With the recent fail of his appeal, it looks like the former Trump adviser is going to prison.
Steve Bannon, former Trump advisor and current conspiracy theorist, is going to jail (Richer 2024). The decision by Judge Carl Nichols comes amid a failed appeal by the former Trump advisor against charges of contempt of Congress. The Justice Department previously charged Bannon after he refused to testify before the January 6th committee (Stephen K. Bannon Indicted for Contempt of Congress 2021). While Republicans are certain to cry foul, it is clear that the only person who is to blame is Bannon himself.
A Bigot vs The Law
Bannon has a long and sordid history of using apocalyptic and reactionary rhetoric to justify his fight against so-called elites. Bannon was the co-founder of the alt-right and conspiracy website Breitbart News (Posner 2016), promoting and maintaining far-right talking points, including the take that former President Obama was importing “more hating Muslims.” From his position as a propagandist in the racist right-wing media sphere, Bannon expanded his reach, shifting the Overton Window towards extremism and radical racial politics.
It was that bigoted rhetoric and propaganda that put him into then-candidate Donald Trump’s orbit, allowing to spread his noxious prejudice into the mainstream. Through Trump, Bannon was able to expand his reach and gain traction, tying his ability to spread his message with his loyalty to Trump. His show “Bannon’s War Room,” serves as both a mix of conspiracy theories and pro-Trump propaganda (Doyle 2024).
However, it was this loyalty to Trump, which Bannon used to influence the body politic, that would lead to his current legal woes. After January 6th, House Democrats began an investigation into the events leading up to the attack on the Capitol. The committee, now known as the January 6th Committee, began subpoenaing witnesses, including Bannon. When the committee demanded his testimony in a deposition, Bannon refused, arguing that the committee was illegitimate. He further refused to hand over documents sought by the committee. Bannon has lambasted the resulting conviction ever since (Khalil 2022).
In a continuous opposition to the consequences of his actions, Bannon has vowed to appeal his conviction and subsequent sentence all the way to the Supreme Court. However, with his most recent appeal failing, Bannon must report to prison by July 1st. Though Bannon has suggested he will not comply after he was asked if he’d continue broadcasting from a cell. Bannon replied “Who says I’m reporting?…WarRoom cannot and will not be silenced” (Doyle 2024). Even in his conviction and subsequent imprisonment, Bannon remains contemptuous.
The Martyrdom Complex
While Bannon faces challenges in the courts, the right has made him into a martyr, falsely portraying Bannon’s impending incarceration as an act of the deep state. Former President Donald Trump argued that Bannon is a victim of “political thugs,” in a post on his social media app, Truth Social (Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 2024). Representative Bob Good (R-VA) has also defended Trump, publicly campaigning with him in a rally this Friday, arguing that Bannon has the marks of “freedom and patriotism,” and that the former Trump strategist has “put it all on the line for the country.” Using his supposed service to Trump and the Trumpist movement as the metric of service to the country, Republicans have effectively turned Bannon’s own failure to obey lawful orders into a sacrificial act.
Through this mythology of martyrdom that conservatives use as a means of shielding themselves from reality. Bannon could have complied with the lawful subpoena sent to him by the January 6th committee. They were duly elected and held the lawful power to demand testimony under the Constitution. Bannon could have easily complied with their orders while also criticizing the committee as provided by the First Amendment. Instead, Bannon chose to disregard a lawful order and is paying the price for it. All of this was thanks to his fealty to Trump and that fealty is precisely the problem for the right. By tying themselves to the toxicity and self-destructive leader of their party, the right has turned themselves into a legion of delusional martyrs in waiting. Bannon could be a free man, but he won’t be because he decided to put the interests of Trump over his respect for the law.
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References
“Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump).” https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/112571273082033339 (June 8, 2024).
Doyle, Katherine. 2024. “Steve Bannon Is Heading to Prison and Trump Is Losing a Key Voice in the Months before the Election.” https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-steve-bannon-prison-war-room-show-rcna138682 (June 8, 2024).
Karni, Annie. 2024. “Weeks Before Prison, a Defiant Bannon Is Still Rallying MAGA World.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/07/us/politics/steve-bannon-bob-good-trump-prison.html (June 8, 2024).
Khalil, Ashraf. 2022. “Steve Bannon’s Contempt Conviction Hailed by 1/6 Committee.” The Associated Press. https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-steve-bannon-donald-trump-congress-government-and-politics-26c539434d968d642563b38c34a62916 (June 8, 2024).
Posner, Sarah. 2016. “How Steve Bannon Created an Online Haven for White Nationalists.” Mother Jones. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/08/stephen-bannon-donald-trump-alt-right-breitbart-news/ (June 8, 2024).
Richer, Alanna. 2024. “Trump Ally Steve Bannon Must Surrender to Prison by July 1 to Start Contempt Sentence, Judge Says.” The Associated Press. https://apnews.com/article/steve-bannon-contempt-jan-6-committee-prison-2da50bcf2f8ff8f3e01ef4bf2b1b845e (June 8, 2024).
“Stephen K. Bannon Indicted for Contempt of Congress.” 2021. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/stephen-k-bannon-indicted-contempt-congress (June 8, 2024).
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