Bannon's radical vision
The Trump whisperer is organizing a populist revolution
![Steve Bannon.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/pXQZeaCxuBrHStdHeN8GT5-415-80.jpg)
This is the editor's letter in the current issue of The Week magazine.
Laugh at Steve Bannon. Go ahead. Snigger at his grizzled, unkempt, soup-kitchen mien and his multiple layers of XXL dress shirts. Roll your eyes at the ogre's vainglorious rhetoric. "I'm never backing down," Bannon said after appearing in court this week on contempt charges for defying a subpoena from the House's Jan. 6 special committee. "We're taking down the Biden regime." Who's we? The populist, nativist movement Bannon helped launch and shape a decade ago through the gleefully racist, misogynistic, and rabidly anti-immigrant website Breitbart. In 2015, Bannon harnessed that movement to a New York City real estate mogul named Donald Trump. He's "a blunt instrument for us," Bannon explained.
For his central role in propelling Trump to the White House, Bannon was rewarded with a West Wing job as chief strategist; after a big falling-out, a Bannon indictment for alleged fraud on a failed border-wall project, and a Trump pardon, Bannon returned to Trump's circle after the 2020 election. He joined a "war room" of loons and opportunists who told the humiliated president that yes, the election had been stolen and that the results could be overturned. On a Jan. 5 podcast, Bannon advised his populist army: "Strap in. All hell is going to break loose." What did he know about the violent attack on the Capitol the next day — and who else knew it? The House committee would like to ask him those questions under oath. Naturally, Bannon has refused to testify. With the Volk behind him, he need not bow to the elite's silly norms, laws, and subpoenas. "We're taking over school boards," a defiant Bannon said. "We're taking over the Republican Party with the precinct committee strategy. Suck on this!" Jan. 6 was but the first skirmish; the war has just begun. "Stand by," Bannon advised the Volk as he livestreamed outside the courthouse. "We're going to go on offense." Go ahead and laugh.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.jpg)
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
William Falk is editor-in-chief of The Week, and has held that role since the magazine's first issue in 2001. He has previously been a reporter, columnist, and editor at the Gannett Westchester Newspapers and at Newsday, where he was part of two reporting teams that won Pulitzer Prizes.
-
Red Speedo: a 'darkly comic' doping drama
The Week Recommends Lucas Hnath's play stars Finn Cole as a 'reptilian' swimmer determined to win at all costs
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Published
-
One Aldwych: where London's creative spirit takes centre stage
The Week Recommends This five-star Covent Garden hotel is the epitome of elegant independence
By Julia O'Driscoll, The Week UK Published
-
Charlotte Dujardin and equestrianism's dark side
In the Spotlight Olympic gold medallist and dressage star's suspension over horse whipping brings abuse in horse sports back into the spotlight
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?
Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Biden, Trump urge calm after assassination attempt
Speed Reads A 20-year-old gunman grazed Trump's ear and fatally shot a rally attendee on Saturday
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Supreme Court rejects challenge to CFPB
Speed Read The court rejected a conservative-backed challenge to the way the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is funded
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published