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 rumors, innuendo, and behind-the-scenes scoops. 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.
As someone who regular communicates with grassroots political activists across the nation, I 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 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. That’s because the movement to “drain the swamp” is not tied to any individual or personality. This movement pre-existed Bannon and even Trump; it started in earnest with the tea party and is still in full force today – notwithstanding whatever political drama is bouncing around on social media. This is something that the media ought to recognize by now. Figures who claim to “lead” this movement come and go. Yet the movement continues to grow in both power and scope.
The people will continue to fight — and, I believe, ultimately prevail — even though pundits, politicians and the majority of the media have written the obituary of the tea party since its inception. It is impossible to count the number of times I’ve heard allegedly the best analysts of politics in America today say the influence of the tea party is dead. However, these are the people who predicted that the tea party would vanish after the protests of 2009. These are the same people who predicted that the tea party would have no effect on the election of 2010. These are the same people who predicted that the movement would die after 2010. These are the same people who failed to predict the Republican takeover of the Senate or Trump’s presidential election. These are the same prognosticators who have largely ignored the massive Republican take over the state legislatures.
Today, these same people would have us believe that somehow, the fall of Steve Bannon — or his puerile fight with the president — represent the destruction of the “conservative” movement. But reports of our demise have been greatly exaggerated.
Regardless of who comes in and out of the White House, we’re here to stay.
Mark Meckler is a political activist. He was a co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots and of the Convention of States Project. He currently serves as president of Citizens for Self-Governance.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.