Steve Bannon, in his “60 Minutes” chat with Charlie Rose, said the United States was built by citizens and not immigrants.
So Trevor Noah and his “Comedy Central” team asked: Where did Bannon’s ancestors come from? And did they arrive legally?
The answer, after calling a professional genealogist, was Bannon’s great-great-grandfather, Lawrence Bannon, arrived in the States from Ireland by the 1850s, “at a time when America’s borders were so open that Irishmen could walk into the country with no passports, no visas, no background checks of any kind.”
Which prompted Noah to say of the ex-White House aide: “So in many ways, Steve Bannon’s great grandfather was a Dreamer. Yeah, and his great-grandson is a f——g nightmare.”
Here’s what else we learned.
Trevor Noah showed immigration records for Bannon’s great grandfather. 1850 Ireland. 5 years in to the potato famine. Refugee.
— mommalaurie101 (@mommalaurie101) September 12, 2017
Does that mean that Bannon believes his ancestor immigrants should never have come to America!!
— Ron Kurtenbach (@KurtenbachRon) September 11, 2017
Just a reminder: Bannon is Irish.
The Irish didn’t fare too well during the era in American history he’d like to revisit.— Odysseus_on_the_Sea (@MrMilesTeg) September 12, 2017
Bannon, you castle Irish drunk, what you say about today’s immigrants was said about both our great-grandfathers.
— Donald Dougherty (@dudedad_donald) September 12, 2017
Bannon self identifies as Irish in this interview. Not very patriotic. But thrn again he was probably an anchor baby. #resist
— Kirsten (@RegardsKiKi) September 12, 2017
Yup. Ironic for Bannon, since the Irish aren’t Angles or Saxons.
— Is it over yet? (@cpazzanese) September 11, 2017
Hilariously, Bannon seems to think his own ancestors were seen as “citizens” building the country & not drunken Irish louts destroying USA. https://t.co/1TRDDSyLXc
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) September 11, 2017