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As Steve Bannon finishes up the last several weeks of a four-month sentence for contempt of Congress, the right-wing strategist, podcaster, and former Trump confidant — who chose jail over testifying before the January 6 committee — is exhorting the MAGA faithful to show the Republican presidential candidate that they “have his back” in the final run-up to the election.
“Victory is at hand,” Bannon wrote in an op-ed from FCI Danbury, the federal prison in Connecticut where he currently resides.
Published Thursday in The National Pulse, a hard-right digital magazine founded by former Breitbart editor Raheem Kassam, Bannon’s piece claims voters are “decisively rejecting” Democratic nominee and sitting vice president Kamala Harris, deriding her campaign’s optimistic worldview as a “phony ‘politics of joy’” message. Harris, according to Bannon, “has peaked.” Instead, he writes, “The momentum is now on our side, and this is the time to capitalize on it.”
“If the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement focuses all of its efforts on a massive get-out-the-vote and ballot-chasing effort in the crucial days and weeks until November 5th, we will win and win big,” Bannon’s op-ed goes on. “The stakes have never been higher; this is the opportunity to take back control. We are not just fighting for a win; we are fighting for the future of America. A victory of this magnitude means sweeping control of the House, Senate, and the Presidency. With this trifecta, we can destroy the policies that have harmed Americans and put the country back on track.”
Harris currently has a 2.9-point lead over Trump in the latest average of national polls and is ahead overall in the swing states. She’s also leading among young people, though one in six have still not committed to voting at all in November.
Bannon suggests that no voter truly remains “undecided,” but that some people have not yet decided whether or not they will cast a ballot in November. Convincing these individuals to vote for Trump is crucial, Bannon maintains, prescribing “relentless effort and personal contact” as the method by which “they will break our way.”
“President Trump risks his life daily to save our country,” Bannon’s missive concludes. “Every day, he faces tremendous opposition and challenges, but he continues to fight for the American people. Through your work, show him that you have his back. Let’s demonstrate our commitment to this cause by putting everything we have into these final weeks.”
Trump himself has marked the election homestretch by promoting, over the past month, a set of digital trading cards portraying him as a superhero, a line of silver coins bearing his likeness, and, just this week, a collection of watches ranging in price from $499 to a $100,000 “Trump Victory Tourbillion.”
In April, he announced the launch of Trump-branded Bibles, costing $60 each, with a post to his flagging Twitter clone, Truth Social, writing, “Happy Holy Week! Let’s Make America Pray Again. As we lead into Good Friday and Easter, I encourage you to get a copy of the God Bless The USA Bible.”
