From Plato through Leo Strauss and the neocons, the idea of the "noble lie" (told for the good of the people and the social order) has exerted strong attraction amongst the elite. When you believe that you know more than the masses and can process information more accurately, the "logic" of the "noble lie" becomes inescapable.
Of course, such a belief is inherently anti-democratic. But it is at the core of our current leadership in Washington.
While some of our right-wing leaders are as callow and crass as they appear, others really are idealists who do believe that they know more (and are more able) than the rest of us. They actually believe they are rich and powerful so that they can take care of us.
Of course, many of them have fooled themselves, rationalized themselves into believing that their good fortune has roots in something other than chance and connivance.
Either way, at the core of the right wing is the idea that they are the "grown ups" and the rest of us are mere incompetent children. They even said so much, when taking over from the Clinton administration.
Thus, when they call the Gannon affair "no big deal," some of them actually mean it. For one thing, Gannon himself was never one of the "grown ups" (that smirk notwithstanding) but a tool of the powerful, another of the "necessary" lies. He was, also, part of the natural process of protecting the masses through the "noble lie."
An uncredentialed, easily-manipulated outsider, Gannon himself could be lied to, made to think that he was an important part of the power structure.
Clearly, Gannon has no idea how he was used--or how much the right-wing cadres continue to be used. They may be in on certain of the lies, but they have not learned that they, too, are the victims of deception.
The joke is on them as much as on us. We on the left recognize, at least, that we are the butts of the joke. The masses on the right don't yet get it, don't see that they are derided as much as we are.