NBC News describes Bannon’s very popular podcast, “War Room,” as “a kind of proxy primary” for ambitious Republicans looking to demonstrate loyalty” to Trump.
On this show, Joe Biden is not the real president, and the theory that Covid-19 leaked from a Wuhan, China, lab has been a hot topic for more than a year. Bannon encourages skepticism about vaccines one minute and peddles zinc and Vitamin D pills the next.
In an interview with NBC News, Bannon said candidates who appear will be pushed first and foremost on what he called "a litmus test" for the GOP: challenging the outcome of the 2020 election.
"So Nov. 3 is not going to go away," Bannon said. "There will not be a Republican that wins a primary for 2022 — not one — that doesn't take the pledge to get to the bottom of Nov. 3."
Guests are a who’s who of MAGA extremists: Eric Greitens, the former Missouri governor, ousted over a sexual misconduct scandal and now current U.S. Senate candidate; MyPillow guy, Mike Lindell; and, of course, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. NBC News notes that a day after she was condemned by Republican House Leaders Kevin McCarthy and Elise Stefanik for likening COVID safety protocols to the Holocaust, Greene got a “sympathetic ear” from Bannon on his show. Greene’s probable soon-to-be-indicated sex-trafficking tour buddy, Rep. Matt Gaetz, is a frequent guest, too.
And speaking of Stefanik, she also showed up while she was working to oust and replace Rep. Liz Cheney from her House leadership position.
Bannon, you may recall, was arrested last summer for being part of a fraud scheme in which he allegedly siphoned hundreds of thousands for his personal expenses from donors to the “We Build the Wall” charity, despite its promise that all of the donated money would go to building the wall.
But on his way out of the White House, Donald Trump pardoned Bannon. Also, he hates cancel culture and critical race theory. That, apparently, is enough for the GOP to overlook any defrauded members of their own constituencies.
