Bannon’s Only Significance is his Utter Insignificance

If you’ve been on Twitter, you’d be excused for erroneously thinking a gigantic political shift has rocked the nation: President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon leaked gossip to author Michael Wolff whose new book is full of gossip, rumors, and behind-the-scenes scoop. In response, Trump issued a blistering statement. “Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my Presidency,” he wrote. “When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.”

Chris Cillizza breathlessly described Trump’s statement as “most remarkable statements I’ve ever read from any politician in any office ever — and has to be a top five oddest statement ever made by a sitting US president.” After this Presidential smack down, Breitbart removed Bannon, who was executive chairman, from their publication; XM radio removed his show from their lineup. Consequently, political pundits lost their collective minds. People who have been wronged by Bannon gloated. Talking heads laughed at his demise. Those who wondered if 2018 could possibly provide as much drama as the previous two years were not disappointed in the first few days of January.

I, as someone who regular communicates with grassroots political activists across the nation, had a different take on Bannon’s fast fall. Bannon being banned from Breitbart means absolutely nothing. When Bannon was dethroned, I was traveling in West Virginia and then Nebraska where I heard lots of grassroots activists talk a lot of politics. People talked about lower taxes, jobs, border security, and increasing wages. They talked about Congress not doing its job and not fulfilling its promises. They talked about the courts’ takeover of the federal government. They talked to me about the Constitution. Do you know what two words they didn’t even mention?

“Steve” or “Bannon.”

I didn’t hear anyone lament or rejoice over Bannon’s dissipating influence. No one mentioned Trump’s epic, obliterating press release. No one cared that Breitbart removed him Bannon from their digital masthead. As titillating as this feud is for inside-the-beltway folks, no one in the rest of the country actually cares about the trials and tribulations of Steve Bannon.

His significance is, ultimately, his utter insignificance.

Please enjoy the rest of this article over on The Daily Caller.

Image Credit: By Don Irvine (Steve Bannon) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons