Friday, April 14, 2017

Steve Bannon, Button-Down Man

   Of all the strange news dribbling out of the White House this week--North Korea tensions ratcheting; chocolate cake and improved relations with China; Syrian missiles; a massive bomb dropped on an ISIS stronghold--perhaps the saddest, for the fashion-aware, is the diminished power and decided sidelining of ethno-nationalist troll Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump's Chief Strategist.
   Who cares about Steve's populist, nativist, apocalyptic, racist, democracy-loathing views? This is a man who can rock a button-down shirt!
   Yes, all males in Washington, D.C. wear button-down shirts, the de rigueur armor of the political man. But no one quite has the button-down panache of Steve Bannon, as the following images illustrate:
 
Young Steve, buttoned down but unafraid to reveal a little skin, the tease! 


Modern-day Steve flaunts a cool lavender button-down: 


Steve likes button-downs so much, sometimes he appears to wear two! 

(Don't be fooled: it's trompe--Trump?--l'oeil. In reality, it's a polo shirt under a button-down one. Fashion forward and winter-friendly! Who says Steve's not a genius?)

Steve often pairs the perennial button-down with a sort of faux-military great coat (Steve was in the Navy, so he's earned it!): 


Relaxing during down-time? Hey--Stay-At-Home-Steve knows there's no more comfortable garment than the good ol' button down shirt (work it, Daddy!): 


   The jury is out about whether Steve will be fired from his White House perch for fighting with Jared Kushner, the President's son-in-law. Our President is loyal to no one but his own shadow image of himself as a success, yet is possessed of an immeasurable capacity for unpredictability. So who knows what he'll do with Steve?
   Some commentators suggest that if Steve is pushed out of the White House, he'll return to Breibart.com, the sooper-dooper-right-wing website where he was an editor and stakeholder, and go after the Trump Administration. Again--who knows?
   All we know is this: wherever he goes, Steve Bannon is the button-down man with a button-down plan, and we can't wait to see him rock those button-downs till the day the Grim Reaper pulls him into the swamp.
   Go get 'em, Stevie!