Right-wing provocateur Bannon has Trump’s ear
Standing squarely behind President Trump and whispering in his ear is his chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, who is shaping up to be the second most powerful person in the White House.
Bannon is the former editor of the Breitbart website (a platform for far-right extremists) and is the architect of Trump’s cruel and chaotic visa ban. He has become so powerful that liberal and conservative pundits alike speak of the Bannon Regency and (only half in jest) of “President” Bannon.
In a startling sign of Bannon’s influence, Trump officially named him to his National Security Council, even though domestic political advisers are rarely regular attendees, and then only informally. At the same time Trump demoted the chairman of the Joint Chiefs (the top U.S. military officer) from a full to an occasional member. You get the picture.
The Breitbart provocateur has become the White House ideologue-in-chief.
Thus it behooves those who believe in traditional American values to scrutinize Bannon’s sayings and doings (although he likes to operate in secret). A good place to start is the speech he gave to a Catholic conference on poverty in the Vatican in 2014. The conference was hosted by a conservative Catholic group close to Cardinal Raymond Burke, a voice of orthodoxy and traditionalism who has publicly clashed with the inclusive views of Pope Francis.
In his remarks, Bannon railed against the decline of capitalism, the church, and the West, a trio of crises, he said, that underlay the rise of populist anger. Himself a member of the elite, as a Harvard grad and former Goldman Sachs banker, he denounced the crisis of “crony capitalism” that had cheated the middle classes in the United States and Europe.
As for the cure, this selfstyled provocateur claims it lies in political upheaval. At the Vatican he praised the rise of radical populist parties that promote a xenophobic brand of nationalism. They reject multilateral institutions, including the European Union, that have kept peace on the continent for decades.
“I think strong countries and strong nationalist movements in countries make strong neighbors,” Bannon said, “and I think it’s what can see us forward.”
The former editor portrays himself as an early leader of the international populist rebellion, noting that Breitbart had provided a platform for Britain’s UKIP (the Brexit party), France’s National Front, and other such movements.
When asked about the anti-Semitic, racist “baggage” of some of these groups, Bannon was dismissive, saying, “We think that will all be worked through with time.”
Especially interesting was his take on Vladimir Putin’s Russia: “At least Putin is standing up for traditional institutions and he’s trying to do it in a form of nationalism,” said Trump’s thought shaper. Putin’s Russian orthodoxy is an inspiration for Europeans who “want to see nationalism for their country” and “don’t believe in this kind of pan-European Union or they don’t believe in the centralized government in the United States.”
In other words, Bannon could overlook Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and the Kremlin’s assassination of opponents in the interests of aligning with a Christian Orthodox nationalist nation. Despite the hacking scandal and Moscow’s threats against NATO, Bannon’s position hasn’t changed.
He also insisted that “we’re at the very beginning stages of a global war against Islamic fascism.” Clearly he has bought into the thesis that Christian civilization is at risk.
Trump’s Islamophobic national security adviser, Michael Flynn, promotes the same over-the-top message.
With Bannon by Trump’s side, whispering anti-Muslim warnings in his ear, and encouraging disdain for alliances and allies, the chaos of the president’s first weeks makes perfect sense. Every Muslim is a threat. The Australian prime minister is a wimp. The hell with the European Union. We’ll fight the Islamic fascists with Putin (another mirage).
And as if that weren’t enough, Bannon has predicted on the radio that we’ll be going to war with China.
Svengali? Rasputin? Or just a clever political provocateur? Bannon’s views are all there in the Vatican speech, and in his radio broadcasts. I hope responsible GOP legislators and Cabinet members will digest and counter them. Otherwise, we should all be very afraid.