DONALD Trump’s former White House Chief of Staff Steve Bannon has declared “MAGA could rule for 50 years” at a fiery event on day one of this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, DC.

The 70-year-old former Hollywood scriptwriter-turned-political spin doctor was given a rockstar’s reception as he entered the room packed with supporters – some of whom had traveled from as far away as Romania.

Wednesday’s opening event – a live version of Bannon‘s wildly popular War Room podcast – took place at a cavernous hotel in National Harbor, Maryland, some seven miles south of DC.

The event got off to an inauspicious start when two small birds somehow got into the room, distracted by the huge ceiling lights.

“Don’t feed the birds!” one attendee cackled as they walked past.

Dressed in a black shirt and light jacket, Bannon came to the stage just after midday to rapturous applause. The mastermind of the MAGA movement knew how to get the punters in – by offering a buffet lunch to all of his supporters.

“You see what a free lunch can do,” he joked, gesturing to the crowds that had packed, standing room only, into the space.

The event began with a prayer and then the Pledge of Allegiance, led by an attendee from nearby Annapolis, Maryland, who hugged her hero Bannon as she stepped onto the stage.

As the crowd recited alongside her, one female attendee raised her voice above the others to bellow, “Justice for ALL!”

Bannon-mania was in full force among his supporters.

One speaker compared him to a “prophet,” while another attendee described how he had been “right about everything.”

And the compliments were reciprocated by the host.

Bannon proudly declared all in attendance to be part of “a revolutionary group,” describing them as the “vanguard of MAGA.”

MAGA will govern the United States for 50 years and Trump will go down as the best president since Abraham Lincoln.Steve Bannon

Such militaristic rhetoric was followed by a typically bombastic defense of the events of January 6, 2021, when some supporters of President Trump marched on the Capitol, resulting in more than 2,000 people entering the building itself.

By far the biggest cheer came when Bannon asked the crowd, “Can we start off by saying, ‘Trump won’?”

A lively crowd regularly chipped in with suggestions – such as one man shouting “Fed-surrection,” in response to Bannon’s description of the “insurrection” in 2021.

He was quick to correct himself.

The event, far smaller than that where Trump and others will be speaking, seemed to draw the most devoted crowd.

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