Steve Bannon is 'creating an army of duped people' with his 'dangerous' podcasts: CNN analyst

According to an analysis by CNN's fact-checking Daniel Dale, concerns are being raised about former Donald Trump advisor Steve Bannon's podcasts, with political science experts asserting they could lead to more violence in the streets.

As Dale notes, Bannon - who has been referred by the House to the Justice Department to be criminally charged for contempt of Congress -- has continued his daily "War Room" podcasts where, Dale notes, even Bannon admits he dispenses "election-related 'information' that even Fox News avoids."

According to the CNN analyst, "The podcast's relentless barrage of election deception would be damaging enough to American democracy if it were just talk. Bannon spoke approvingly in October about how his efforts have reduced Americans' faith in 'the legitimacy of Joe Biden's regime.' But Bannon has also urged 'War Room' listeners to take long-term action. He has made frequent pleas for supporters to reshape the Republican party by signing up to serve as 'precinct committeemen.'"

That assessment was backed up by Rick Hasen, a professor of law and political science at UC Irvine.

"It is hard to overstate how dangerous Bannon's words and actions are," Hasen warned. "He's creating an army of duped people who will go into positions helping to run elections with the false understanding that the 2020 election was stolen. Who knows what such people are capable of doing when in charge of running polling places or counting votes."

What is concerning, Dale points out, is how large an audience Bannon has built up despite being banished by Spotify, YouTube and Twitter.

"'War Room' has consistently been in the top 100 on US podcast charts; while precise listenership figures aren't available, Bannon claimed in late October that the podcast had been downloaded a total of 100 million times since it was launched in late 2019 with a focus on Trump's first impeachment," Dale reported, adding, "There is no hard data on the impact of Bannon's call to activism. But ProPublica reported in September that counties around the country had seen an unusual surge in people looking to sign up for Republican precinct positions after Bannon began advocating the idea early this year."

According to Megan Squire, an Elon University computer science professor, Bannon is particularly adept at "creating community around his podcasts," before noting, "... there are tens of thousands of members in 'War Room' fan groups on Telegram, an app popular for its group chats."

"The fans can then extend the beliefs of the show, sometimes in harmful ways," Squire warned.

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