/2017
==Great Walls of Fraud==
In 2018, an ultra-right-wing military veteran named started (in lieu of the , which in part occurred over disputes over funding for Trump's planned "wall" with the United States-Mexico border) a crowdfunding campaign on to raise money to give to the government some of the wall funding."A GoFundMe campaign wants to raise money for a border wall. But it isn't that simple" by Jessica Estepa and Christal Hayes, USA Today, 2018 Dec 20 Kolfage assured supporters that the fundraiser "is not a scam""As Trump holds out for border wall funding from Congress, GoFundMe raises nearly $5 million in 3 days" by Carmin Chappell, CNBC, 2018 December 20 (even though Kolfage had run some questionably right-wing conspiratorial ad farms on Facebook in the past)."Founder of viral fundraiser for Trump's border wall has questionable news past" by Ben Collins and Brandy Zadrozny, NBC News, 2018 December 20"The guy behind the GoFundMe account for Trump’s border wall used a Facebook page network connected to fake news sites to boost his campaign" by Natalie Martinez, Media Matters, 2018 December 20 In February 2019, the campaign switched focus away from GoFundMe and directed all attention to a new nonprofit group called "Border wall GoFundMe organizer says Steve Bannon, Kris Kobach now supporting his plans" by Alexis Egeland, The Republic, 2019 Feb 6"GoFundMe Border Wall Campaign Implodes, Turns to Kris Kobach and Sheriff Clarke" by Lachian Markay and Will Sommer, Daily Beast, 2019 Jan 11 Bannon was brought in to chair the advisory board;"A private group chaired by Steve Bannon has started to build its own border wall after receiving millions from GoFundMe" by Nicole Einbinder, Business Insider, 2019 May 26 other anti-immigrant hard-liners closely associated with Trump, such as Kris Kobach, Tom Tancredo, and also got involved in the organization."Vigilantes helped Steve Bannon's group with Private Border Wall Near El Paso" by Debbie Nathan, The Intercept, 2019 May 31 
In the middle of 2019, a parcel of land near El Paso, Texas, was chosen for the initial construction of the wall (with the help of a right-wing militia group called the , a group that the ACLU described as a "racist and armed" "fascist militia organization" whose activities include illegally detaining migrants entering the United States,"ACLU Condemns ‘Vigilantes’ Who Are Allegedly Detaining Migrants On The Border" by Andrew Hay, Huffington Post, 2019 April 19 and a landowner sympathetic to their cause)."A Militia Scorned: We Build the Wall's Broken Love Affair With New Mexico Vigilantes" by Beau Hodai, Phoenix New Times, 2019 May 1 By 2020, a small section of the wall was completed, despite clashes with the over failure to get permits, cutting off access to waterways and a public monument, and building a gate for the wall on federal land without authorization."The Group That Built A Privately Funded Border Wall Is Under Criminal Investigation" by Salvador Hernandez, BuzzFeed News, 2019 August 7 From some accounts, the construction was completed too hastily. It was poorly designed, so questions were raised over potential flooding. There was concern that erosion could eventually lead to the wall falling into the ."He Built a Privately Funded Border Wall. It’s Already at Risk of Falling Down if Not Fixed." by Jeremy Schwartz and Perla Trevizo, ProPublica, 2020 July 2"Construction to resume Saturday on privately funded U.S.-Mexico border wall" by Jim Thompson, Panama City News Herald, 2020 Jan 10
It turns out that building the wall may not have been the entire purpose of the nonprofit. On August 20, 2020, Bannon, Kolfage, acting administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (a person previously notable for, as the interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, helping to get charges against Michael Flynn dropped and getting Roger Stone's sentence reduced),"Timothy Shea Is Getting Replaced As D.C.’s Top Federal Prosecutor After Rocky, Short Tenure" by Matt Blitz, DCIst, 2020 May 18 and financier Andrew Badolato were charged with fraud by federal authorities; Bannon was arrested that day in Connecticut. The charge accused Bannon of funneling more than one million dollars from We Build the Wall through an unnamed nonprofit organization, some of which was used for personal expenses. Kolfage was also charged for funneling $350,000 in donations for personal use."Steve Bannon Is Charged With Fraud in ‘We Build the Wall’ Campaign" by Alan Feuer and William K. Rashbaum, New York Times, 2020 August 20"Leaders Of ‘We Build The Wall’ Online Fundraising Campaign Charged With Defrauding Hundreds Of Thousands Of Donors", Press Release, US Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York, 2020 August 20"Steve Bannon arrested and charged with fraud" by Shane Savitsky, Axios, 2020 August 20
Naturally, Donald Trump couldn't just sit there and let a fellow loyal grifter actually get punished for his misdeeds. So, on January 20, 2021, only hours before Trump departed the White House, Trump granted a full presidential pardon to Bannon, perhaps as a protective measure to maintain his loyalty."Trump pardons Steve Bannon as one of his final acts in office" By Pamela Brown, Paul LeBlanc and Kaitlan Collins, CNN, 2021 January 20"Trump’s Pardon of Bannon Could Raise Risk for 3 Co-Defendants" by Benjamin Weiser, New York Times, 2021 Jan 26 The others weren't so fortunate; having pleaded guilty to some of the charges on April 21 2022, on April 26 2023, Kolfage was sentenced to 51 months in prison, and Badolato was sentenced to 36 months in prison. Shea, meanwhile, was convicted of wire fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of justice on October 28 2022."Statement Of U.S. Attorney Damian Williams On The Conviction Of Timothy Shea", Department of Justice, US attorney's Office, Southern District of New York, 2022 October 28"Two Sentenced To Prison For ‘We Build The Wall’ Online Fundraising Fraud Scheme", Department of Justice, US Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York, 2023 April 26"United States v. Kolfage, et al.", United States Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York As presidential pardons only cover federal charges, Trump's pardon didn't stop the state of New York from launching their own indictment against Bannon in September 2022, alleging money laundering, fraud, and conspiracy."Steve Bannon charged with fraud over border wall fundraiser" by Sam Cabral, BBC News, 2022 September 8
In 2025, Bannon pleaded guilty to "one count of scheme to defraud, a low-level felony" in relation to his diverting funds from the "We Build the Wall" scheme.Trump ally Steve Bannon pleads guilty and avoids jail time in border wall fraud case (February 12, 202512:11 AM ET) Associated Press via NPR.
==Spreading COVID-19 and 2020 election misinformation==
Despite the legal troubles, Bannon still had enough followers to listen to him. So Bannon continued to post right-wing bullshit on social media under the program title Steve Bannon's War Room. This eventually got Bannon into trouble when, in one War Room episode in November 2020, he called for pandemic expert and FBI director to not only be fired but to be beheaded and put their "heads on pikes" just like the "old times of Tudor England". The blatant advocacy for violence was enough for Bannon to get permanently booted from Twitter, get the offending episode removed from Youtube, lose the service he was using to mail newsletters (), and, to top it off, lose the legal counsel that was defending him against these fraud charges."Steve Bannon lawyers want off his criminal case after ex-Trump advisor discussed Fauci beheading" by Dan Mangan, CNBC, 2020 November 6"Steve Bannon’s show pulled off Twitter and YouTube over calls for violence" by Devin Coldewey, Techcrunch, 2020 November 5"Twitter permanently suspends Steve Bannon account after talk of beheading" By Curt Devine, Donie O'Sullivan and Kara Scannell, CNN, 2020 November 6 Additionally, YouTube banned Bannon's "War Room" program on January 8, after Rudy Giuliani appeared on the program two days after the 2021 U.S. Capitol riot, and falsely blamed the riot (whose participants were, in reality, largely those in the alt-right or MAGA social sphere) on Democrats."YouTube bans Steve Bannon's podcast channel hours after Rudy Giuliani appeared on an episode and blamed the Capitol siege on Democrats" by Joshua Zitser, Business Insider, 2021 January 9 Bannon also confirmed that he was involved in planning the rally immediately preceding the January 6 coup attempt.Steve Bannon Confirms His Involvement in January 6 Insurrection on 'War Room' Podcast by Andre J. Ellington On 9/22/21 at 2:47 PM EDT) Newsweek.
Although the bans significantly reduced the spread of misinformation,"YouTube says it’s getting better at taking down videos that break its rules. They still number in the millions." by Gerrit De Vynck, Washington Post,2021 April 6 Bannon continued to babble bullshit on his podcast, which was still listed on platforms run by Apple and Google, and appeared on an obscure cable and streaming media outlet called "Real America's Voice"."Here are the platforms still streaming Steve Bannon’s podcast" by Justin Horowitz, Media Matters, 2021 January 26"Who would allow a host who made death threats to keep his show? Real America's Voice, apparently" by Darrell Lucus, Daily Kos, 2021 March 30 In 2021 Bannon's focus increasingly shifted to supporting Donald Trump's bullshit "election fraud" claims, with his show underwritten by fellow election fraud bullshitter Mike Lindell."Former Trump White House Aide Steve Bannon Still Airs MyPillow Guy’s Election Lies" by S.V. Date, Huffington Post, 2021 March 30 Bannon was happy to host guests like Lindell and Giuliani, giving them a platform to repeat their baseless fraud allegations (and even wackier bullshit, such as a strange allegation from Giuliani that the Lincoln Project helped participants in the 2021 U.S. Capitol riot). This transpired despite pending libel lawsuits by voting machine manufacturers and against the two."Steve Bannon scolds Rudy Giuliani after he falsely claimed the Republican Lincoln Project helped Capitol rioters" by Sophia Ankel, Insider, 2021 Jan 30 Bannon also continued to push bullshit advice on COVID-19, featuring guests such as Marjorie Taylor Greene pushing bizarre anti-vaccination or anti-face mask musings."Marjorie Taylor Greene pushes to "Fire Fauci," ban "vaccine passports"; visits Trump" by Zachary Petrizzo, Salon, 2021 April 2 
Unsurprisingly, Bannon also took a page from the playbook of right-wing hucksters ranging from Jim Bakker to Infowars and started hawking his own brand of bullshit supplements on his show using the name "Wellness Warrior"."Steve Bannon: Wellness Warrior?" by Stephanie Mencimer, Mother Jones, 2021 March 20 A collection of zinc and Vitamin D3 called the "War Room Defense Pack" was marketed by Bannon as "the ultimate defense against sickness"."The War Room Defense Pack", www.warroomdefense.com, archived on archive.is on 2021 April 19 On April 15, 2021, the United States Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Wellness Warrior, alleging that they were violating the COVID-19 Consumer Protection Act by marketing these simple vitamins as a treatment for COVID-19 that was more effective than vaccination."Justice Department and FTC Announce Action to Stop Deceptive Marketing of Purported COVID-19 Treatments", Department of Justice, press release, 2021 April 15"COVID-19 Consumer Protection Act of the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act", Pub. L. No. 116-260, 134 Stat. 1182, Division FF, Title XIV, § 1401, archived at FTC.GOV
==External links==
*What Steve Bannon Wants You to Read — He's like the Rain Man of nationalism.
*Behold, Steve Bannon’s Hip-Hop Shakespeare Rewrite 
*Checkmate, liberals![Still not The Onion]
*Steve Bannon (02/02/2019 - 13:46) FOIA Research
*Doccumentary on Steve Bannon's life up to 2017 from Frontline.
==See also==
*Grover Norquist — Grover is also an admirer of Lenin.
*Dinesh D'Souza — The best piece of Dinesh trivia is how he made sure the KKK uniforms were research-perfect in his janky movie about how Dems are the real party of racism.
==Notes==
==References==
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