Steve Bannon is going to take a lot of people down with him
It’s surprising that nine Republicans believe in the rule of law because by most Republican behavior, we thought none of them did. However, nine managed to vote to hold Bannon in contempt of Congress and we’re impressed. Given than the last administration has so far gotten away with dozens of crimes, it’s become apparent that the only way to call yourself a Republican is to be dodging some charges yourself. But maybe a turning point has come.
Bannon’s criminal indictment is only a trickle, but it pays to remember that the first hole in the dike is the most critical. From one tiny little fissure, massive, cascading failures are born. In the Bannon case, he’s going to take down a lot of people with him. No way he goes to jail like Manafort did and just sits there. In Manafort’s case, there was Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska looming over him and he was never going to rat on the Russian. Moreover, Manafort had a daily wait for a Presidential pardon, so it paid to keep his mouth shut.
Bannon has no such option. Moreover, he’s just now seen nine Republicans go against their party’s code of omertà and vote for him to have consequences. Amazing as we said. We suspect most of these nine Republicans are lawyers who’ve finally realized enough is enough. Not only are they finally doing their duty to abide by the rule of law, but they’re also abiding by the rule of politics: perform in order to be re-elected. And this is the way to do that.
TR Kenneth is the author of the thriller, A ROOM FULL OF NIGHT. You can read all about her at trkenneth.com and on Twitter