Steve Bannon Just Might Be Accidentally Saving America

[Zorro]

His contempt for Congress could be what finally forces Democratic lawmakers to stand up for themselves and reassert their powers.

The rusty gears driving our current constitutional crisis ratcheted another step forward on Tuesday night as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection finally cracked down on (one) GOP official flagrantly defying its demands for documents and testimony.

A bipartisan majority of committee lawmakers agreed that former Trump administration body-hider and World of Warcraft goldfarmer Steve Bannon was in contempt of his subpoena, a fact Bannon himself will gladly tell you. With a full vote in the House certain to pass, Attorney General Merrick Garland will soon be legally required to bring Bannon’s charges before a grand jury.

But referring Bannon for prosecution won’t solve the Jan. 6 committee’s struggle to compel testimony from powerful Republicans who reject both the committee’s legitimacy and, more broadly, Joe Biden’s. Restoring Congress’ role as a coequal branch of government will require reclaiming years of legal powers delegated to an ever more expansive presidency — and resulting in a president who felt powerful enough to stage a failed coup.

If Congress does rediscover the courage of its convictions and the Justice Department succeeds in convicting Bannon, the former Breitbart boss and self-described “Leninist” who’s raved against the “administrative state” and boasted about “flooding the zone with shit” just might end up being the unlikely, and accidental, hero who helps restore the balance of powers our democracy needs to sustain itself after an era of imperial presidencies.

It’s clear that Bannon—who wasn’t even an administration official, having already been fired by Trump—and defiant Trump officials merit prosecution for their contempt. What remains frustratingly unclear is whether Democrats, who have so far struggled this year to deliver victories on broadly popular issues, have the political courage to wade into prosecutions that will ignite the right and likely inflame an already divided nation.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/steve-bannon-just-might-be-accidentally-saving-america

[Walleye]

1. The right is already ignited. I don't think they could be any more irrational

[Zorro]

2. You got that right

They're perpetually angry about everything, so there's no reason for the Democrats not to be aggressive in asserting their Constitutional authority.