Love you, @AriMelber, but hard pass on this. If I wanted to see a bloated racist rotting from the outside in, I'd just watch Hannity. https://t.co/AmlrAqUEjH
— shauna (@goldengateblond) August 18, 2018
As Simon Maloy notes at MMA, Bannon is scattering those “exclusives” around like candy corn at a sad Halloween party. How humiliating must it be for a guy of Steve’s multifarious talents to be reduced to making little political trailers for the yammering Deplorables, as though he were a try-hard like that Dinesh dweeb? Steve is a macher, a BSD, just ask him! — why won’t the Important People around Donald answer his calls any more?
Tina Nguyen, at Vanity Fair:
On Thursday morning, Axios unveiled, with some skepticism, Steve Bannon’s latest attempt to re-insert himself into Donald Trump’s good graces: the trailer for Trump @ War, a documentary purporting to show the violent liberal backlash against voters who chose to make America great again. It is a fairly simple trailer, featuring footage that appears to show Trump supporters clashing with leftist antifa rioters, a generic, ominous orchestral soundtrack, and footage of CNN anchor and fake-news avatar Don Lemon ripping on Trump’s policies, interspersed with Trump’s favorite talking heads (Sebastian Gorka, Corey Lewandowski) and Bannon’s own personal allies (Raheem Kassam) calling for a midterm war. Their thesis: the midterms are a Trump “re-election campaign,” and voting in November is akin to voting Trump back into office—an easy case to make, considering prominent Democrats have repeatedly called for his impeachment. In an interview with Axios, Bannon insisted that the film would practically flood the polls with Trump voters—“If you’re a deplorable, you’ll literally be standing on your chair with your pitchfork saying: ‘I’ve got to get people out to vote’”—but also tipped his hand as to the film’s real purpose: “How jacked do we think Trump will be when he sees this?”
It was a typical Bannon move, both tonally and strategically. As one person who formerly worked with him told me, “He always used his second-rate filmmaking to get in with celebrities.” But this time, Bannon’s charm offensive included a few extra goodies to sweeten his re-entry: a new populist-nationalist political group called Citizens of the American Republic, a September event called the “Deplorables Conference” to coincide with the film’s premiere, and, of course, as much public praise as he could feasibly lavish on Trump. For any other ex-Trump employee, this would seems like overkill. But Bannon, whom Trump decimated in a statement as a leaker who had ”lost his mind,” has innumerable sins for which to atone. Not only was he directly responsible for the Republican Party losing the Alabama Senate special election to a Democrat, but he trashed Trump’s own children to a reporter, suggesting that Donald Trump Jr. had committed treason for holding a meeting with Russian lawyers. Even worse, he had reportedly begun mulling a challenge to Trump in 2020…
It was a bluff, Donny! A cry for attention!
Bannon’s loathsome, but he’s not stupid. He knows that he doesn’t wear well among normal human subcommunities — every few years, he has to start another Big Project with a new batch of potential marks. The whole Trump White House gig was supposed to be his ticket into serious politics, a platform where he could finally blossom into the Kissingeresque Great Strategist he knows he was born to play. If only he could’ve resisted blowing off steam to that Wolff dude! If only Rebekah Mercer hadn’t been so invested in her own dreams of being the next Pamela Harriman!…
Well, alea iacta est — the die is cast. And the reviews are… not kind.
Even worse, there’s a twitter hashtag — #stevebannonamovie —
Saving Private Bone Spurs #stevebannonamovie
— Pam Cowan (@Presleytal) August 18, 2018
Beetledouche #stevebannonamovie
— Tao Lame (@tao_lame) August 18, 2018
Close Encounters of the Third Reich#stevebannonamovie
— Malcolm Rees-Francis (@Pno_nwa) August 18, 2018
He's Gross, Point Blank #SteveBannonAMovie
— Collin Murr (@CollinMurr) August 18, 2018
germy
What if no one invited him on TV?
Corner Stone
“I’ve got my hands back on my weapons,” the former White House chief strategist, who returned as executive chairman of Breitbart News late Friday afternoon, told the Weekly Standard. “I built a f***ing machine at Breitbart. And now I’m about to go back, knowing what I know, and we’re about to rev that machine up. And rev it up we will do.”
germy
Ari… you should follow this example:
Corner Stone
I thought MSNBC was all past this but they have had one RWNJ after another for their segments today. Some crazy ass blond lady screaming at Jonathan Alter and Carrie Sheffield doing her nuts ass schtick on a different one. Then they added the cherry on top by pairing a segment with Toure and Corey Stewart.
trollhattan
Pre-election Bannon was utterly unknown. Can we go back to those heady days?
germy
Corner Stone
Ari is usually a pretty good pushback interviewer but he let Bannon get away with a lot of coded talk and bullshit that he should not have let stand.
oatler.
Rudy Giuliani’s on Meet the Press tomorrow. Chuck can’t resist that GOP trouser trout…the umami…
germy
germy
@oatler.: I read somewhere that PEETUS is getting increasingly frustrated over Rudy’s TV performances.
Corner Stone
Rut-roh. Looks like according to NYT McGahn (WH Counsel) has been sitting down with Mueller over the last nine months.
Major Major Major Major
Well bless his heart.
A Ghost To Most
Just out: Don McGahn has been cooperating with Special Counsel.
germy
@Corner Stone:
Did he get a peek at some classified info during his time in the White House?
trollhattan
Sam Philips has an album out in September; here’s a song.
I [heart] Sam Phillips.
germy
Well, he does now.
Emma
@germy: Maybe this is the blown-artery moment.
The Dangerman
OK, at the VERY bottom of potential kitten names (from a couple floors down) is “Bannon”. Right above or below “Donald” (sorry for the potential image).
Since it was a post on Jimmy Carter, how about Peanut for a name? And, dammit do we have a picture yet? I could go look but …lazy …
MattF
Lying assholes are lying assholes. It’s true and it’s not news. Not even just a little bit.
JPL
Bannon’s a bloviating ignoramus and I have no intention in listening to him spout lies.
I’m reading The Death of Democracy, and I had to pause to read the reviews again. It’s horrifying the number of parallels between the nazi party propaganda and Trump’s.
JPL
@germy: The cynic in me is that he has been clearing the dear leader’s name.
germy
@Emma:
He’s been yelling a lot, at his staff and on twitter. Maybe Dr. Bornstein should do a stress test.
sukabi
@JPL: pretty sure he wouldn’t want to go down for perjury
NotMax
Could probably go on and on with dozens of parody movie titles as per above, but shall stick to just one.
Lietanic
Corner Stone
@JPL: IMO, either way I can’t see how this is going to be good for Trump. Trump simply can’t tell the truth so even if they put their heads together and agreed on a story I have to believe that McGahn knows damn well Trump will toss him under the bus at every opportunity.
Corner Stone
Jesus, and now MSNBC has Jen Kearns (Tea Party nutter) on a segment.
Keith P.
@germy: He needs Dr Ronnie
kindness
Twitter’s finest use is as mockery. For serious discussions….not so much.
Wonder if they got the White House Council guy to sign a NDA? He had to know it was worthless if he did.
Miss Bianca
@trollhattan: I *heart* Sam Phillips too! Thanks for that!
sukabi
@kindness: thought I saw somewhere in the last week that McGahn had the staff sign them knowing they were unenforceable to just to shut the shitgibbon up.
Corner Stone
Man, people ran away from this thread like Bannon runs from soap and water.
Ken
I thought Trump at War was his long fight against VD. Or am I misremembering, and that was some comic’s joke, not Trump’s actual reply when asked what he’d done during Vietnam?
zhena gogolia
@Ken:
He said it to Howard Stern.
debbie
@JPL:
It’s horrifying the number of parallels between the nazi party propaganda and Trump’s.
I was thinking the exact same thing last night. A couple years ago, you’d be thought hyperbolic if you said that. Now, you get agreement.
MisterForkbeard
@germy: The article also says that McGahn doesn’t believe Trump broke any laws, so there’s that.
Mai Naem mobile
Leave Ari Melber alllloonnee!!! I really think Ari Melber is a smart interviewer and I have a feeling hes got big things ahead of him at MSNBC unless they manage to lose him to another media outlet. I thought the Bannon interview was pretty good.
evodevo
I like Beetledouche the best lol
p.a.
What’s Bannon’s boombox playing? Deutschland uber alles? Wagner? (I think in reality Wagner’s anti-semitic writing were more acceptable to the regime than some of his music. (see Wiki…))
geg6
@Corner Stone:
I am praying to the pasta goddess that he turns out to be the John Dean of this administration. A girl can wish.
geg6
Why the hell am I in moderation?
geg6
Ugh. Typed the wrong email address. Stuck comments in moderation.
Anyway, I am hoping for McGahn to be the John Dean of this maladministration. A girl can dream.
Bex
Too late for kitten names? I’ll jump in anyway. It seems that she likes to snuggle, so Laptop for a potential lap cat.
JPL
@geg6: Probably not. His time frame has more to do with the Comey firing and the dismissal of Flynn. Flynn btw still has his security clearance.
Months ago Maggie said someone was taping conversations in the White House, and recently mentioned she was not talking about Omarosa.
geg6
@JPL:
But that’s a part of the obstruction case. And that’s exactly what Dean exposed.
lamh36
RIP Kofi Annan. Lovely tribute from the folks at Sesame Street:
https://twitter.com/sesamestreet/status/1030809037292457984
Did Chump issue a statement? If so, was it as bad as I imagine it probably would be? I’ve seen PBO’s , which, not surprisingly, was perfect..
hilts
I generally like Ari Melber, but his decision to give airtime to Steve Bannon was indefensible and incredibly dickish.
Kathleen
@Corner Stone: Some fun facts I learned about McGahn I learned from my sister in law, who works for Jones Day (law form McGahn left to join Trump). McGahn was relatively new at Jones Day in DC when he brought the Trump Campaign account to the firm. Evidently many of the the partners in the Dallas office were not pleased with McGahn. Upshot of the story is that Trump campaign actually paid its bills!!! Partners in Dallas are pleased that money from the Trump campaign helps to fund the pro bono office which helps immigrants in El Paso.
Ruckus
@hilts:
We don’t like it but Bannon is news. Shitty news yes, but news. That’s the job. Now making a comment or 25 about how this asswipe is who he is would be in line. But we have a freedom here that many do not enjoy at all, freedom of speech. I do understand that he has a right to say shit, and we have a right to tell him it is pure shit. But if no one lets him speak then why should they let someone on our side speak?
How else does/can freedom of speech work?
It’s the acceptance of his speech that’s the issue. It’s the normalizing that is the issue. That’s where the MSM falls down almost every time. They put on shit then try to make it sound normal, acceptable. That’s the issue.
Ruckus
@Kathleen:
HA! shitgibbon finally did some good. Of course it was totally unintended, undesired and if he knew he’d shit bricks. Still we can enjoy a very small measure of schadenfreude at his expense.
spudgun
@trollhattan: HUGE Sam Phillips fan here too! Thank you for this!
spudgun
@lamh36: Surprised there wasn’t a front-page post about this. Very sad news, I think he was a great man.