It’s finally Steve Bannon’s time in the barrel
Now that the judge has thrown Steve Bannon’s last minute executive privilege stunt down the trash chute, and ordered that Bannon’s criminal trial begin next week as scheduled, we’ll see if Bannon finally realizes he needs to cut a legitimate cooperation deal against Trump with the DOJ. If Bannon would rather just go to prison, so be it.
If Bannon decides to go to trial next week and is convicted, he’ll then have less leverage for negotiating a lenient cooperation deal. It’s a big roll of the dice for him. And the DOJ’s filings continue to suggest that it may be looking to bring additional more serious charges against him later.
Remember when Bannon insisted months ago that he would use the contempt charge to pry open the DOJ’s entire January 6th criminal probe and get the rest of Trump world off the hook? None of that happened. Bannon’s scary threats are always just just delusional empty bluster. He’s long been all hat and no cattle.
Bannon has been taking one ugly costly loss after another for years. He lost Breitbart. He lost the Mercers. He lost his Trump White House gig. But because he’s survived these blows, perhaps he’s tricked himself into believing that he’s too clever to ever end up in prison. Maybe he’ll believe he’s still going to prevail, right up the cell door slams.
It’s one thing to sell empty bluster for a living, as Bannon and so many other right wing operatives do. But you’re not supposed to fall for your own bluster. It’s like a drug dealer getting hooked on his own product. Never ends well.
If Bannon has any connection to reality, he’ll cut a plea deal against Trump with the DOJ this week, rather than going to trial. But don’t count on it. He has a long history of finding a way to lose as badly as possible.
