Good summary account of Steve Bannon’s arraignment on Politico. Skid-row Steve entered the courtroom in handcuffs and tried to boost the melodrama with his bon mot “They will never shut me up, they’ll have to kill me first.” But his six-count indictment for money laundering and conspiracy to defraud suggests that the better epigraph for the occasion was shouted by a bystander as Bannon was entering the court: “Stop hurting America, you greasy grifter.”

Steve is right, of course, They will never shut him up, for only death will silence him. Bannon has tried very hard over the years to fashion for himself the persona of a revolutionary pundit. This has not come out very well. He has been more an insurrectionist Walter Mitty who strives, by blather about rebellion, revolution, seizing power, and so on, to grab attention. It’s the attention that matters, not the politics. What inspires Mr. Bannon is Trump’s Disease, an insatiable craving for notoriety, and sufferers from that affliction never shut up.

Now I’m worrying that Steve Bannon will not be allowed to maintain his skid-row style when he is in jail. He has embodied the “I don’t give a shit” look, providing a model and encouragement for men who are similarly disposed. The extent to which he is imitated can be seen in very many of the Capitol rioters of Jan 6th. More than that, Steve’s slovenly chic style is part of his persona, indeed, part of his message, and I think that forcing Steve to wash his face and shave would be a violation of his freedom of speech.

Was Steve Bannon a thief before his association with Trump, or did Trump deflower him too. No one who comes into close contact with Trump can remain clean, we know that. Indeed, I don’t think Trump would let anyone get close to him who is not nearly as dirty as he. Anyway, all the time that Bannon’s been posing as a Catholic and trying to take over the intellectually disreputable Dignitatis Humanae Institute in Italy he was being funded by stolen cash. 

I’ve always thought that the Wall would make a lot of money for someone, but I was thinking of contractors with bribes in their hands. But Steve got the jump on them with his scam. And what a fool he has made of Trump!