Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon proclaimed former President Donald Trump’s bid for the White House in 2024 has already begun.
Hours after receiving an 11th-hour pardon from Trump, Bannon threw down the gauntlet on his show, War Room: Pandemic, ahead of now-President Biden’s inauguration.
“President Trump is going to take the White House back in 2024, and that starts today,” he said Wednesday morning. “And it starts with this show, and I don’t care if they don’t like it. I don’t care if the mainstream media doesn’t like it. I don’t care if the Democratic Party doesn’t like it, I don’t care if the state oligarch apparatus doesn’t like it. We’re going to put it in your grill every day.”
Bannon, a former executive chairman of Breitbart News, was charged with defrauding donors who hoped to help privately fund the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border, a key Trump campaign promise. The staunch proponent of Trump’s populist and nationalist variant of conservatism both before and after serving in the White House denied the allegations and had yet to stand trial.
Over the past few months, Bannon has offered his War Room show as a platform for Trump allies, including Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, to air unfounded claims that the 2020 election was stolen. In leading up to his declaration about 2024, Bannon was mocking the size of the crowd showing up for Biden’s inauguration despite restrictions put in place due to the coronavirus pandemic and heavy National Guard presence following the siege of Congress.
Trump, who flew to Florida instead of attending Biden’s inauguration, has not committed to a 2024 run. Before boarding Air Force One for the last time, Trump left his supporters with a promise: “We will be back in some form.” There have been reports that Trump is considering leaving the Republican Party to form his own “Patriot Party.”
Trump was impeached a second time by the House last week on a charge of incitement of insurrection in connection to the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot. He may yet be blocked from being able to run again for office depending on how the Senate votes following a trial. A two-thirds vote is needed to convict.
