Steve Bannon Is Donald Trump’s Newest Nightmare

You may or may not know it, but I am a voracious reader, I love all kinds of books, save romance and sci-fi. And one of my all time favorite books is The Godfather by Mario Puzo. Raised in the Capone mob town of Cicero, Illinois, and well versed in the adventures of Dion O’Bannion, what Irish kid wouldn’t read about Italian mobsters?

One of my favorite scenes is the one where young Vito Corleone is still building his empire, and is visited by an older Don who runs the town. The older mobster want a cut of Vito’s action, in return for protection. Corleone tells him he’s more than capable of protecting himself. The older Don tries to counsel him, telling him Vito! Don’t be that way. This is my town, and you have to let me dip my beak. Which is when the young Vito Corleone slashes the old Don’s throat, not enough to kill, but enough to leave a permanent scar. The neighborhood men laugh as the old Don runs down the street, holding his fedora under his neck, trying to keep from getting blood onto his clean white shirt.

I mention this scene because it reminds me so much of Donald Trump. No, not Trump as the young Vito Corleone, but as the old Don, wanting his take from anything that comes from his territory. Because that’s exactly how Trump works. If you’re going to use him, or his name, then he has to dip his beak. Trump cannot tolerate the thought of anybody making a buck off of his name or success if he doesn’t get his share.

And there’s recent history to prove this. After the 2016 election, Trump’s first campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, set up a consulting firm, offering foreign businessmen access to the new Trump administration, based on his relationship with Trump. Trump was reportedly furious that Lewandowski was using his access to Trump to turn a buck, without installing a mechanism to ensure that Trump got his cut, especially since trump would be the one doing the heavy lifting. Trump gave personal instructions that nobody in the west wing take or return Lewandowski’s calls. Lewandowski’s consulting firm died before it was born.

Which brings us to Steve two shirts Bannon. Bannon was arrested and arraigned this morning on federal counts of wire fraud and money laundering. Apparently a grifter former disabled Iraq vet put out a crowd funding site to raise personal american funds to be used to build the wall that congress kept blocking. From what I understand, Bannon was not involved in the original crowd funding scam. He only became involved once the original miscreants tried to access the funds, only to be told that they would have to show a legitimate charitable fund before funds could be released. Bannon was brought in to create the legitimacy for the cause, and created both a charity, as well as a series of shell companies and dummy suppliers, a web so complex that federal investigators were able to tie the whole ball of wax together before lunch.

This was a flagrant violation of Trump’s strict dip my beak policy. Trump had no problem with Bannon and his cohorts fleecing Trump’s faithful of $25 million smackaroos, just so long as Trump got his $2.5 million baksheesh. Folloiwing Bannon’s court hearing, Trump’s pet Attorney General, Tubby the Ewok announced that he became aware of the investigation almost 10 months ago. Bannon is being hung out to dry for his sins by Trump out of pique, as drives so many of Trump’s decision.

But it’s not quite so simple for Trump with Bannon. There were three other named defendants besides Bannon, but Bannon is the marquee name of the bunch. Federal prosecutors are going to be going hard after those defendants to flip on Bannon to save their own s;imy skins, and I’m betting at least one of them will be more than happy to roll if it saves them a stretch in Club Fed. Especially since the prosecutors already have e-mails that outline the scams, as well as records.

Steve Bannon is a lifelong grifter, from Breitbart to the Mercers, to the Trump campaign. And Bannon is going to look out for #1. And as a lifelong grifter, Bannon has already proven that he is out for himself, and nobody else. Bannon agreed voluntarily to appear before a House committee investigating trump-Russia, and swore that he would tell the truth. He said the same thing when  he voluntarily agreed to be interviewed by the Mueller investigators. Bannon isn’t about to take the fall for anybody.

And Bannon knows where the bodies are buried. Trump spent this morning trying to distance himself from Bannon, belittling his time with Trump, and saying that he hadn’t spoken to Bannon since he left the White House, only for Bannon to come out and say that he had just spoken to Trump recently. And while Bannon may not be able to sink Trump personally in the Moscow entanglements, Bannon was running the show for the campaign for months, who knows what meetings he was in on, and what he heard. And as campaign manager, he was in pretty much  in contact with Donnie Redux, as well as Jared Kushner, and who knows what tales he may have to tell there. And having the attention span of a flea, Trump himself has no idea.

This is going to be like one of those domino races. If one of the other, lower fish flips on Bannon, than Bannon is going to have a decision to make. Flip, or stand strong? And Bannon is going to have no particular reason to feel kindly for trump. Remember, Barr came out and said that he was aware of this investigation months ago. Why didn’t he stop it, if Trump was watching out for his boy? And Trump spent this morning distancing himself from Bannon, as well as disparaging the scheme from the moment he heard of it. Once again, Trump’s ego has dug himself a hole he’s going to have to try to scramble out of.

None of this is going to be solved, or largely even litigated before the November election. But as Trump’s hopes for reelection continue to dim, it is one more bur under his saddle. Trump has already plighted his troth in distancing himself from Bannon in revenge for not being cut in on to deal. Does he suddenly change his mind if he loses in November, pardoning an as yet untried Bannon to keep him from spilling the beans on either Trump or a member of his family? Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.