Now that the Beltway talk of a rift between President Trump's advisers, Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner, is old news, the mainstream media have gotten a new fixation: how Steve Bannon would take revenge on President Trump if Trump were to cut him loose.

They haven't even got a story yet, they haven't got any evidence he's gone, and already they're cooking up goosebumps for themselves with scenarios of Darth Vader revenge.

Consider this beauty from Politico: If Trump Fired Bannon, Would He Seek Revenge?

Or this one from Vox: If Trump fires Steve Bannon, he might regret it

Or this one from Raw Story: Trump firing Bannon would set off something close to 'Apocalypse Now': Bannon ally

Politico's Ben Schreckinger writes:

I asked friends and foes alike to imagine how, should Bannon get the boot, the pugnacious populist might exact his revenge.

Taken together, their suggestions amount to an epic, Kill Bill-style revenge saga that starts with Bannon leaking personal dirt on his enemies to the tabloids, using the megaphone of Breitbart News to exacerbate divisions inside the administration, and siccing an army of internet trolls on his adversaries to harass and defame them. It ends with Bannon using Cambridge Analytica data to identify and primary their vulnerable allies in Congress, then releasing a "Where Trump Went Wrong" documentary on the eve of the November midterms and finally – in this revenge fantasy's epic climax – running against Trump himself in 2020.

Sounds like the stuff of a leftist Obamaton's dream.  And it makes me think that if Steve Bannon didn't exist, the mainstream media would have to invent him.

Because here's the money quote from Politico that follows:

Neither Bannon, who has shown no signs of disloyalty to the president, nor the White House responded to requests for comment.

That sounds like a non-story.  But they can't leave it alone, because already they have projected vast magical powers on Bannon, something Trump himself has downplayed.

It's unfortunate there has been infighting in the White House, given that none of the players in question is genuinely objectionable, compared to what we saw in the previous administration.  What is actually known is that President Trump has asked his aides to stop fighting and undercutting each other over policies and work together to advance the Trump agenda.  What's more, Trump has asked them to "make up."  It's not enough that they initiate détente; he really wants them just to get along.  As far as we can tell, that seems to be what they are doing.

Is that enough of a story for the mainstream press?  Not really.  In fact, for them, it's so bad that they are resorting to imaginary scenarios as news instead.