Bannon is right 4 times
Don’t get me wrong: I’m a very left-wing guy, but I’m writing this because I’d like to see all of us think more critically, less automatically and emotionally. Yes, former senior adviser Steve Bannon is detestable for the social changes he is trying to effect. His face looks like that of a drunken derelict. But last week, he was right about four things that the media I read automatically assumes will make people’s hair stand up.
There is no military solution in Korea. Indeed, the prompt death of 10 million people in Seoul if we attack the North does ensure that “they got us.” Just like in Barack Obama’s time, and clear back to Ronald Reagan. Bannon didn’t take the next step and remind us that diplomacy is all we have left with regard to Korea. But it’s implicit.
The right-wing fringe is a collection of clowns. I am very pleased that someone, especially on the right, had the courage to say that. Even if that person cynically used them to help Donald Trump get elected.
It is true that the more we talk about identity politics and racism, the easier it will be to defeat us by focusing on economic nationalism. The problem is that there are about a dozen fiercely held identities in the left wing. Everyone from vegans to feminists to transgender folk to Black Lives Matter to the American Indian Movement to pacifists to patriots. These are all wonderful people, but it’s almost impossible for one party to represent all of their social positions in a united front, as we saw in the last election. Economics is a united front. Not so sure about nationalism. You win elections with united fronts.
It is true that, considering the U.S. and China, “One of us is going to be a hegemon in 25 to 30 years, and it’s gonna be them if we go down this path.” In fact, Trump and Bannon are a major part of the incorrect path. Consider how Britain, no longer an empire since World War II, has mostly gotten along with everyone since then. Are we going to be able to do that when China does become the hegemon? Because Chinese hegemony is inevitable the way we’re going. We need to abandon American exceptionalism and work with other nations to accomplish what we desire.