Now that Steve Bannon has carried his political jihad to its logical conclusion, martyrdom never looked so meaningless. A bright and talented man has sacrificed himself over nothing more significant than anger and vanity.
Consider a recent report that Bannon was mulling the idea of running for president in 2020. Presumably that was part of his plan to elect a batch of Roy Moores, depose Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and reshape congress to match his own definition of economic nationalism.
As such, Bannon’s decision to go out in a blaze of personal attacks on the president and everybody else in the White House does Donald Trump and the GOP a giant favor. Bannon may live to fight another day, but, thankfully, Bannonism is dead.
But what of Trumpism? Is “Fire and Fury,” the Michael Wolff book where Bannon leaks and vents, the beginning of the end of Trump’s presidency?
Maybe — but probably not. After all, every previous media-hair-on-fire moment has come to a forgettable dead end.
This time could be different, but more likely, the latest explosion of gossip and sniping marks just another day on the razor’s edge. This is the essential nature of the Trump presidency, where catastrophe is always a heartbeat away. It will be like that as long as he’s in the Oval Office.
This is who Trump is, and a year into his presidency, there is no reason to believe he will change. A penchant for creating melodrama seems essential to his being.
One result is that reports of his imminent demise have been near-constant ever since he came down the Trump Tower escalator in June of 2015. Those predictions have been nonstop — and always wrong.
Of course, this time could be different. Or maybe the next time will. Or maybe not.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
