Nervous Republicans Revive ‘Carnage’ as Turnout Strategy
Steve Bannon is back with a new fearmongering movie that’s firing up conservative media about left-wing violence.
A planned “No to Marxism” rally was attended by Trump/white nationalist/alt-right supporters, who showed up to confront Berkeley Is United Against Hate supporters, black bloc demonstrators, and antifa, in Berkeley, Calif., on Aug. 27, 2017.
Photographer: Mark Peterson/ReduxDonald Trump declared in his inaugural address that the days of “American carnage” are over. But the man who wrote those words is summoning images of violence once again—this time as part of an attempt by anxious conservatives to persuade uninterested voters to show up at the polls and save Republican congressional majorities in November.
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon’s new film, Trump @War, features scenes of the president’s supporters being punched, kicked, and clubbed by anti-Trump protesters, as well as a parade of liberal celebrities wishing violence on Trump—or, in the case of comedian Kathy Griffin, wielding a replica of his severed head. The film debuted on Sept. 12 on the conservative cable station One America News Network and will be broadcast several more times. Fox News prime-time hosts from Laura Ingraham to Sean Hannity have devoted substantial airtime to the supposed scourge of left-wing violence, including the black-clad, antifascist protesters known as “antifa.” And President Trump, in an Aug. 28 White House meeting with evangelical leaders, warned of “left-wing violence” if Democrats win control of Congress in the midterm elections.