Steve Bannon/X
Steve Bannon told a hall full of conservatives that if Democrats win the 2026 midterm elections and the presidency in 2028, some of them will go to prison, including him.
The former adviser to President Donald Trump spoke at an event put on by the Conservative Partnership Institute on Wednesday. His remarks came a day after Democrats racked up electoral wins in several key races, including gubernatorial contests in New Jersey and Virginia, and a referendum in California that could secure five additional Democratic congressional seats. Democrats are hoping he results are a harbinger of next year’s races.
“And I will tell you right now, as God is my witness,” Bannon told the crowd. “If we lose the midterms, if we lose 2028, some in this room are going to prison – myself included. They’re not gonna stop. They are getting more and more and more radical. And we have to counter that. And what do we have to counter it with? We have to count it with more action, more intense action, more urgency. We’re burning daylight.”
Bannon went on to suggest Senate Republicans heed Trump’s demands by eliminating the chamber’s 60-vote cloture threshold, which is currently at the center of the ongoing government shutdown that began on Oct. 1. Republicans need seven Democratic votes to advance their funding bill, but so far Democrats are witholding them in exchange for the extension of Obamacare healthcare premium subsidies, which are set to expire on Dec. 31. However, Republicans have not budged.
“If we don’t do that now, we’re gonna lose this chance forever, because you’re never gonna have another Trump, all right?” Bannon continued. You’re just not going to have him.”
Bannon has already spent some time in prison. Last year, he served four months after being found guilty on two counts of contempt of Congress in 2022. He had defied a congressional subpoena and refused to sit for a deposition in front of the House Jan. 6 Committee. In February, Bannon pleaded guilty to defrauding donors to his former organization, We Build the Wall, which was ostensibly formed to use private funds to build a wall along the southern border. The guilty plea allowed him to avoid jail time. Bannon also faced federal charges stemming from the same scheme, but Trump pardoned him on the way out of the White House in January 2021.
