It is no surprise that Steve Bannon has picked Butterworth’s. In spite of opening only last year, the quirky French-style bistro is already the Maga crowd’s preferred watering hole. Bannon, whose Capitol Hill townhouse is a few blocks away, is something close to its patron saint.
Having been Donald Trump’s original explainer, godfather to US nationalist-populism and an evangelist to its far-right western siblings, he could hardly be less. Bannon’s former protégé, Raheem Kassam, a British alt-right journalist, who was once an adviser to Nigel Farage, is co-owner. Republican senators, Maga influencers and members of Trump’s administration come here to be seen. Yet its decor is a million miles from Mar-a-Lago’s Gulf bling.
Amid tasselled lampshades, faux-faded wallpaper, a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and dangling pots of ivy is a corner table where my lunch guest always sits — “Bannon’s nook”, the manager calls it. Low-key jazz, almost soporific, is playing.