Noah Feldman, Columnist

Let Bannon Arrest Be the Coda on Trump’s Corrupt Presidency

First there was Flynn. Then Manafort, Cohen and Stone. Why not one more?

August 21, 2020 at 2:30 PM UTC

Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A professor of law at Harvard University, he is author, most recently, of “To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People."

Steve Bannon, former U.S. President Donald Trump political strategist, leaving federal court.
Photographer: Bloomberg

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

Steve Bannon’s arrest on fraud charges is hardly a tragedy in the traditional sense of the word. Sure, the fall of a hero is the hallmark of tragedy, and Bannon considers himself an American hero — a self-perception that comes through very clearly in Errol Morris’s brilliant and edgy interview film with Bannon, American Dharma.

But Bannon’s fall from grace happened a long time ago, when President Donald Trump fired him from his role as chief political strategist in 2017, much less than a year into his presidency. After his arrest, Trump was quick to say that he “hadn’t been dealing with him for a very long period of time.”