Bannon: We’ll ‘ deconstruct’ system
OXON HILL, Md. — Stephen Bannon, President Donald Trump’s reclusive chief strategist and the intellectual force behind his nationalist agenda, said Thursday that the new administration is locked in an unending battle against the news media and other globalist forces to “deconstruct” an outdated system of governance.
In his first public speaking appearance since Trump took office, Bannon made his comments alongside White House chief of staff Reince Priebus at a gathering
of conservative activists. They sought to prove that they are not rivals but partners in fighting on Trump’s behalf to transform Washington and the world order.
“They’re going to continue to fight,” Bannon said of the media —which he repeatedly described as “the opposition party” — and other forces he sees as standing in the president’s way. “If you think they are giving you your country back without a fight, you are sadly mistaken.”
Atop Trump’s agenda, Bannon said, is the “deconstruction of the administrative state” — meaning a system of taxes, regulations and trade pacts that the president and his advisers believe stymie economic growth and infringe upon one’s sovereignty.
“If you look at these Cabinet nominees, they were selected for a reason, and that is deconstruction,” Bannon said. He posited that Trump’s
announcement withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership was “one of the most pivotal moments in modern American history.”
Bannon and Priebus advanced the administration’s war against the media in a joint appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where they were interviewed on stage by Matt Schlapp, president of the American Conservative Union, which hosts the gathering. Last week, Trump tweeted an extraordinary condemnation of the media, tweeting that news organizations are “the enemy of the American people.”
Bannon picked up that theme Thursday in his remarks at CPAC.
“Not only is it not going to get better, it’s going to get worse every day,” Bannon said of the media’s treatment of Trump. “They’re corporatist, globalist media. They’re adamantly opposed to the economic nationalist agenda President Trump has.”
The crowd cheered Bannon’s assessment.
“Every day is going to be a fight,” he said.
Bannon also said, “If you look at the opposition party and how they portrayed the campaign and how they portrayed the transition and how they portray the administration, it’s always wrong.”
Priebus agreed, saying he thinks the biggest misconception about the Trump administration in its first several weeks is “everything that you’re reading.” He and Bannon were defiant about the way they have been represented in the media, insisting they are close friends and partners and that reports of power struggles are flat wrong.
Priebus said that after “attacking” Trump during the campaign, journalists “now feed ridiculous stories, and all we do every day — and all President Trump does every day — is hit his agenda, every single day.”
Bannon added, “Just like they were dead wrong on the chaos of the campaign and just like they were dead wrong on the chaos of the transition, they are absolutely dead wrong on what they’re reporting today.” He said “all” of Trump’s campaign promises would be implemented in short order.
Priebus also said that 80 percent of Americans support three major Trump’s actions: His nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, his executive order aimed at deregulation and his actions on immigration.
Thursday night, Vice President Mike Pence told the gathering that the Affordable Care Act is a “nightmare” and that the administration is committed to “an orderly transition” to a new system.
Pence downplayed the hundreds of people who have demonstrated against changes to the law at congressional town halls, saying, “Despite the best efforts of liberal activists around the country, the American people know better.”