Steve Bannon, the Republican strategist and former Trump White House adviser, added another title to his unique resume on Monday: federal prison inmate. Before surrendering himself to Federal Correctional Institution Danbury in Connecticut on Monday, Bannon hosted a farewell episode of his “War Room” broadcast with a little help from MAGA Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
“It’s Monday, 1 July in the year of our Lord 2024. This is federal prisoner 05635-509,” Bannon dramatically declared at the start of the show.
Bannon, who unsuccessfully tried to make a last minute appeal to the Supreme Court that was rejected last week, is set to serve a four month sentence for defying a subpoena in conjunction with the congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. He taped his final episode as a free man from what he described as a “temporary studio right down the street from the Danbury prison.”
Naturally, some very special guests joined the broadcast. Greene and her reported boyfriend, Brian Glenn, a right wing media personality who took a job with the network that airs Bannon’s show last month, were outside the prison with a small crowd of what they dubbed the “War Room Posse.” Greene and her beau interviewed some of these Bannon fans including a woman who gushed that she had watched him “for four hours a day four years in a row.”
At first, Bannon hung out in his makeshift studio to gush over Monday’s Supreme Court ruling that appears to give former President Trump near-blanket immunity for his role in helping fuel the Jan. 6 attack. He then turned the broadcast over to a guest host and got in an SUV for the drive to the prison. The show featured live shots from Bannon’s car during the trip.
When Bannon arrived wearing his signature multiple button downs, he stood alongside Greene in front of their “posse.” Speaking to the cameras, the congresswoman made clear that she was there to support Bannon and others who were charged for their role in the Jan. 6 violence.
“This is a war and it’s a political war, and it’s a political persecution, and it shouldn’t be happening Steve,” Greene declared. “So, I came here to support you, support the American people, and the January 6 defendants that have been wrongly prosecuted, and President Trump.”
Both Greene and Bannon were vocal promoters of the false conspiracies about the 2020 election that led crowds to storm the Capitol building as it was being certified. Greene, who was set to speak at one of the largest protests outside the Capitol that day, also helped organize official opposition to the electoral certification among congressional Republicans.
Outside the prison, both she and Bannon again surfaced their unfounded belief that the House investigation into the Capitol attack and efforts to overturn the election should be invalidated. Echoing a baseless conspiracy theory that Greene started promoting on the day of the attack, Bannon suggested there should be a new investigation that would find that the federal government was actually behind the violence. He said this was one of several things that could result in Trump’s political enemies going to prison if the GOP candidate wins the next election.
For now, it’s Bannon who was headed behind bars. As he stood with Greene and his “posse,” Bannon declared he was “proud” and “totally prepared mentally [and] physically” to begin his sentence. He also predicted his show would be “bigger” than ever and boasted that the right wing was “winning” all around the world.
Bannon wasn’t the only one who took the opportunity for a little strutting. The “War Room Posse” had apparently been infiltrated by anti-Trump protesters. As Bannon spoke, a “Trump Lost LOL” sign unfurled behind him, some people chanted “traitor,” and one of those weird balloon depictions of former President Trump in a diaper floated in the air.
“Victory and death!” Bannon said before stepping away from the microphones. “It’s time for me to surrender up at Danbury.”
Bannon walked back to his SUV through a mixture of taunts and cheers.
“Enjoy the toilet wine! … Payback’s a bitch,” a woman shouted. “Enjoy the toilet wine Steve, I know you’re an alcoholic. I’ll teach you how to make it.”
The “War Room” producers eventually covered the sound with a blaring song about “Jesus’ Love.” As Bannon’s car pulled down the street and onto the prison, cheers could be heard over the music. It was unclear who exactly was cheering and what they were cheering for.
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I think Bannon is in for some re-education. I hope he learns a bit of humility in the next few months. If not, he might get a second chance when his fraud case starts in NY in late September.
I prefer he learn humiliation.
Spork Foot should spend four hours a day, five days a week DOING HER DAMN JOB – being a legislator. She is nothing but a show pony – and an ugly one.
What wretched unAmerican pieces of trash these people are. If the world comes crashing down, dirty water and pollution, the President acting as KING and the wealthy they think they control tell them to pound sand…who will they blame THEN?
Don’t go down this road TPM. If I want irrelevancies I’ll go to CNN.