Hmmm this seems pretty nuts: Steve Bannon Headlines New Yorker Festival.

Readers of The New Yorker prize the magazine for its wide-ranging collection of perspectives. From Oct. 5 to 7, The New Yorker Festival, now in its 19th year, will bring some of these voices to venues around New York City.

Political figures feature prominently in this year’s lineup, which includes Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump’s former chief strategist, who will be interviewed by the magazine’s editor, David Remnick, a frequent critic of the administration.

“I have every intention of asking him difficult questions and engaging in a serious and even combative conversation,” Mr. Remnick said in a phone interview.

And of giving even more publicity and platform space to his poisonous “opinions.”

You know who else gots lots and lots of free publicity and attention and platform space from the mainstream media? Donald Trump. Hey maybe Steve Bannon will be the next president; that would be exciting.
Reactions are not universally ecstatic.

For anyone who wonders what normalization of bigotry looks like, please look no further than Steve Bannon being invited by both @TheEconomist & @NewYorker to their respective events in #NYC a few weeks apart. https://t.co/u0TDfCYrQ1

— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) September 3, 2018

The ⁦@NewYorker⁩ gives its most visible platform to a man who unrepentantly promotes propaganda calling for ethnic cleansing. This is equivalent to putting onstage a man who recommends everyone read Mein Kampf & letting him promote his new company. https://t.co/6Rub6T1lzU

— anildash.com (@anildash) September 3, 2018

I love working for @NewYorker, but I'm beyond appalled by this: https://t.co/WlZdsBpF1R I have already made that very clear to David Remnick. You can, too: themail@newyorker.com

— Kathryn Schulz (@kathrynschulz) September 3, 2018

https://twitter.com/JuddApatow/status/1036732535957422080

Can’t fathom a justification for this. He isn’t in government. He isn’t leading a fringe website anymore. He isn’t interesting. He’s a crank who’s trying (and since Trump, largely failing) to get majority white countries to elect bigots. https://t.co/Qz0NxumU9t

— Radley Balko (@radleybalko) September 3, 2018

I was thinking along similar signs when I saw the headline. Why on earth? He’s not a public intellectual or an interesting writer or a thoughtful observer, so why is The New Yorker even interested in him? Stephen Miller is at least still there, still pulling the levers. Bannon is just a random crank with poisonous racist views, so why amplify and normalize them?