Bannon Floats Baseless Conspiracy Theory Linking Uvalde Shooter to ‘Open Borders’

Former Trump campaign manager and senior advisor, Steve Bannon, continued to float a conspiracy theory this week that the Uvalde, Texas massacre is “going to be tied to the open borders.”

Bannon was interviewing Gina Loudon, a right-wing commentator, on his influential podcast Tuesday and said, “We have to get a timeline, a timeline down to the second of what happened here. Because this does not make sense, there are so many loose ends.”

“We have got to find out more about this gunman, this going to be tied to the open borders, you watch, this is going to be tied to the open borders,” Bannon claimed.

Steve Bannon says Uvalde massacre will be “tied to the open borders”

Guest Gina Loudon: “If our wall had been built and if we had the rule of law enforced this shooting would never have happened” pic.twitter.com/bCpVc2Bw1i

— Madeline Peltz (@peltzmadeline) May 31, 2022

“Can I give one more caution, just on that mental argument? Everyone wants to take the pressure off guns and put it on mental health, I totally get that,” Loudon jumped in.

“You do not want the Joe Biden Department of Mental Health and Gun Safety,” she continued, warning the right-wing not to raise the alarm too loudly on mental health.

She continued and echoed Bannon’s claim that the shooting had to do with illegal immigration. “If our wall had been built and if we had the rule of law enforced, this shooting would never have happened and these children and adults would be alive today,” she said, referencing the 19 dead children and two dead adults killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

The next day on his WarRoom podcast, Bannon interviewed Ben Bergquam from the far-right Real America’s Voice, who was in Uvalde, Texas, and claimed the small town sat at “the intersection of the invasion of our country and the evil wokeness that is destroying our country.” Bergquam’s remarks echoed the “replacement theory” that many critics have fueled mass shootings like the recent shooting in Buffalo, New York.

“This is, right here to my left is where the trains come through that drop off illegal aliens. This, behind me, is the neighborhood that … the demon killer grew up in,” Bergquam said.

“And right is where all of these illegal aliens have been jumping off trains going into this community. It’s all connected. People need to understand that. It’s all connected. What’s coming up through our border, the invasion on our country, the destruction of our policing by the woke left, it’s all connected,” he concluded.

Bannon jumped and connected the Uvalde shooter to the Mexican drug cartels.

“All because of the cartels. The thing is out of control and I’m telling you, how he got the cash is tied back to the trafficking of human beings, guns, and drugs,” Bannon said.

“I don’t know how he got 8,000, I’ll tell you how he got 8,000, tell me the cash business that’s blowing through town. It’s not the Wendy’s he was working at. It’s not flipping burgers, at, what, $4 an hour. OK? That’s not where he’s making 8,000 and 10,000 in cash money to buy those guns and to buy the ammo and to get the ammo that quick,” Bannon added, in a clip flagged by Media Matters.

The Uvalde shooter was born in North Dakota and authorities have released no evidence or information linking the shooter to Mexico.