Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Shut up, hissy kitty!

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

When we show up, we win.

If you’re gonna whine, it’s time to resign!

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

Tick tock motherfuckers!

You are here: Home / Politics / GOP Death Cult / Repub Venality Open Thread: Steve Bannon Goes Back in the Dock

Repub Venality Open Thread: Steve Bannon Goes Back in the Dock

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Political commentators often ask whether the ideology of Trumpism will outlast Donald Trump. We don’t yet know the answer to that, but we already can say this: If there’s one legacy of Trumpism that will endure long after Trump himself, it’s Trumpist grift…

You might recall that Trump pardoned Bannon for the federal charges. But presidential pardons don’t apply to state prosecutions, and the Manhattan district attorney has been evaluating whether to prosecute Bannon since last year.

Which is a reminder of the role that sheer, unabashed, unadulterated grift continues to play in the Trumpist political project. In numerous ways, Trump’s allies have shamelessly milked the Trumpist cash cow for all it’s worth, something that has continued during his post-presidency.

The outsize role of grift in American conservatism is a story that goes back at least a half century. But Trump glommed on to those tendencies while also exacerbating them in his own ugly ways, and the Bannon saga is a particularly grotesque example of that.

Bannon and a group of associates allegedly raised $25 million from hundreds of thousands of donors for something called “We Build the Wall.” In 2020, federal prosecutors charged that Bannon had lied when he said he wouldn’t take any compensation, instead raking in $1 million for himself and a co-conspirator through a nonprofit group…

The promise of the wall was itself largely grift. The role of a wall in keeping out migrants is negligible: Many migrants that Trump targeted had the legal right to apply for asylum and get a hearing in the United States, which wouldn’t be undone by any wall. Trump slashed migrant flows by restricting that legal right, even as his wall mostly wasn’t built. That latter failure was largely irrelevant.

Yet Bannon’s scheme sold the unbuilt wall as some sort of major and unforgivable betrayal of Trumpism. Millions who had been seduced into believing our civilizational fate turned on the building of this wall were invited to open their wallets to remedy this historical injustice…

Historian Rick Perlstein has documented how such grifting has long been a feature of right-wing politics, back through the direct mail chicanery of the 1970s.

“What Bannon is doing here is very much of a piece with 50 years of grifting,” Perlstein told me. “The pattern has always been corralling fleeceable marks and separating them from their cash.”

Perlstein noted that these schemes are built atop a bedrock layer of grift. Underlying promises such as the vow to reverse the “stolen” election, or to finish the unbuilt wall, tap into people’s anger and disappointment by telling them they’ve been deprived of something they should have justly received (a Trump election victory, a border wall).

As Perlstein put it, the key is to “manufacture this feeling of helplessness, so you can ride to the rescue.” In other words, it’s grift all the way down…

One can but hope, she said…
Repub Venality Open Thread: Steve Bannon Goes Back in the Dock

Reader Interactions

71Comments

  2. 2.

    Elizabelle

    I am actually a little surprised Bannon is still walking this earth.  He always looks so dissipated.  That said:  indict him!  Often!

  9. 9.

    Martin

    Reminder that fascists seek out criminals to work in government because they have already proven they are rules-breakers – a highly desirable trait in a burgeoning fascist movement.

  12. 12.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    My wife is good natured about her dad looking a bit like Steve Bannon.  My FIL also looks a bit like Captain Kangaroo.

  15. 15.

    kalakal

    I like the ‘daughter wanting her  step dad to walk her down the aisle’ line. I  always think of him as having a ‘the last guy at the party’ vibe

  19. 19.

    HumboldtBlue

    @kalakal:

    I like the ‘daughter wanting her step dad to walk her down the aisle’ line.

    That really is a classic.

    And with all this GOP malfeasance and general assholery, I wonder if we are going to see more GOP or GOP-adjacent voters voting blue this time around.

    These folks have.

  21. 21.

    Sparkedcat

    Perhaps the judgement of Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg not being up to the job of taking on Trump was premature. Allen Weisselberg will testify next month that the Trump Organization ran a decades long tax avoidance scheme. Steve Bannon will  will be perp walked tomorrow. Death by a thousand cuts is still a death.

  22. 22.

    WaterGirl

    I like the sound of this!

    They are coming after all of us.

    Because if you haven’t done anything wrong that doesn’t strike fear, it sparks joy.

  33. 33.

    Bill Arnold

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    Friend once said this about S. Bannon, paraphrased and from memory:
    …looks like a guy who lives in a van with no windows in the back, to make abductions easier. …

  34. 34.

    Albatrossity

    One of the other grifters in this “We Build The Wall” scam was Kris Kobach, who is currently the GOP nominee for attorney general here in KS. Recall that he was instructed to take remedial law classes after a judge struck down his campaign to require proof of citizenship during voter registration. State AG who needs remedial law classes. I sure hope not. The Dem candidate Chris Mann) is good, but probably could use some support

  38. 38.

    Steeplejack

    Hey, co-conspirator Brian Kolfage, hope you’re looking forward to your sentencing in December as much as we are. In your own words: “Bahhhaha what a loser!”

  39. 39.

    Another Scott

    @Albatrossity: Thanks for the pointer.  My brother was born in Kansas.  You folks deserve much, much better than monsters like KK.

    Donated.

    Good luck!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  40. 40.

    delphinium

    @Albatrossity: Hope there will be ads made pointing out Kobach’s ties to the  “We Build The Wall” scam and Steve Bannon. And about him having to take remedial law classes. We really need standards for who can run for office, especially for things like attorney general, SoS, and governor.

  41. 41.

    Ken

    I’m assuming/hoping that at some point TFG, enraged by this overturning of his pardon of Bannon, will post some whining screed that ends up implicating another dozen people in the scam, and possibly reveals some new previously-unsuspected crimes.

  43. 43.

    Another Scott

    Prosecuting the crooks is very important. Another infamous one is in the news – USNI.org – Fat Leonard escaped:

    An international manhunt continued Tuesday for Leonard Glenn Francis, a former defense contractor and convicted mastermind of a multimillion-dollar U.S. Navy corruption case who fled custody from home detention Sunday morning, just weeks before he was to be sentenced to federal prison.

    Francis, a Malaysian national and the former president of Singapore-based Glenn Defense Marine Asia, was convicted in 2015 after taking a plea deal in exchange for helping U.S. prosecutors implicate three-dozen military officials. Since at least 2018, he has been living in home detention in San Diego under court-approved “medical furloughs” for treatment of renal cancer and other health issues, according to federal court documents. He was scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 22 before District Court Judge Janis Sammartino.

    But at about 7:30 a.m. Sunday, the GPS tracker affixed to Francis’ ankle alerted federal monitors that it “was being tampered with,” a U.S. Marshals Service official told USNI News.

    […]

    Somehow, he convinced the judge that he was dying of cancer (he has cancer but isn’t dying), that he needed to be home (he didn’t), and that he would pay for his own house-arrest security. Um, …

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  44. 44.

    Another Scott

    In other news, Jaime Harrison (DNC Chair) gets it:

    On a press call, @harrisonjaime said the DNC decided "to be a full-fledged partner" with groups that are typically on the frontlines in a midterm year (DGA, DCCC, DSCC). "This cycle, we will hit seven figures in paid media investments aimed at reaching Black voters," he said https://t.co/zyGENvTezJ

    — Nolan D. McCaskill (@NolanDMcCaskill) September 7, 2022

    Good, good. More, please.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  48. 48.

    Joe Falco

    I wonder if anyone in Vegas has any bets on whether Bannon will pull a Fat Leonard and try to flee the country.

  51. 51.

    Another Scott

    @Joe Falco: His Chinese billionaire friend has his own issues, so he may not have another yacht to flee to.

    Warning – Politico (from February):

    Exiled Chinese billionaire and Steve Bannon ally Guo Wengui filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Tuesday days after a court ordered him to pay $134 million for attempting to avoid debt collection.

    In the petition, Guo, who also goes by Miles Kwok and Kwok Ho Wan, claims that his debts are not consumer or business-related, rather “litigation expenses, claims and judgments.” His legal issues are rooted in a $30 million loan from the Pacific Alliance Asia Opportunity Fund that was never repaid.

    Last week, a judge ruled that Guo had five days to pay a fine after arranging for a yacht to move out of the U.S. to the Bahamas despite a court order requiring that it remain in New York. Guo claims he doesn’t own the yacht, but if he didn’t pay the fine in time, he’d risk being arrested.

    “I was given only five days after the verdict came out [to pay the fine],” Guo said in a video posted on GETTR, a social media site that he funds and is run by allies of former President Donald Trump. “How could I possibly accept this? Thus I have to apply for personal bankruptcy.”

    […]

    Maybe Judge Cannon is available to protect not-his yacht and reputation.

    (groucho-roll-eyes.gif)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  53. 53.

    Brachiator

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Reuters.

    SASKATOON, Saskatchewan, Sept 7 (Reuters) – The suspect sought by Canadian authorities in a weekend stabbing spree that killed 10 people in and around an indigenous reserve in Saskatchewan died on Wednesday, apparently of self-inflicted injuries, shortly after his arrest, Canada’s Global News agency reported.

  54. 54.

    Another Scott

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    AlJazeera:

    “There is no longer a risk to public safety … The Saskatchewan RCMP would like to thank the public for their diligence in providing pertinent information about potential sightings of Myles Sanderson,” the force said in a brief statement.

    Global News, citing multiple law enforcement sources, said Sanderson surrendered to police and was alive when he was taken away in an ambulance after a highway pursuit in which police rammed his vehicle off the road. He died shortly afterwards of injuries authorities believe were self-inflicted, Global said.

    Devin Heroux, a national reporter with public service broadcaster CBC, tweeted that Sanderson had been confirmed dead and that the police were expected to hold a press conference at 7:30pm local time (01:30 GMT).

    HTH.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  56. 56.

    James E Powell

    @Baud:

    He’ll probably use his wall scamming email list to solicit money for his legal defense.

    And right-wing dullards will give him money.

  57. 57.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    A David From thread on the tradition of inviting past presidents to the White House for unveilings includes this nugget of Republican petty that I’d forgotten about, if ever I knew of it…

    David Frum @davidfrum 3h

    n one way, Trump himself made the problem easier. He signed a law in 2018 prohibiting the use of public funds for presidential portraits. The eventual Trump portrait, if ever painted, will be a purely private matter. 3/x

    Come for the Republican petty, stay for the history of Doges of Venice. Or don’t. It’s really up to you.

  58. 58.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Elizabelle:

    NYT updated their reporting (haven’t checked WaPo) but curious that they are both well behind other news sources. Guess everyone’s caught up now.

  61. 61.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Speaking of Right Wing Petty, via Charlie Pierce

    The latest act in the foregone conclusion that is ongoing in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon down in Florida has once again smacked the gobs of actual legal minds in the general direction of Belize. From Law and Crime:

    The federal judge who issued an unusual Labor Day ruling appointing a special master to review thousands of files seized from the 45th president’s Mar-a-Lago estate issued a brief order on Tuesday refusing to allow several onetime GOP officials from filing an amicus brief in opposition to the special master appointment. In late August, several anti-Donald Trump former officials who served under Republican administrations moved to submit a “friend of the court” document that would help U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon sort through the various legal issues at stake in the unprecedented criminal inquiry into the former U.S. head of state.

    Cannon, in a paperless order with one sentence of explanation, dismissed the need for the ex-federal and state officials’ thoughts on the matter. “Upon review of the Motion, the Court appreciates the movants’ willingness to participate in this matter but does not find the proposed appointment of amici curiae to be warranted,” the judge wrote.

    Pierce says this is unusual and petty. IANAL but it looks to me like she wants to keep this brief out of the official record?

  62. 62.

    Elizabelle

    @trollhattan:  Poor Canada.

    And, one of Myles Sanderson’s victims was his father in law (common law relationship).  Whom he had stabbed numerous times in a previous assault.

    Jay had a good comment on a previous thread.  Will look for it now.

  63. 63.

    Elizabelle

    From Jay, on the afternoon thread:

    another one running around NorthWest Edmonton with a knife.

    Since the start of 2022 we, ( Canadians) have seen a big outbreak of violent acts, mostly by men.

    Right now, I suspect Covid’s impact on in person services on a variety of areas. EG, guy in an SRO, ( single resident occupancy, “welfare hotel”) sniping at buses and the homeless with a BB gun from the fire escape at 5am.

  64. 64.

    Scout211

    A new article out in Rolling Stone. Very interesting details.  A few snippets:

    IN HIS FINAL days in the White House, Donald Trump told top advisers he needed to preserve certain Russia-related documents to keep his enemies from destroying them.
    The documents related to the federal investigation into Russian election meddling and alleged collusion with Trump’s campaign. At the end of his presidency, Trump and his team pushed to declassify these so-called “Russiagate” documents, believing they would expose a “Deep State” plot against him.

    According to a person with direct knowledge of the situation and another source briefed on the matter, Trump told several people working in and outside the White House that he was concerned Joe Biden’s incoming administration — or the “Deep State” — would supposedly “shred,” bury, or destroy “the evidence” that Trump was somehow wronged.
    . . .
    In a memo to the acting attorney general and intelligence officials sent the day before Trump left office, he claimed the Justice Department had sent him a binder of materials on the FBI’s so-called “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation in late December 2020. The department sent Trump that information, he claimed, “so I could determine to what extent materials in the binder should be released in unclassified form.”

    The materials included “transcripts of intercepts made by the FBI of Trump aides, a declassified copy of the final FISA warrant approved by an intelligence court, and the tasking orders and debriefings of the two main confidential human sources, Christopher Steele and Stefan Halper,” according to John Solomon, Trump’s representative to the National Archives.

    Trump White House Chief of staff Mark Meadows later wrote in his memoir that he “personally went through every page” of the documents to make sure the declassified portions didn’t “disclose sources and methods” and described his frustration by what he considered “push back” from the Department of Justice and FBI.

    Meadows and Trump worked to release the material up until “minutes before” Biden’s inauguration. Trump sent a memo on Jan. 19 accepting the FBI’s redactions and ordering declassification. Meadows sent a followup memo on Biden’s inauguration day. The material was never released publicly. But in a series of podcast interviews recorded before the FBI search, former Nunes and Trump official Kash Patel shed some light on the administration’s broader plans. He claimed Trump had asked him to help retrieve and publish so-called “Russiagate” material the White House counsel’s office had sent to the National Archives in the last days of the administration.

  66. 66.

    gwangung

    @Scout211: And it’s all total bullshit.

    If it exonerates him, then why didn’t he just publish it?

    Naw, it’s far more likely the material he took was to extort the US government—don’t indict me, or I’ll publish this material.

  70. 70.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    I think I finally came up with a good answer to the heil-Trumpsters who keep banging on in response to explainer Tweets that “the President has a higher clearance than you do”.

    “You’re correct. The President, currently Joseph R. Biden Jr., does have the proper clearance, to go with his job. President Biden is also not implicated in these crimes.”

    I’m sure others have come up with similar rejoinders as well

    ===

    Also too, I think we’re about to see a literal example of how a Presidential pardon won’t keep someone out of Sing Sing.

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