Bannon showing up in unlikeliest of places

As the White House has lurched from one crisis to another in recent weeks, Steve Bannon has been notably absent from centre stage. Amid wide speculation he had fallen out of favour with President Donald Trump, who had appointed the former Breitbart boss his chief strategist, suddenly the man appears — in the unlikeliest of places. In an interview published online on Wednesday in The American Prospect, a liberalleaning publication, Bannon discussed North Korea, China, Charlottesville and his plans for his rivals in the White House.

The writer, Robert Kuttner, who is also the editor and co-founder of The American Prospect, said the interview came about when Bannon’s assistant emailed him unbidden on Tuesday, saying Bannon wished to meet with him. Kuttner, who also writes for the New York Times, the Boston Globe and others, said the subject of being on or off the record did not come up. “Steve Bannon is not exactly Bambi when it comes to dealing with the press. He’s probably the most media-savvy person in America,” he writes. The conversation ended with Bannon inviting Kuttner to the White House after Labour Day to continue the discussion of China and trade. Among the highlights:

ON THE RADICAL RIGHT

Bannon is widely blamed for helping to cultivate Trump’s base of the radical right — the same base that follows Breitbart News. But Bannon dismissed the white nationalism on display in Charlottesville: “Ethno-nationalism — it’s losers. It’s a fringe element. I think the media plays it up too much, and we gotta help crush it, you know, uh, help crush it more,” he said, adding: “These guys are a collection of clowns.”

But far from a crisis for the Trump administration, Bannon sees identity politics as an opportunity: “The Democrats,” he said, “the longer they talk about identity politics, I got ’em. I want them to talk about racism every day. If the left is focused on race and identity, and we go with economic nationalism, we can crush the Democrats.”

ON NORTH KOREA

Trump’s fierce “fire and fury” warning to North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un in their escalating war of nuclear threats last week was, as most suspected, all bluster, according to his chief strategist.

“There’s no military solution, forget it. Until somebody solves the part of the equation that shows me that 10 million people in Seoul don’t die in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons, I don’t know what you’re talking about, there’s no military solution here, they got us.” Indeed, the biggest threat from North Korea, according to Bannon, is having officials from the U.S. administration go soft on China trade practices out of debt for restraining Kim.

ON CHINA

“To me,” Bannon said in the The American Prospect, “the economic war with China is everything. And we have to be maniacally focused on that. If we continue to lose it, we’re five years away, I think, 10 years at the most, of hitting an inflection point from which we’ll never be able to recover.”

The article outlined Bannon’s plan of attack: A complaint under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act against Chinese coercion of technology transfers from American corporations doing business there, and followup complaints against steel and aluminum dumping.

“We’re going to run the tables on these guys. We’ve come to the conclusion that they’re in an economic war and they’re crushing us.”

Responding to Bannon’s comments, China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, said both sides have benefited from trade.

“There is no winner in a trade war. We hope the relevant people can refrain from dealing with a problem in the 21st century with a zero-sum mentality from the 19th or the 20th century,” Hua said at a regular news briefing.

ON HIS PLANS FOR HIS RIVALS

Bannon also used the interview with The American Prospect to flex his muscles and talk about his plans to get rid of his rivals in the administration. He discussed his strategy to replace the “doves” in the state and defence department with hawks.

“Oh, they’re wetting themselves,” he said, explaining that the Section 301 complaint, which was put on hold when the war of threats with North Korea broke out, was shelved only temporarily, and will be revived in three weeks.

As for other cabinet departments, Bannon has big plans to marginalize their influence, he said. “I’m getting Susan Thornton out at State.”