Steve Bannon Arrested
Steve Bannon busted in a
fitting fall for the man
who tried to ride Trump's coattails
fitting fall for the man
who tried to ride Trump's coattails
by Tiana Lowe, Commentary Writer • August 20, 2020 11:36 AM
Even the greatest grifters eventually have their crimes catch up to them. In the case of Steve Bannon, the alleged crimes are literal, including one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, per indictments revealed by the Justice Department on Thursday morning. The source of the scheme? One of the more lucrative GoFundMe campaigns in the crowd-sourcing site's history, an alleged sham campaign claiming to fundraise to build President Trump's wall on the southern border.
For Bannon, who built his entire career riding on the coattails of men more powerful than him, this is a fitting fall. Bannon spent his early career as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs and then sold his own boutique firm to French firm Societe Generale. He then rebranded himself as an anti-globalist everyman, transforming Breitbart after the death of the eponymous founder from a firebrand conservative news site into what he called "the platform of the alt-right." Bannon then forayed the (since tempered) radicalization of Breitbart into a top spot in the Trump campaign, setting the stage to soft-pedal his own demographic grievances while reportedly undermining the White House through a coordinated series of clandestine leaks to alt-right journalists.
Luckily, Trump finally gave Sloppy Steve the boot, with ties between the two severely worsened after Bannon leaked like a sieve to serial fabulist Michael Wolff.
It's safe to say that no tears will be shed in the Oval Office today. The only shocking thing about this story is not that it happened but why it took so long. The whole "Build the Wall" crowd-funding thing looked like a scam from the start. This is how I described the GoFundMe two years ago:
For Bannon, who built his entire career riding on the coattails of men more powerful than him, this is a fitting fall. Bannon spent his early career as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs and then sold his own boutique firm to French firm Societe Generale. He then rebranded himself as an anti-globalist everyman, transforming Breitbart after the death of the eponymous founder from a firebrand conservative news site into what he called "the platform of the alt-right." Bannon then forayed the (since tempered) radicalization of Breitbart into a top spot in the Trump campaign, setting the stage to soft-pedal his own demographic grievances while reportedly undermining the White House through a coordinated series of clandestine leaks to alt-right journalists.
Luckily, Trump finally gave Sloppy Steve the boot, with ties between the two severely worsened after Bannon leaked like a sieve to serial fabulist Michael Wolff.
It's safe to say that no tears will be shed in the Oval Office today. The only shocking thing about this story is not that it happened but why it took so long. The whole "Build the Wall" crowd-funding thing looked like a scam from the start. This is how I described the GoFundMe two years ago:
It's safe to say that no tears will be shed in the Oval Office today, writes @TianatheFirst.
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) August 20, 2020
The only shocking thing about Steve Bannon's indictment is not that it happened, but why it took so long. https://t.co/lbVezOw5wq
The funds raised, of course, will never actually pay for a wall. Even assuming that the organizer, Brian Kolfage, fully intends on sending a check to the federal government, he has no idea how to actually do that.
"We have contacted the Trump Administration to secure a point of contact where all the funds will go upon completion," wrote Kolfage in the original campaign description. "When we get this information secured we will update. We have many very high level contacts already helping."
Sounds promising! The contact may find a contact one day, but go fund me now!
Kolfage also promises to "refund every single penny" if he doesn't reach "or come significantly close" to the stated goal, whatever that means. The goal itself is $1 billion. The most successful GoFundMe of 2018 raised $22 million.
Of course, Bannon, Kolfage, and fellow defendants Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea tempted fate with this one, sparring not just with local governments but with the GoFundMe site itself, which warned the grifter gang that they were required to return the funds to the donors.
May this sordid failure be Bannon's final one in public life.
May this sordid failure be Bannon's final one in public life.
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