Until the impossible became possible — and Donald Trump engineered the political upset of his generation, toppling Hillary Clinton in 2016 — most Americans had no idea who Steve Bannon was.
Visually, he wasn’t much to look at. Bannon wasn’t a workout wonder like RFK Jr., with six-pack abs, nor was he blessed with movie star good looks. Some guys were born with oodles of charisma — the kind of raw, undeniable magnetism that leaps off the screen. Bannon, alas, wasn’t one of those people.
There’s a reason why Trump nicknamed him “Sloppy Steve.”
But after Trump was elected, the media hunted for an explanation. Surely a bumble-headed dunce like Trump couldn’t get elected president on his own! That’s impossible!
So they searched high and low for the behind-the-scenes maestro who pulled all the strings — the shrewd strategist who orchestrated the single greatest political upset since Dewey Defeats Truman Truman Defeats Dewey.
At which point, Steve Bannon leapt out of the shadows: Yup, I’m the genius. It was me all along!
The media, quite naturally, ate it up:
TIME’s new cover: How Steve Bannon became the second most powerful man in the world https://t.co/EJpO6Qqg9K pic.twitter.com/BdpY4Hw9Xb
— TIME (@TIME) February 2, 2017
And not without reason. As far as personal bios go, Bannon was an odd duck with a helluva story. He had military experience as a Navy officer. He was financially savvy enough to work at Goldman Sachs. He was clever enough to acquire a financial stake in Seinfeld (Bannon still receives residuals for Seinfeld reruns). He knew enough about conservative media to run Breitbart — a platform that had long championed Trump’s candidacy. And then he assumed command of Trump’s campaign in August of 2016, just in time to claim credit for the victory?
Maybe he really was the maestro of it all!
Bannon, for very obvious reasons, worked feverishly to advance the narrative of “Steve Bannon, Political Genius.” Within the Trump White House, his media leaks became increasingly self-serving. Instead of leveraging media relations to elevate his boss or the MAGA mission, he sought to mythologize himself.
It all culminated with Bannon losing his job in the White House and getting fired from Breitbart after he leaked negative information about Trump’s children to the fierce Trump critic, journalist Michael Wolff. Among the delightful headlines Bannon helped produce was Business Insider’s Jan. 3, 2018, story, “Steve Bannon Says Ivanka Trump Is ‘Dumb as a Brick’.”
Trump responded in typically Trumpian fashion:
"Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my Presidency," Trump said. "When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind."
[…]
"Steve doesn't represent my base — he's only in it for himself," Trump said. "Steve pretends to be at war with the media, which he calls the opposition party, yet he spent his time at the White House leaking false information to the media to make himself seem far more important than he was. It is the only thing he does well. Steve was rarely in a one-on-one meeting with me and only pretends to have had influence to fool a few people with no access and no clue, whom he helped write phony books."
Michael Wolff is a total loser who made up stories in order to sell this really boring and untruthful book. He used Sloppy Steve Bannon, who cried when he got fired and begged for his job. Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone. Too bad! https://t.co/mEeUhk5ZV9
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018
Today, of course, we know the truth: Steve Bannon didn’t control Trump — because NOBODY controls Trump. The very premise is preposterous. For better or worse, Donald J. Trump is his own man.
He’s like a wild stallion — uncontrollable.
Then in 2024, with Steve Bannon sidelined, Trump proved his point by winning the presidency once again — this time by an even greater margin. Turns out that Bannon was less the leader and more the luggage, because Trump did more to carry him than the other way around.
That’s not to say Bannon is a dim bulb. Clearly, he’s an exceptionally bright man. Some of his political calculations are off-the-charts prescient, i.e. his April 2025 prediction that Cardinal Prevost would become the first American-born pope:
Could the next Pope be the first American-born one?
— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) April 29, 2025
Steve Bannon: "I do think one of the dark horses - and unfortunately one of the most progressive - is Cardinal Prevost... he's certainly on the shortlist."
📺 https://t.co/TnOtTUhsfe@piersmorgan pic.twitter.com/EGGW9tQnhq
He’s also a man brimming with ambition. Just 40 days ago, Axios reported that Bannon was planning to run for president in 2028:
Former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon is laying the groundwork for a 2028 run for president, two people familiar with his thinking tell Axios.
[…]
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who has appeared on Bannon's "War Room" podcast, said: "The Bannon campaign will merge the foreign policy of Rand Paul with the tax policy of Elizabeth Warren."
(Not sure if the MAGA base is clamoring for a Warren-Paul themed agenda, but whatever. Not my monkey, not my circus.)
Either way, it’s a deeply damaging PR look. Setting up your own presidential bid barely a year into Trump’s term seems awfully arrogant and self-indulgent. That’s a poor plan for winning GOP hearts and minds.
Which, if we were being cynical, might explain why Bannon keeps insisting — over and over again — that Donald Trump will be elected to a third presidential term: It lets Bannon play the part of the good, loyal MAGA foot soldier — and then, when Trump (obviously) doesn’t run, guess who’s there to take his spot?
Steve Bannon to the rescue!
It’s so painfully stupid. Between the 22nd Amendment and Trump’s age, it’s an unviable strategy. Aside from the constitutional concerns, Trump would be 86 years old by the end of term #3. After serving two presidential terms (with a hiatus in between), Trump has more than earned his 2028 retirement.
Let the man ride off into the sunset in peace.
Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance is 41, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in his early 50s, and Ron DeSantis is 47. The MAGA movement is a young, energetic movement; it doesn’t need to emulate the Democratic Party, clinging to fossils like Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, and the rest of the geriatric gang.
Steve Bannon will be 75 in 2028. What the hell does he offer the country that Vance, Rubio, or DeSantis can’t?
(Other than Elizabeth Warren’s tax policy, I mean.)
Bannon built his brand on being the “smartest man in the room” — the grim-faced savant with the brains, moxie, and street smarts to know what’s coming next. He’s the realist who understands how the world ACTUALLY works, warts, scars, and all.
And for a little while, he was playing the game perfectly. He built his War Room show into a top 10 political podcast. He aligned himself with the Tucker Carlson/Marjorie Taylor Greene/anti-Israel/isolationist wing, attacking Jewish conservatives like Ben Shapiro as a “cancer.”
In an age of Candace Owens and Nick Fuentes, there was absolutely a market for Bannon’s brand of pseudo-populism. His MAGA appeal could best be explained by the catchphrase he popularized on his podcast: “There are NO conspiracies, but there are NO coincidences.”
(It’s a statement that’s prominently placed in his War Room podcasts.)
And that statement sums up Sloppy Steve: If you don’t think about it too hard, it sounds wise and insightful. Why, Steve Bannon is a political Confucius!
What a genius!
But if you put it under a microscope, you quickly realize it’s a vapid, inane thought: What do you mean, there aren’t any conspiracies or coincidences?!
Here’s a coincidence: Steve Bannon and Scott Pinsker both grew up in Richmond, Va. (Gasp!) Here’s another one: Steve Bannon was born on the exact same day as Curtis Armstrong — the actor who played Booger in Revenge of the Nerds.
I mean, I’m pretty sure that’s entirely coincidental, right?
And as far as there being “no conspiracies,” with the much-ballyhooed release of the Epstein files, we now know that Bannon “conspired” with Jeffrey Epstein to rehabilitate a convicted pedophile’s image.
It’s now 100% proven: Bannon advised Epstein on PR tactics.
Furthermore, while advising Epstein, Steve Bannon also floated the idea on Dec. 31, 2018, to forcibly remove President Trump from office via the 25th Amendment.
This is the same man who swears he supports term #3 for Trump!
From the CNN article, “Steve Bannon Pushed Hard for the Release of the Epstein Files. Then He Was in Them”:
“Epstein is a key that picks the lock on so many things,” Bannon told a July gathering of young conservatives hosted by Turning Point USA. “Not just individuals, but also institutions, intelligence institutions, foreign governments.”
[…]
Bannon, though, has so far offered little public explanation of how he first came to know Epstein or why he shared sensitive information with the disgraced felon in hundreds of text messages and emails.
Their exchanges include shared grievances about Trump — who dismissed Bannon as White House senior adviser in 2017 and once counted Epstein among his friends before a falling out in the mid-2000s. In August 2018, the two discussed the need for an intervention for Trump and the potential liabilities the president faced in his mounting legal entanglements. Bannon once shared an article titled, “How close is Donald Trump to a psychiatric breakdown,” which Epstein then circulated to other close confidantes. In an exchange with Epstein, Bannon referred to Trump and his inner circle as “transitory figures” while suggesting he was the “center of gravity of this movement.”
As for Bannon and Epstein:
In dozens of messages, Bannon advises Epstein on how to navigate the fallout, writing in April 2019: “first we need to push back on the lies; then crush the pedo/trafficking narrative ; then rebuild your image as philanthropist.”
When federal prosecutors rejected a push by Epstein’s alleged victims to throw out his 2008 plea deal, Bannon appeared elated at the news.
“Dude!!!!! Is this real,” he texted Epstein. “Tell me this is real.”
But with Bannon, who’s to say what’s real? Fact, fiction, and fantasy are used interchangeably.
He’s a conspiracy peddler who denies conspiracies — while participating in conspiracies!
No matter. The Epstein revelations were a deathblow to Bannon’s presidential ambitions. There’s ZERO demand in Republican circles for a 75-year-old Epstein-whisperer to replace Vance, Rubio, or anyone else as MAGA’s heir apparent. Because, the more we learned about Epstein, the more we realized that Steve Bannon isn’t a political savant, a super-genius, or a 4-D chess mastermind.
He’s a lying, duplicitous, self-serving hypocrite who can’t be trusted.
And that’s not a “coincidence” either.
It’s causation.
Recommended: Trump Defeats Russia, Wins War for Ukraine: The Shocking Story Behind the Diplomatic Coup of the Century
One Last Thing: 2026 is a critical year for America First. It began with Mayor Mamdani declaring war on “rugged individualism” and will reach a crescendo with the midterm elections. Nothing less than the fate of the America First movement teeters in the balance.
Never before have the political battle lines been so clearly defined. Win or lose, 2026 will transform our country.
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