A serene Steve Bannon says his stint in the slammer was ‘empowering’

Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s former chief strategist and host of the War Room podcast, was released from FCI Danbury, the federal prison where he was incarcerated as a political prisoner for the last four months Tuesday. His tort? The same thing that Eric Holder and Merrick Garland were guilty of: refusing to respond to a Congressional subpoena. Neither Holder nor Garland were indicted or incarcerated, of course, because neither supports Donald Trump.  

That was Bannon’s real outrage: supporting the man whom Kamala Harris describes as “literally Hitler” and a “fascist” and whose supporters Joe Biden just described as “garbage.” 

About 100 Karens of all sexes crowded into a suite at Lowe’s Regency Hotel on Park Avenue to preen, scold and attempt to play Gotcha! with a man who quietly ran circles around them all. You said nasty things about Elon Musk in the past and now you support him: how do you explain that?

Bannon pointed out that Musk has undergone a process of political maturation, something that the Karen in question only blinked at. 

Buzz, buzz, buzz. There they all were, the rancid Lilliputians from the AP, the Washington Post, Daily Beast, the Bulwark: what about January 6? Who does he think won the 2020 election? Will he respect the results of the 2024 election? Etc., etc. 

They were pathetic, but Bannon was serene and forthright, explaining that his stint in the slammer had been an “empowering” experience. He spent much of his  timing tutoring about 100 fellow prisoners, mostly non-violent drug offenders, in civics, a subject the hostile crybullies of the press might profit from.  

Bannon described how the focus of politics was moving from race through gender and was just about to settle on the critical issue of money. The reason that support for Donald Trump is soaring among blacks and Hispanics is that they understand his populist message. They remember the manifold economic successes of his first term: the tax cuts, the historically low unemployment, the rising wages, especially at the lower end of the scale, the ethic of MAGA.  

I am pleased that Steve Bannon will be on hand to help Donald Trump during the last few days of his presidential campaign. Trump is on the cusp of an astounding victory. But what if Harris wins? What then? If she wins in a free and fair election, Bannon said, then of course we must respect the will of the people. “If,” as the Spartan said to Philip II when he fulminated about the terror he would unleash if he invaded Laconia. Or, as Jeeves was wont to put it to Bertie, the contingency is remote.