Now we know why Steve Bannon has been freaking out this weekend
Steve Bannon is one of those guys who will always tell you he’s winning, no matter how badly he and/or his side might be losing. It’s a tactic aimed at scaring the other side into believing they’re all doomed – a narrative that he knows the media is always all too happy to repeat. If the other side is paralyzed by fear, it won’t bother putting in the work required to fight back and defeat Bannon and his side. It’s just Politics 101: always tell the other side they’re losing, and hope they’re naive enough to believe it.
This tactic is the one thing Bannon is best known for. He’s been indicted, he’s almost certainly going to prison, he appears to be broke and scrounging for money to pay his legal bills, and most of the major players on his own side have ostracized him – yet he still goes on his podcast each day and insists he’s winning.
So it was revealing when Bannon suddenly decided this weekend that even he couldn’t keep up the facade that he’s winning. Instead Bannon went on a defeatist rant about how the likes of Mike Pence and the Koch Network are selling out Donald Trump. Bannon sounded agitated, worried, as if it’s all falling apart for him and his side. Now we know why.
Steve Bannon just made a court filing which reveals that the DOJ’s three week investigation into him for contempt of Congress ran so deep and wide, it went as far as the Feds apparently obtaining Bannon’s attorney’s communications. Bannon is trying to spin this as overzealous prosecution. But in reality the filing reveals just how screwed Bannon is – not only because the contempt case against him is so thorough, but because it appears the DOJ has been investigating him all along for underlying crimes as well.
Bannon is screwed. He knows he’s screwed. He’s so screwed, he’s reduced to playing the victim in court filings – which never works. He’s so dejected about how screwed he is, he can’t even seem to publicly pretend that he’s winning. That’s another thing about Politics 101: if you tell the other side that you’re losing, you’re just emboldening the other side to fight that much harder. Bannon just told us that he’s toast and that Trump world is in freefall. Will we forfeit this advantage by idly sitting around and insisting that we’re losing? Or will we exploit the other side’s vulnerability by fighting more aggressively than ever? As always, it’s up to us. If we fight, we’ll likely win. If we fret, we’ll definitely lose.
