Bannon says the bloody images of Trump supporters being attacked are a necessary motivator because voters have responded to Republican efforts to tout their tax cut and raise alarm that Democrats could impeach the president with a yawn. A series of recent polls shows that Democrats are more committed to voting in the fall elections than Republicans. An Aug. 22 Fox News poll, for example, showed that 51 percent of people who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 are enthusiastic about casting a ballot in November, vs. only 37 percent of Trump voters. Republican strategists are increasingly worried that their supporters will stay home.

The Trump @War movie’s graphic violence and claims that a Democratic victory will precipitate attacks on the president’s supporters is meant to anger them and ratchet up their intensity, says Bannon. “If we’d put it in theaters, it’d be X-rated for violence,” he says. “The film opens powerfully and focuses on this subject because it’s a motivation tool that we’ve tested with audiences.”

Whether or not this sort of fearmongering energizes Republican voters, experts who study political violence say there has been no spike in left-wing attacks.