Bannon's Shutdown Playbook: Deconstructing the Administrative State

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Steve Bannon, former Trump White House strategist and guiding force behind the "War Room" network, has been notably active during the federal government shutdown that began earlier this week. On his daily podcast and social media streams, Bannon has been hammering home his long-held vision of radically shrinking federal bureaucracy. According to Heather Cox Richardson on Substack, Bannon’s influence is echoed in real time by allies like OMB Director Russell Vought, who are using the current crisis to press for aggressive cuts to the civil service—precisely what Bannon argued for back in the mid-2010s. This playbook, which Bannon calls “deconstructing the administrative state,” has become policy now, with Cabinet secretaries openly considering which departments to ax and which workers to let go as government operations grind to a halt.

On Real America’s Voice and other conservative media outlets, Bannon has been framing the shutdown as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to force Washington and what he calls “radical Democrats” to the negotiating table. In interviews, he’s cast Chuck Schumer as the desperate ringleader of a flailing party, insisting that public outrage will soon give Trump and his populist wing the upper hand. Bannon predicted last Friday on AOL News that Trump’s tariff plans could soon generate up to $6 trillion for the economy—a claim widely questioned by mainstream economists but popular among his MAGA social media base, where hashtags calling for government downsizing have gone viral.

Bannon himself remains in the headlines. A resurfaced Hollywood Reporter story, cited this week by IMDb, rehashed Bannon’s dubious connection to Jeffrey Epstein—specifically, alleged behind-the-scenes media coaching sessions in 2019—though nothing new was revealed and Bannon has repeatedly denied any personal involvement after Epstein’s arrest. On social media, Bannon shrugged off this “old gossip,” pivoting back to the budget fight.

Behind the scenes, insiders say Bannon continues to advise Trump’s team, especially on messaging to working-class voters and the ongoing efforts to replace top officials at agencies like the Bureau of Labor Statistics, where Trump’s last nominee withdrew amid bipartisan uproar—an attempted shake-up vocally supported by Bannon. While there’s speculation about whether Bannon could return in an official capacity if Trump wins again, he’s kept his own counsel, preferring his activist media platform for influence. In short, Bannon’s fingerprints are all over the shutdown’s narrative, staying central to both the drama in Washington and the MAGA movement’s future.

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