Steve Bannon started out in the Trump administration as a White House counselor. Since then, he has been an independent raconteur with a relatively small audience podcast. He will also be heading into court in July on Contempt of Congress charges.
He generally rants and raves as if he is really the leader of a movement. He uses the pronoun “we” to predict that the MAGA Movement will soon take over. “We” will get 50 to 60 percent of the Hispanic vote, he says.
He wallows in provocative language and revolutionary type terms. While he is predicting a Republican victory in the November midterm elections, he makes it sound as if that is his personal MAGA victory. That only works if you believe that the entire Republican Party is part of his self-defined “MAGA Movement” – and a follower of Bannon. Both are untrue.
If Bannon is a leader of any dimension, it is over a very small band on the fringe of the greater GOP. Yes, it seems as though Republicans are going to do well in November, but Bannon is largely insignificant to that prospect. He represents a fringe even within a larger MAGA constituency – and the MAGA culture (if there is such a thing) is only a minority element among Republican leaders and voters.
One can fairly argue that President Trump has a base within the Republican Party – and that could be called the MAGA crowd, if you like. Although, I think Trump’s base is smaller than Trump, Bannon and the Democrats contend.
Bannon likes to talk big – and make himself out to be a much bigger player on the political scene. He is not even popular among those who have a real claim to MAGA voters. Trump fired Bannon and has not brought him back into the inner circle – not even during the 2020 presidential campaign.
And top MAGA lieutenant Roger Stone led the cheering section when Bannon lost his effort to have his Contempt of Congress indictment dismissed. Stone sees Bannon as the guy responsible for his own indictment.
Just to get a sense of his impotence, wait until Republicans win in November. And then wait until a Republican returns to the White House in 2025 – even if it is Trump. You will not see Bannon in any key role. He will not be in the White House in any capacity – not even as a visitor. He will receive no presidential appointments. That is because he is not a leader of anything more than a small band of fans.
Should Republicans take over Washington, as Bannon predicts, he will still be hunkered down at his podcast proclaiming his importance and leadership of a Bannon movement that for all intents and purposes hardly exists at all.
Yes, there is a movement that bodes well for Republicans, but it is much larger than the described MAGA movement – and much much larger than Bannon’s imaginary movement of which he sees himself as the leader. It has a name. It is called the Conservative Movement – and Bannon does not own it. And no amount of bloviating will change that.
So, there ‘tis.