Conservative commentator Steve Bannon weighed in on the stunning primary wins by far-left Democrat candidates, declaring that the country is entering a new era in politics.
The former adviser to President Donald J. Trump shared his thoughts in a new interview with Politico amid the resurgence of the Bernie Sanders left, a movement that has Republicans – including Trump – sounding the alarm about a communist takeover of America.
With Comrade Bernie now long in the tooth, the new breed of so-called democratic socialists are taking their inspiration from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who shocked the political world when he was easily elected to head up the nation’s biggest city last year and has now emerged as the leader of the vanguard for an energized left which many naively believed was a spent force.
“We are facing a new politics. We’re seeing the dying of the old politics before us,” Bannon told Politico on Tuesday. “You’re seeing it burn to the ground before you.”
BANNON: “If you are playing the old politics of tax cuts and wars everywhere and doing the bidding of Israel, let me be blunt — you’re finished.”https://t.co/JwiILLRQZ6 pic.twitter.com/aEOQsvCv4W
— Grace Chong, MBI (@gc22gc) July 2, 2026
In a previous interview last year, Bannon warned about the Mamdani phenomenon, saying that his stunning win should have set off “flashing red lights” for conservatives, a warning that was largely dismissed with the belief the New York City electorate is not representative of the country as a whole. A belief that was held even after last week’s socialist sweep when a trio of candidates endorsed by Mamdani swept to big wins, ousting two sitting Democrat House members.
Then Melat Kiros happened.
She defeated 15-term Democratic incumbent Diana DeGette, who has been in office for longer than Melat Kiros has been alive. https://t.co/mXzfTGVDjq
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) July 1, 2026
The 29-year-old political newcomer ousted Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) from the Denver-area House seat that she had occupied for three decades in the Colorado primary, serving notice that the “communist” outbreak has escaped containment from the Big Apple and is now rapidly spreading across the country.
Bannon told Politico that the democrat socialists are “a national power and they have worked below the surface to perfect a ground game and a canvassing operation,” adding “I told people in the Republican Party, and it was dismissed that [Mamdani’s] a flash in the pan, it’s clearly just a New York City thing, he’s never going to win congressional seats — that was the thing, they’ll never win any federal offices, and you saw where they took the three.”
As far as the future goes, Bannon suggested that focusing only on the next election cycle would be shortsighted and a grave error.
“I tell people, don’t worry about ‘28. We are facing a new politics,” he said. “We’re seeing the dying of the old politics before us. You’re seeing it burn to the ground before you. Artificial intelligence, the oligarchs and the threat of these kinds of Marxist jihadists, it’s going to redefine politics, and he who is prepared to take it on, you’re going to see the rise of these people.”
“If you are playing the old politics of tax cuts and wars everywhere and doing the bidding of Israel, let me be blunt — you’re finished,” Bannon added. “I just keep telling people, it’s a flashing red light, and the [Senate Majority Leader] John Thunes of the world and [House Speaker Mike] Johnson better understand that the old politics are gone.”
As far as his advice to a future presidential candidate, Bannon said that decisive action is needed to beat back the socialists.
“You have to be absolutely relentless. People, it’s not about talk anymore, it’s about action. You have to show people very specifically what you’re prepared to do to both stem this threat and to break the oligarchs and the big tech guys and to provide true opportunities,” he told Politico.
“I would say this about politics going forward: If you’re not ready to be battle-hardened, it’s the wrong line of work. The whole thing of, you go back and look 10 years, where we’re talking about Obamacare and tax cuts, that’s all in the past,” he added. “We’re in a fourth turning. And Mamdani and his troops, his forces, they understand that they’re playing for keeps. They believe that they are on the rise, and they have within their grasp to take control of the most powerful nation in the history of the Earth in its 250th year.”
“In the next three to five years, they believe they will get ultimate power, and if you don’t stop it, they just might,” he said.
As Bob Dylan famously sang: “The Times They Are A-Changin'”
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