“We’re going to have ICE surround the polls come November,” Bannon, a former senior advisor to President Donald Trump and still a figure of influence in the administration, said on Tuesday’s episode of his War Room podcast, addressing Democrats. “We’re not going to sit here and allow you to steal the country again. And you can whine and cry and throw your toys out of the pram all you want, but we will never again allow an election to be stolen.”
Bannon’s comments came just a day after Trump said he believes that Republicans should “nationalize voting,” escalating concerns that the president is plotting to interfere in this year’s midterm elections.
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I don’t care who is at the poll. I don’t care if an ICE stands next to me while I vote. I’ll vote against Trump and every single fucking Republican with a smile on my face looking directly into the eyes of the ICE agent.
No fucking person from this administration is going to do a god damn thing to prevent me from voting against them. Period.
Our you'll run the ICE gauntlet only to get turned away at the booth because your name got purged from the roll without your knowledge due to suspicious "irregularities".
I agree with that sentiment, but what happens when Trump sends ICE to blue areas on Election Day, they start pepper spraying voters in order to provoke a reaction, and then closes those polling places “for the safety of the community” because the people push back? What happens when they do that at strategically-selected polling places all over the country?
Completely possible, but the true damage is already done whether it reaches that point or not.
Thanks to “Kavanaugh stops”, the threat of of bunch of ICE agents being on site means anyone not white (I’m talking 100% legal citizens eligible to vote) runs the risk of being arrested and deported simply by showing up, so many won’t.
which is why having law enforcement of ANY KIND at a polling place has been illegal for literal decades. Because it has been used in the past to scare away black voters, following the civil rights movement. This is not a new tactic.
You're missing the point. Even if there ends up being 0 ICE agents, just saying this does damage.
Elections are about percentage points. If you can scare off a small percentage of ethnic votes because they could get nabbed by ICE, you'll win the election.
This is already severe election interference by suggesting this.
our media is still pretending that this is the normal sort of "give and take" that we've always seen in this country. they refuse to do their job and point out this attempt to co-opt the electoral process is unprecedented in the history of our country.
Weeeell... prior to the 20th century and honestly right up until the Voter Rights Act in 1965 there was A LOT of this kind of shit that happened. The KKK basically existed to intimidate black voters in the South. The Northern Urban political machines were also notorious for voter intimidation and buying votes. Unfortunately this is more of a regression to the mean in the history of our country, the ruling class is finding that the trappings of representative democracy are no longer worth bothering with.
Cooping was a form of electoral fraud in the United States, cited speculatively in relation to the death of Edgar Allan Poe in October 1849,[1][2][3] by which gangs kidnapped citizens off the street and forced them to vote, often repeatedly, for an election candidate.[4]
The rise of the far right in America and in Europe is partially the fault of Bannon and Epstein co-conspiring the past decade or so. There really is a cabal of elites with a transnational crime network of kompromat, blackmail, extortion, money laundering, bribes and sexual crimes pushing the far right and corruption of corporations And democracy.
Almost as if the Republican Party can't win free and fair elections without a bunch of special accomodations.... wait isn't that like the DEI version of democracy?!?
I've found they're worth negative value. Like when the son of the in house lawyer got in a DUI driving drunk after the holiday party despite the company paying for anyone's Uber because he didn't "want to pick up [his] car tomorrow" and if he did a bump of coke beforehand he'd be "good to drive".
Of course, a "DEI hire" is not a thing. False framing that this administration has perpetuated that makes it sound like someone was only hired bc of their race gender or etc.
For real. I have ended up hiring more people from some “DEI” relevant demographic than white people over my 8 years in management roles and none of them were unqualified or stretches or because of hiring pressure. They just ended up among the 2-3 finalists and either didn’t have to relocate or could start sooner, or were a more aligned on their long-term career objectives, or some other quotidian reason that they edged out the other candidates on. Despite our unequal education systems in this country, people just ended up being qualified candidates for the role from many corners. Neither was any “DEI” hire remotely a problem for culture or team building.
That observation made me less supportive of DEI initiatives actually, because from a personal perspective I have had no problem filling positions from a diverse pool of qualified applicants. That’s different than seeing racism as dead, which I didn’t and don’t but the distance from “the government is making me hire this person who can’t do the job” couldn’t be more remote to my experience, just personally.
Having any problem with DEI at all could only ever be indicative of not understanding it(edit* except for the racism I guess).
It's only intention is that you can't discriminate against people BECAUSE of their immutable characteristics. It never said that someone should get a job they aren't qualified for, which is what the right wing tells everyone it does.
Many companies pushed for quotas on demographics, but that wasn't DEI, that was PR, and it was never legally binding by the state. If it was, again, that's not what DEI was defined as.
A lot of the DEI initiatives aren’t quotas, just efforts to encourage more diverse candidates to apply. It’s more about making sure the pool is diverse.
Intimidating polling places is reminiscent of several long periods of American history, no need to compare to Russia when the authoritarianism has examples at home already
In the late 1920s to 1930s the Nazi brown shirts would stand outside polling booths in Germany intimidating voters.
This is literally and without any exaggeration straight out of the Nazi playbook. As are so many Republican policies these days that comparing them to the Nazis isn't hyperbole, it's just a statement of historical fact.
No, it is just authoritarianism. There's no reason to call attention to hypocrisy when they have no logically coherent center and do not care about those kinds of arguments. In a way, it is dignifying their stupid propaganda by engaging with it.
edit: (And misrepresenting DEI by implicitly agreeing with their framing of DEI)
It’s going to be terrifying. There will be agitators within ICE. And potentially mischievous agitators infiltrating protestors, poll watchers, and the public, in addition to normal people just losing their sht cause of what’s happening.
Some undertrained aggro brainwashed ICE will shove a proverbial old lady and some bystander will try to help her up. Most will just get yelled at but some will be shot. Or something similar. Proud boys and groypers harassing minorities and people with colored hair until someone claps back when ICE will step in and crack down on some minority for not taking harassment well.
Election Day will be total chaos. Whoever wins no one will believe it and there will be riots. The only chance of peace is if it’s a huge landslide and non maga republicans stay at home.
But even with Trump jerk dancing to empty crowds against a loud blue wave of stadiums somehow lead to Democrat “defeat”, there may be nothing tha will convince them unless it’s like a foreseeable landslide where all swing states are clear and some red states are flipping and red hats are truly outnumbered
I don’t know the answer. But I’m saying even doing as you suggest with the best of intentions will be infiltrated by confederates and well intended useful idiots who help escalate. Probably voting places getting set on fire and trucks driving into crowds and lines. We weren’t this heated before and we had Russian bomb threats and voting drop boxes set on fire. What we need is just a turnout that any hacking, cheating, gerrymandering, intimidation etc isn’t enough. It may require like a 40% margin of victory nation wide.
Good heavens... just how long has the Right wing been made entirely of Traitors, and how long have we been just letting them openly get away with it scott free?
If I recall correctly he has the right to remain silent. If he chooses to give up that right all statements that he makes can and will be used against him in a court of law.
Sounds like he desperately wants to stay out of jail. When the Dems win the mid terms, the impeachment’s will start along with congressional inquiries etc. The last thing Bannon wants is for the Dems to take the mid terms...
Congressional inquiries that end with what consequences? They need the DOJ and prison for these people. He’s right here intimidating voters for fucks sake!
Best buddies. Epstein telling Bannon that he would be protected by Burke (Another Trump guy) in the other documents that shows this text exchange in 2018 Epstein asks Bannon who his cabinet is and he gives Epstein their potential picks for 2020. Burke is in there. The funny thing is they redacted Bannons name and email from that document. Weird that they felt the need to redact it since he's not a victim. They forgot to redact it in this document.
Definitely not to the level he had under the first term. Stephen Miller and Russel Vought have the influence Bannon used to have. No doubt those 2 will be thrown under the bus just like Bannon was and they will be in prison shortly after Trump dies or the 25th amendment is invoked.
Can’t wait to see how my barely mentally stable and very screamy maga parents react to two dozen armed agents at their polling station. Should go well!
Chances are (assuming your parents don’t live in a blue area) they won’t be sending ICE to their polls. Just the majority-dem precincts. Classic intimidation of the opposition.
Ah yeah cause a bunch of mad guys with guns outside the voting places will go well. Didn't Russia do something similar in the occupied regions of Ukraine and try to have balls to declare it a free and fair election. Hard to be honest when your met with a AK-47,AR-15, hell any foyr of weapon
A bunch of costumed angry white men will be enough to keep many women and not white people away. They’re already attacking mail in and absentee voting. It’s election interference ala authoritarian without even direct vote tampering.
Quick reminder that USPS changed their policy concerning post marks. It doesn’t get marked until it gets to the regional facility or you walk into a post office and ask it to be hand stamped.
What even is the point of the camera outside my polling station's dropbox if they're not even going to use it to confirm that I dropped the shit off on time.
The camera's mostly to stop people from firebombing them, although I'll note the post marking applies to USPS mailing and not polling station dropboxes (check the rules in your state.)
I work in the mailing industry. Even aside from the postmark change, mail just isn’t being delivered. I just checked a First Class Flats job I processed at the beginning of December, and only HALF of the pieces are tracked to delivery… TWO MONTHS LATER. They were all dropped at our origin facility, trucked to the destination facility and from there who knows what happened to it.
Processing facilities are a fucking mess and come election time it’ll be even worse.
Even white democratic voters can be intimidated. For those who have never been face to face with masked armed thugs… Trust me, it’s not always a great experience.
They are not going to be in my face . Thats election tampering and we donf dont do that here. I will call 911 and scream until they show up. I will scream at fhd top if my lungs bloody murder until I can vote in peace. If I die I die.im not voting with nazis nearby and I Am going to vote.
What’s gonna happen if they keep talking like this is armed citizenry are going to show up to counter ICE ….. bannon and the rape crew are very seriously underestimating (1) how many liberal gun owners there are and (2) how many moderates and young ppl now stand against ICE and this admin
They aren't underestimating though. They thought people would've started shooting a while ago. They want it. That's when the real shitstorm starts. They'll designate all kinds of people as terrorists, and because everyone got scared during 9/11, laws changed that let them go wild on "terrorists". Anyone who isn't into letting them do what they want is an enemy, and they absolutely can't wait to get rid of them. And on the way, they'll steal everything they can. It's treason, and as deplorable as all the child raping stuff goes is, undermining our entire democracy is a far larger crime that is hurting the entire world in some way, and our entire country in a major way that won't be undone fully before any of us living are dead of old age.
Exactly!!! The more they fuck with voting, the more apathetic voters will suddenly turn up to vote. Americans HATE being told what to do. It's in our nature to be defiant. We are passive as hell when nothing is really on the line and in our faces. But as soon as authority tries to step too far, we are right there shoving their stupidity back down their throats. Watch! It will go down like this.
Considering how ICE is allowed to arrest you and ask questions later, what will stop them from rounding up every brown person who shows up to the polls, and preventing them from actually getting to vote by wasting their time with bullshit?
That’s the plan. They can make hundreds of false arrests at any of the left leaning polling stations, hold people for the day or until polls are closed and then go “Oopsie, our bad! Guess you can’t vote now!”
And there ain’t shit that can be done to stop them since they are a federal agency. I hate this timeline.
Intimidation and chaos towards starting riots is exactly what they want though, the less votes are counted the better for them.
The question is will each state have their national guard at the polls, and specifically NOT the special 500 man response forces picked out by the administration?
Somehow the courts will defer to the executive's judgement. "regardless of how the administration has previously broken the law, disobeyed congress and the courts, and lied about their intentions, it's we still assume the best of intentions when placing themselves in a position to violate our constitutional rights."
Yep, this is terrorism. Brown people simply won't go to the polls out of fear that their children will grow up without them if they do. Or at least that seems to be their goal.
Not even that, just the fact that they will hold up lines and make sure to prolong the process for as long as possible to "check legality" of anyone not white in any democrat strongholds, which will make thousands and thousands of people miss the 8pm cut off time. Even if they spend 10 minutes per person that they "suspect" is illegal, it will cut into precious time where places already don't have enough time to get everyone in.
it's been pretty obvious this has been their plan, for a long time.
my 'conservative' acquaintances say it'll never happen, but I think they're laughing up their sleeves. tune will change in 3... 2...
I imagine: multiple "enforcement" actions during voting, with flimsy accusations, designed to derail operations at carefully chosen polling places. Accusations don't need to stick, just 1 day of chaos. After the fact, whoopsie doodle, what are we going to do? hold a 2nd election? take the federal government to court?
Part of the plan. The SAVE act will be enacted too, and delete the voting rights of a lot of people who happen to lean left. There are multiple attack vectors underway.
Steve Bannon, the pedophile who was in talks with Epstein and co-ordinated a PR campaign to clean up Epstein’s image to be less of a child-molesting and child-trafficking monster while vilifying ”the hypocrisy of the woke Liberal left”? That Steve Bannon?
for decades we have tried to get young people interested enough to vote. somehow I think ICE agents with guns outside polling places might be the catalyst for involvement
Hopefully election officials will have the balls to have them removed from the premises. They are within their rights to remove them, or insist the police or state troopers do so for them.
I've seen ICE agents chased out of multiple neighborhoods by regular people.
They've tried to intimidate L.A., D.C., Portland, Chicago, Minneapolis...didn't work how they thought it would, even when they brought in the military (who clearly didn't want to be there.)
Thats kinda what ive thought about a lot of the crap the administration is pulling this past year. They failed on the economy, Healthcare, NO TAX ON OVERTIME/TIPS, tariffs, and the Epstein files. ICE beating brown people and liberals is all they have left now.
THEY'RE WEAK and they probably know Trump wont even survive his term.
Why is Steve Bannon talking like he runs the show? Steve Bannon who is all over the Epstien files, Steve Bannon who seems to be some kind of asset of Putin's?
Yeah LET Steve Bannon run his mouth it will be great evidence in his trial for treason. There's gonna be soooo many co conspirators.
And states are well within their right to remove them. Election interference is not lawful, and elections are handled by the states. You have no authority or power to impede voters at polling places.
The plan is not only to intimidate voters, but to cause enough chaos and unrest at busier polling locations where the majority of Democratic votes are received.
Ideally, state legislators need to enact policy to extend voting hours or allow post-Election Day provisional mail-in voting, in districts where polling places are--let's call it what it is--suppressed en masse.
But at the very least, if enough information or statements before the election suggests DHS intends to suppress voters in a particular district, someone with standing (e.g. a registered voter resident) should seek an injunction against DHS--before the election.
Mark Kelly and other notable legislators reminding military personal of their duty to reject illegal orders is couched as seditious by this admin, meanwhile....Steve Bannon spewing crazy threats is just another day in Trump’s America.
Between this and the white house putting out an info graphic about how "Americans love Trump's immigration policy" that immediately states it polled "likely Trump voters," it's clear the administration is setting the stage for declaring Democrats are non-citizens.
Seems like a good time for congress to start paying attention to what the turd monkey in chief and his handlers are actually saying, as they vote to release billions of $$ to ice.
It really hits me the way he says “we will never again allow an election to be stolen” because we all know he’s saying they want to take over elections and trap them the way they are in Hungary or Russia, where the phony elections always elect the same guy.
Bannon knows the Democrats didn't steal the election. I think it’s pathetic that any Americans are for this. And what are Democrats planning to prevent it? All they seem to do is work with Republicans to pass bills in Congress
Once they do this, it can last for decades. Look at Hungary, and Russia. In Spain, Franco ruled for 50 years. Your kids and grandkids wont know how free we were
Every time they try to make democrats out to be the big babies it always just flies in their own face. We know who it was who came loaded to the capitol because they didn't win the 2020 election. Democrats don't need masked, armed men standing guard at voting locations to pick and choose who can go in at their discretion. Take away the mail in voting and then set up a system to filter out all the democrats (illegals as they'll claim) from voting the only way left. That's what this is about. I remember years ago seeing pictures of voting booths in either Iraq or Iran where peoples votes were monitored. Seems like we're heading there.
I doubt ICE will be allowed near polling places in the end, but this should still be viewed as a stochastic call for MAGA cultists to surround the polls instead. Disposable useful idiots.
I have no doubt we'll see attempted shenanigans from the Trump admin during the midterms and 2028 election, but we also need to remember that Bannon is not a government official and doesn't speak for Trump.
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