Steve Bannon responds to bombshell report claiming he’s ‘laying the groundwork’ for a 2028 run

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump’s former top adviser Steve Bannon is reportedly setting the chessboard for a possible 2028 White House run, even as he publicly swats away the idea.

According to Axios, Bannon is already “laying the groundwork” for a campaign. That includes forming a political action committee and speaking “with allies to see who might work for him.”

Steve Bannon eyes unconventional 2028 bid to push America First agenda

Bannon has been popping up in Republican Party circles, appearing at events last year hosted by the Colorado and Georgia GOP. Axios said those appearances were “an indication he’s looking to curry favor with local organizers who play a role in primaries.”

Still, Axios reports this isn’t about Bannon dreaming of life behind the Resolute Desk.

“The MAGA godfather isn’t serious about becoming president, that’s not the point,” the report states. “Instead, he’s told allies he wants to shape the debate and pressure Republican candidates to embrace an ‘America First’ agenda, including a non-interventionist foreign policy, economic populism and opposition to Big Tech.”

If Bannon did pull the trigger, it wouldn’t look like a typical Iowa-and-New Hampshire slog. Axios quoted his associates as saying they “envision a nontraditional campaign run from his Capitol Hill podcast studio, and without rallies in early primary states such as Iowa and New Hampshire.”

Former Rep Matt Gaetz (R-FL) offered his take on what a Bannon candidacy would represent. “The Bannon campaign will merge the foreign policy of Rand Paul with the tax policy of Elizabeth Warren,” he told Axios.

Steve Bannon dismisses 2028 run rumors, pushes Trump third-term theory

Publicly, Bannon is doing his best to douse the rumors. He told Axios that the whole idea of him running was “bullsh*t,” insisting he’s busy trying to keep Trump in power. Bannon said he is focused on pushing for a third Trump term “despite the Constitution’s two-term limit on presidents.”

“We don't have a country if we don't get every ounce of fight and energy from President Trump, you can drive a Mack Truck through the 22nd Amendment, and that's exactly what I intend to do in order to save our country,” Bannon told Axios, referring to the amendment that caps presidents at two terms.

Bannon is even turning that argument into a book. He revealed he is working with former Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz on 'Could President Trump Constitutionally Serve a Third Term?' The book is scheduled to hit shelves in March.

Trump turns 80 on June 14 and is already the oldest person ever inaugurated as president. Even he has acknowledged that he is not allowed to run again, though Bannon insists there is a workaround. One source told Axios, “When Trump doesn’t end up running, [Bannon will] reluctantly say he must carry the mantle.”

This isn’t the first time Bannon’s name has floated into the 2028 rumor mill. Throughout the past year, he has repeatedly made headlines about possibly running, only to swat the idea down as “absurd” or brush reporters off with a simple “Trump 2028” when pressed about his own plans.

Polls show Steve Bannon trailing JD Vance in 2028 GOP race

It’s worth noting that Bannon’s resume comes with baggage. He served a brief federal prison sentence in 2024 for contempt of Congress after refusing to comply with a subpoena in the January 6 investigation.

Even if Bannon wanted the job, the math is rather brutal.

On the betting site Polymarket, Bannon has just a one percent chance of becoming the GOP nominee. That puts him far behind Vice President JD Vance, who leads the pack with a 52 percent rating. A straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference in early 2025 told the same story, with Bannon trailing Vance there as well.

Traditional polling isn’t kinder. Aggregators show Vance as the clear heir to the MAGA movement, dominating the early 2028 field.

Race to the White House numbers put Vance at nearly 45 percent, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio a distant second at 10.7 percent and Donald Trump Jr in third at 9.4 percent.

Real Clear Polling’s average for the 2028 Republican nominee paints nearly the same picture, with Vance still out front, followed far behind by Trump Jr and Marco Rubio.