Steve Bannon, the three-shirted MAGA strategist sat for an interview with The Economist and the media came away focused on his confident belief that Trump will serve a third term in 2028.
(*Because he’s a vehicle for divine providence. We should just get used to it.)
Bannon says the MAGA movement has to “seize the institutions, seize them and then purge them.” He talks about a new civil war as if it’s inevitable.
Bannon is attempting to normalize the shunning of the Constitution because MAGA doesn’t care about the Constitution, they care about power.
Bannon tries to explain why America needs the populist movement to “look out for the little guy,” to be the revolutionary movement the country needs — to “reclaim this country, turn it around, put citizens first, and create an entrepreneurial capitalist paradise for average people in this country — who happen to be citizens.”
He warns MAGA to not be docile, but to go to the ramparts to block the opposition.
“…You move with a maximalist strategy, with a sense of urgency, and you seize the institutions. That’s what we’re doing right now.”
“I don’t see how that’s a recipe for defusing this crisis?” the interviewer responds. “I think when people feel shut out of power and interest groups can’t get representation or input into policy-making, that’s precisely when you end up with civil war.”
“To avoid actual civil conflict, which I think you’re seeing the beginnings of now, MAGA has to bind together even tighter,” Bannon said. “The mechanism will be that people in the Democratic Party will adjust… You’ll force the civil war to be inside their party.”
- The Economist‘s Zanny Minton Beddoes, editor-in-chief, and Ed Carr, deputy editor, sat down with Bannon in his home in Washington, DC., to discuss the MAGA movement, civil war, and Trump’s third term. Below is an extended excerpt (13 minutes) of a longer interview (under paywall).