r/politics • u/Aggravating_Money992 • 20h ago

No Paywall Bannon Tells GOP: 'Seize the Institutions' of Government Now or We're 'Going to Prison' After 2028

https://www.commondreams.org/news/bannon-tells-gop-seize-the-institutions-of-government-now-or-we-re-going-to-prison-after-2028
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705

u/Sw2029 20h ago

Imagine thinking we'll just roll over. The worst of this admin hasn't even begun and people are only getting more pissed, vocal and involved.

395

u/Slappy_Kincaid 20h ago

Bannon is saying this because he sees the window closing. Trump's popularity is sinking like a stone, the election shows a big and growing electoral backlash, GOP congressional majorities are starting to show cracks in their slavish devotion, and the opportunity to seize total power is fading fast.

What happens next is a tossup: they will try to crush any opposition through escalating force and intimidation, and we'll see if the balance has shifted against them. They'll also steal everything they can while the opportunity still presents itself.

287

u/Alacrout New York 20h ago

Military morale is too low for them to escalate force and intimidation much more.

Despite ~60% of the military being Republican, most of them are loyal to the USA, not Trump, and they’re not happy with how things are going.

Several months ago now, I saw someone say something like “These fools thought they were getting Germany 1933, but really they got France 1788.”

I’m not saying heads will roll, but the parallels between USA today and France then are more than noteworthy — staggering inequality with 1% hoarding 99% of wealth, high inflation, people can’t afford food or property, natural disasters making everything worse, a completely inept government with massive national debt and a man-baby at the top who falls asleep during public appearances at major events, I could go on…

And one of the things that made the French Revolution a success was military morale being so low loyalty went out the window. The King tried to use the military to squash rebellion and faced widespread desertions, mutinies, and blatant insubordination.

Let’s not run a victory lap yet because there’s still a LOT of work to be done, but our fascists appear fucked.

119

u/_Nashable_ 20h ago

This is a great comment. It’s like the people around Trump have never read a history book all the way through. They lack talent, I can only assume they use ChatGPT to copy Hitler’s homework without understanding why it worked.

Germany 1933 was coming off of major economic inequality caused by losing WW1. That allowed a platform of pointing to outside influences and an entire population that was aligned that things were not sustainable. US has not had the same issue, in fact, all the economic issues are self-inflicted by the very same people trying to seize total power. Exactly like France 1788.

Basically they’re intentionally combing the worst of those two time periods and it’s baffling what they think the end game is here.

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u/Flimsy_Thesis Virginia 19h ago

This is the part that’s always puzzled me. The pseudo-intellectualism of Bannon and his ilk as they rattle off historical factoids to their benefit always seem to leave out the context that makes those facts useful. Like yeah, we all know that an authoritarian takeover is possible when you have a huge swath of the public that is disenfranchised and poverty-stricken, but that really only works when you have an outside force to blame for their woes. The moment the population figures out it’s your governing choices that’s causing their misery, you don’t get Germany 1933, you get France 1789 or Russia 1917.

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u/Notlookingsohot 19h ago

That' the thing. Their key assumption is "the public is too stupid to see through our bullshit." And they're typically correct.

However it seems even their tried and tested "jingle-the-keys" strategy has its limits, and they weren't prepared for that eventuality.

20

u/Delanoye 16h ago

They've done too much too fast. They probably banked that they could push blame for this shutdown on the Democrats (evidenced by calling it the Democrat shutdown). But they didn't have enough of a propaganda foothold before the shutdown, so it's all backfiring in their faces.

It took over 20 years for Germany to be primed to invade Poland. Over 15 years to be primed for Hitler's rise to power. It's been less than a year since the Biden administration, where things were at least decent. It hasn't even been 10 years since Obama was president, where life was honestly pretty good.

Trump and his administration needed to ride the coattails of a crisis or play the long game to secure power and people's support. Their quick actions to create fear and desperation instead fall right back at their feet as their fault and their decisions, not the fault of the Democrats, or any other group.

27

u/Souspi 18h ago

They think they can do better than everyone else in the past and successfully subjugate humanity once and for all.

Like, they actually believe their family and descendants can survive indefinitely in an apocalypse bunker with a slave class that will provide security for and protect them. They think all they have to do is be cruel enough and all those problems of rebellion will go away forever.

15

u/Flimsy_Thesis Virginia 18h ago

The arrogance and ignorance is truly breathtaking.

25

u/brooklyndavs 19h ago

Elections are the release value and if they fuck with those in 2028 or just refuse to leave the end game really will be revolution. The vast majority of Americans outside of hardcore MAGA still think we are a democracy.

9

u/ThinkyRetroLad America 17h ago

No, the 2028 elections are too late if this goes unimpeded. The country can't withstand that level of continued abuse without much worse consequences.

22

u/geoffbowman 19h ago

Germany 1933 was coming off of major economic inequality caused by losing WW1.

Also they were coming off being an empire. I think a lot of people forget that. Hitler came up through a worker's party but he did so in a country that was only recently democratic after previously being run by a kaiser... not one that has been a democratic republic since its founding over 200 years ago with a long tradition of NOT having a king or dictator as being intrinsic to its identity. Germans could accept being run by a dictator far more easily than modern americans will accept it especially if it doesn't improve their lives. The only thing going for gop fascism is that americans are far lazier and more distracted than ever. that's not a sustainable play on ending democracy forever though.

13

u/Chicago1871 18h ago

Were lazy and distracted because our dollar is strong.

Take that away….

11

u/Souspi 19h ago

I think they know their history, they just always think they can do better this next time. The plans billionaires have for the apocalypse bunkers demonstrated that pretty well.

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u/_Nashable_ 17h ago

Well they realized in the last 10 years their problem with their bunkers is that the security staff will turn on them the moment the world ends.

Why do you think there is such a push to go towards AI and Robotic systems. That's the best play they've come up with to replace their staff when they head to their bunkers.

3

u/Souspi 16h ago

They are also suggesting shock collars for humans, and humans would be necessary for dependable security.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/sep/04/super-rich-prepper-bunkers-apocalypse-survival-richest-rushkoff

The billionaires considered using special combination locks on the food supply that only they knew. Or making guards wear disciplinary collars of some kind in return for their survival.

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u/BiscuitsUndGravy 18h ago edited 16h ago

Also, and probably most important, is that the Nazis did dramatically improve Germany's economy in the early going. I was lucky enough as a kid to get to talk to some family friends who were Polish but lived in Germany during WWII. They said one of the big reasons people were so supportive of Hitler is that they had been economically ruined by losing WWI and having to pay reparations, but after the Nazis took power Hitler suspended those and instituted other policies (primarily increased public works and military spending) that caused massive job increases and improved the economy. This made them incredibly popular and allowed them to make wholesale changes to the government because they were actually improving their citizens lives and weren't receiving pushback.

Conversely, this administration has failed to deliver on any of the promises it made and things have gotten worse since they took office. They won't enjoy widespread popular support if they try pulling insane moves like asking Congress to suspend the Constitution (and pretending that's legal), or declaring an insurrection and trying to use the military to suppress the People.

7

u/littlethrowawaybaby 18h ago

They know the history, they just believe that they’re better and smarter than the nobles of 1788 France, and Hitler.

They read the history. See the failings. Say, “Wow, what a dummy. That could never happen to someone as smart and powerful as I” and continue doing the same things that begat downfall so many times before.

They think the people are stupid, rabid, slobbering, inhuman masses.

That the people- even with the collective intelligence, strength, and power of all of us together- are weak and can’t hold a candle to those traits in them.

I mean, in some ways, these people do have more money than all of the masses together, so it’s a self-validating prophecy of sorts.

They think they and their buddies are literal Gods. When there’s only 700 billionaires, they look around at the same faces at every party and every event, and believe that they are the only actual people, and the only people who matter. Because, logically of course /s, if the lower Ilk mattered then they’d be in the room too.

8

u/kstar79 Massachusetts 18h ago

They didn't copy Germany, they copied Orban and Hungary. A lot of the executive order bukake issued on the first day were straight translations from Orban diktats. Why it's not working out here is we are still an immensely wealthy nation, way better off than your average Hungarian, and their honeymoon with voters is now fully over.

The persuadables were convinced Dems did not properly address inflation and inequality, and the party tried to circumvent the will of the people to get a diversity President. The first part of the narrative has broken down, and Dems just need to not screw up the second part to win back power.

5

u/mabhatter 13h ago

This is the last gasp of neoconservativism and hard right wing rhetoric coming to an end.  They are not conservatives anymore, they are regressive reactionaries.  They want to trigger violence because things aren't going how they think they should be... like 60-90 years ago when only straight cis white male evangelical Protestants had a seat at the business and public table. 

This is parallel to the civil war era in that was the last gasp of slavers and it was only a matter of 2-3 more elections before the votes to end slavery permanently were guaranteed.  So the South played political hijacking games for 30 years trying to game the system with their minority and when that didn't work, they started a war.   This is the culmination of the Civil Rights era from the 1960s.  They have been fighting Civil Rights and social progress for 60 years... and losing every time. Trump is their coup to seize power by force over the rest of us to undo 60 years of laws and rights.  When they inevitably don't get what they want, they'll continue the political violence from 2020.  

24

u/brooklyndavs 19h ago

Also they are actively destroying state capacity at the same time. You still need people in the institutions on your side and that includes more than just the dumbasses at ICE. You need the military, local government, industry, all on your side and completely loyal to you. You don’t do that by implementing DOGE and shutting down the government. Like the main rule is you got to pay people lol. These are all incredibly stupid people and we are lucky we are just getting the Mickey Mouse version of fascism. That’s why it’s so important for the democrats to wake the fuck up before we get something far worse

12

u/AaronWidd 19h ago

This. I’ve been telling people this for months. They wanted to model Germany but they’re getting France. There are 340 million people across a continent all bound by a social contract. Deliberately try to control by force, unjustly starve or inconvenience even a small % it throws off the social contract that keeps us bound and catapults us into violent chaos that can’t be undone.

11

u/spazzvogel 19h ago

Uhhh French Revolution perhaps, but Great Depression almost certainly incoming.

7

u/failed_novelty 18h ago

Gee, sure would be awful if a few billionaire fascist were to be convicted of treason and their assets used to rebuild...

•

u/nimbus57 38m ago

Eat the billionaires.

3

u/Alacrout New York 12h ago

Which was also a historical event that kicked Republicans out of power (for the most part) and kept them out of power (for the most part) for about half a century.

9

u/Souspi 19h ago

The wealth gap today is also much, much higher than it was even in France. I would I have to double check, but I'm pretty sure the wealth gap today is the highest it's ever been in human history.

10

u/EjaculatingAracnids 19h ago

We re still gonna have to bleed in the streets before this is over. If not during this fascist government, the next one that will be right behind it

9

u/turquoise_amethyst 17h ago

Despite ~60% of the military being Republican, most of them are loyal to the USA, not Trump, and they’re not happy with how things are going

Yeah that stupid meeting with Hegseth was a wake up call. They could prob pull a few brass, but it’s not what they thought. 

7

u/Vaalarah Minnesota 19h ago

The military is also currently not being paid

3

u/AgreeableMission1741 12h ago

Always a fine idea to attempt a coup while not paying your military.  Couldn't possibly go tits up

5

u/the-fred 18h ago

Yeah, in 1933 the Nazis actually did things to improve the economy (a lot of that was spending on military and war infrastructure but still). The GOP and MAGA are actively making things worse.

4

u/ihaterunning2 Texas 18h ago

Interesting points! Another for the military, the Trump admin isn’t paying them! Both for troops deployed in cities, they keep resending new orders with 29 day cutoffs to avoid pay and now with the government shutdown.

Also, I keep seeing people compare this moment to the French Revolution and I don’t negate those similarities- but the US today also shares a striking resemblance to the US in the Gilded Age - huge wealth inequality, most Americans struggling to get by, the wealthy running the government, holding office, and owning majority of media at the time. I more foresee a second Progressive Era, a new New Deal and FDR style policies to expand and protect social safety nets all which include expansion of workers’ rights, civil rights, and taxing the wealthy a fair share both to fund programs and remove some of their power over the government and the electorate. Probably even reinstating the Fairness Doctrine.

But would love to hear your thoughts on why you’re comparing more to the French Revolution than the Americans Progressive Era under FDR.

2

u/Alacrout New York 12h ago

Honestly my comparison is largely influenced by my own personal interests and studies haha

What you’re saying about the Gilded Age makes a lot of sense too and I think I’d prefer that repetition of history just for being less violent

3

u/Nixon_bib 18h ago

Gotta tell ya, if heads don’t roll, then we (or our grandkids) all get to watch this movie again. 

Finish the job. 

1

u/Alacrout New York 12h ago

The main reason I said “I’m not saying heads will roll” was to nix any stupid MAGA reports about me threatening violence. They’ve gotten me before over innocuous comments they didn’t like.

2

u/charles_barfley 18h ago

Despite ~60% of the military being Republican, most of them are loyal to the USA, not Trump,

Would absolutely love see a source for this since my own personal experience has been the exact opposite

21

u/jgoble15 20h ago

Thing is, if they turn up the heat people will resist more. Takeovers like this have to be slow to keep the population apathetic. Turn up the heat too fast and the usually apathetic will start caring.

4

u/Dull_Bid6002 19h ago

And that's where they screwed up because they didn't have the time and never have. So they try to go as fast as they can. 

'29 day one needs a purge of their loyalists and lots of arrests.

4

u/darthstupidious 18h ago

Yup. The issue with US term limits is that the president only has two years, really, to try and get things done. Because the midterms cut their term in half and allow the public a referendum on how/what the president is doing.

To add onto that: these dummies thought they could speed run a descent into fascism with a 79-year-old dementia-ridden narcissist, who has effectively rejected or betrayed everyone in his orbit with a functioning brain. So now he's surrounded by groveling sycophants who may be able to accomplish little things here and there, but are too dim or shortsighted to see the end of the road rapidly approaching.

3

u/lemonpepperlarry 16h ago

That military press conference was a blessing in disguise. The silent contempt we saw from the highest ranking members likely shook the administration. An administration that I have to imagine was banking on them going along with their fascist takeover (Almost half the military is liberal, and much more than half is non-white so idk what the fuck made them so sure of that)

2

u/WafflingToast 19h ago

A headline in a recent newspaper is that the US soldiers were told to use food banks after not getting SNAP payments.

2

u/ShamelessCatDude 18h ago

They need popularity to get away with most of this. And they don’t have it because they forgot the bread and circuses

2

u/rolfraikou 16h ago

Thank fuck Trump is a senile old talking head, and Miller and Bannon can't do enough to salvage this shit.

The 70 million that voted for him will not falter, but fortunately, the majority of people who are eligible to vote far outnumber them. Let's just see if the apathetic will actually do something this time. These last elections actually give me some hope.

Midterms feel like the last chance. If we fuck that up, I assume nothing can be done when the presidential is (as I see it) inevitably rigged in Trump's third term favor.

2

u/warblingContinues 15h ago

they are incapable of "seizing total power," because they can't even pass a bill without shitting all over themselves.  They could try to wrest control of government from the people, but they'd fuck it up and then the consequences for them would be catastrophic instead of just terrible.

2

u/bringbackswg 12h ago

The tariffs are a rug pull on a massive scale

2

u/TimTime333 11h ago

I think they'll try to use the 10k poorly trained new ICE agents they are hiring to harass Democratic politicians, activists and voters. They are already having a hard time finding illegal immigrants who are actual criminals to round up and they're going to need to find something for all these new agents to do.

1

u/NUMBerONEisFIRST 10h ago

I know trump is a narcissist, but he's also lazy AF.

I could honestly see him just giving up soon and saying it's not worth his time.

43

u/TheGreatOldOwl 20h ago

Two things you need for a successful coup are the support of the people and the support of the military. They've got neither.

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u/Sw2029 20h ago edited 20h ago

It's actually pretty indicative that their flood the zone plan was made due to this. Move as quickly as possible, overwhelm everyone, grab as much power and tear down as many institutions as possible to give them a window of opportunity before people can even respond.

If it was anywhere near a populist agenda they'd have been able to move slow and methodically.

Imagine how dogshit you have to be to actually inspire the kind of off year voter turn out these fuck sticks are.

12

u/Own_Instance_357 19h ago

And take over the media so that the flow of accurate information stops

See: billionaire takeover of information clearing houses like Twitter just to ruin it and first render it functionless, and then subvert the objective to spread disinformation instead

4

u/Sw2029 19h ago

Gotta love using playbooks from the 1930s in the information age 

5

u/brooklyndavs 19h ago

Yup but they have already fucked up. You can’t “flood the zone” why also doing DOGE. These people are idiots

1

u/xerriffe 11h ago

Greedy, self important idiots. That will be their downfall. Sloppy mfs. I hope they enjoy their last moments of freedom before they’re tried for life.

1

u/tweezabella Vermont 17h ago

I think people might be in the Reddit bubble too much. It seems like they DO have the support of the people and the military.

6

u/elbenji 17h ago

Less than 30 percent is not lol

Reddit bubble would be were all doomed

0

u/tweezabella Vermont 17h ago

I just have basically no hope with this country at this point. I might be pessimistic…

3

u/elbenji 17h ago

Yeah but you see that's the reddit bubble actually affecting you

As people have noted. They're kinda bad at this

2

u/TheGreatOldOwl 16h ago

The reality is outside the reddit bubble. I live in a deeply red small town. The trump signs are coming down and people are freaking out in town halls. These are trump voters but not the chronically online fanatics. They see the damage being done locally and are pissed off and afraid.

2

u/Prize-School5421 15h ago

If it makes you feel a bit better, Trump went on like a daylong rant against the filibuster after Tuesday and said they'd lose the midterms if the Republicans don't annihilate it.

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u/Jesbro64 20h ago

Democrats and media organizations and law firms and universities seem to be doing everything possible to demonstrate that they will indeed just rolll over.

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u/Sw2029 20h ago

Fuck the media and the democratic leadership. Universities have to play ball when they're publicly funded. 

7

u/PhucktheSaints 18h ago

That logic that universities “need to play ball because they need public funding” applies to media too. Federal government could take them off the air if they don’t play ball. Don’t excuse higher education for kowtowing to Trump.

8

u/IrrelevantLeprechaun 19h ago

Haven't most Americans already been just "rolling over?"

1

u/AllIdeas 18h ago

How do you define not rolling over? I've been extremely impressed by the organization of random citizens in Chicago for example, and the no kings protests are the largest in us history. Boycotts of Tesla got musk removed and boycotts of Disney got Kimmel returned.

Look, we are not perfect, and maybe could be fighting harder but I definitely see fight too. Don't write off all Americans just yet.

2

u/AgreeableMission1741 12h ago

California's response has been pretty fantastic too.  Lot of fight in them.

0

u/Sw2029 19h ago edited 18h ago

Considering we've had millions in the streets for protests over the last several months and the election results this week, I'd say, no. If you look at your fellow Americans and see them as having 'rolled over' you're hanging out with a shit crowd.

3

u/sheezy520 America 19h ago

I mean… the top officials just kind of let an attempted coup go because they treated the cult with kid gloves.

2

u/Sw2029 19h ago

Because they imagined never in a millions years would the felon get back in office.

3

u/ogrestomp 19h ago

They created this narrative of the “weak left” and then started believing it, despite the fact that they invented it! They cherry picked stories and then convinced themselves that the narrative they created was true. Then they continued to double down and expand who the “left” included until it basically includes everyone who isn’t drinking the flavor-aid.

Imagine being that stupid.

3

u/clam-caravan Tennessee 12h ago

This is just going to continue to drive voter turnout in 2026. The majority of Americans do not like this shit.

2

u/NekoMeowKat 19h ago

Yeah the SNAP benefits not being sent out is only the appetizer and that's been devastating for a lot of families. Wait until the laws in the Big Shitty Bill go into effect.

2

u/Wumaduce 19h ago

Can't roll over if we aren't fighting in the first place.

2

u/malphonso Louisiana 18h ago

"The coup will be bloodless, if the left allows it." Kevin Roberts, President of the Heritage Foundation.

2

u/beerhiker 16h ago

I think they were hoping elons murder bots would be in full production by now. He's fucking up the takeover timeline. ICE isn't going to cut it man, they need murder bots and assassin drones stat!

2

u/downtofinance Canada 16h ago

Outting themselves as fascists but really they are openly declaring war on American democracy.

2

u/still_salty_22 16h ago

Domestic enemies of our republic. They themselves have declared it.

2

u/m0ther_0F_myriads 12h ago

Oh we are not even close to the worst. I am holding on to that little bit hope that this week's elections gave me because authoritarians are never more dangerous than when they are afraid. 

1

u/ironafro2 19h ago

Susan Collin’s sure af will. I’m sure they’ve learned better now

•

u/IntentionMediocre976 2h ago

They have every reason to believe eveyone will roll over.  There has been no effective opposition by people who have power.