Bannon vs Trump’s “Democrats, Globalists and Generals”
by digby
Steve Bannon is reportedly going back to Breitbart. That is a mistake and I’m surprised he’s doing it. He has an agenda and part of it is to sow dissension on the left over “identity politics” vs economic populism and hostility toward the “deep state”, which is a real fault line, if less of a chasm than some people want to believe. He could possibly make progress on that if he started a new project and re-branded himself as an isolationist, economic populist but Breitbart’s “alt-right” identity is toxic to everyone on the left. From what I’m seeing so far, Breitbart is planning to “go to war” against the administration saying that it’s full of “Democrats, globalists and Generals.” (You can be sure that they will also continue to be a hub for the “alt-right’s” connection to the Nazis and Neo-confederates too.)
From the commentary I heard this morning, much of the punditocrisy apparently agrees with Bannon that all that confederate statue stuff has no salience among Trump voters since they inexplicably continue to contend that those nice salt-o-the-earth All American boys and girls reject white supremacy and just want some good union work in a factory somewhere and are looking to Donald Trump to finally deliver now that he got rid of that awful racist.
The pundits are deluded.
Greg Sargent explained why this is utter nonsense:
[Heather Heyer’s mother Susan ]Bro’s emotional response to Trump is a reminder that his reversion to his current reprehensible posture didn’t have to happen. While his flat condemnation of white supremacy did not undo the damage caused by his initial statement on Saturday blaming “many sides,” it largely said the right thing. Republicans were pleased and relieved by it. The mother of the young woman who died had thanked him for it.
But then Trump just had to make a large show of returning to his original position, dividing blame between white supremacists, Nazis and Klansmen on one side, and those protesting their racism, hatred and belief in the inferiority of African Americans and Jews on the other. We know Trump did this at least in part because he did not want to be seen surrendering to pressure to single out racism and white supremacy for full blame. He was in a rage because he “felt he had already given too much ground to his opponents.” He didn’t want to deliver the statement condemning white supremacy because he was “loath to appear to be admitting a mistake.” It is utter madness that these sentiments played such an important role in shaping the presidential response at such a fraught moment of national tension and introspection.
Meanwhile, Trump’s chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, is strutting around extolling the political brilliance of Trump’s Charlottesville response. Bannon did a media tour yesterday boasting that Trump’s escalating defense of Confederate statues is a political winner for him. Now Bannon adds to this in a brash email to The Post:
“This past election, the Democrats used every personal attack, including charges of racism, against President Trump. He then won a landslide victory on a straightforward platform of economic nationalism.”
The idea that Trump won a landslide is an absurd lie, and the idea that Trump has any kind of agenda of “economic nationalism” to speak of is laughable. There are no trade or infrastructure plans (something progressives would actually like to see) in sight. The only real policies Trump has embraced that fit under what Bannon describes as “economic nationalism” are stepped-up deportations, slashing legal immigration and the thinly disguised Muslim ban. Indeed, it’s telling that Bannon defends Trump’s Charlottesville response by pointing to the alleged power of his alleged “economic nationalism” — it validates suspicions that this was always intended largely as a fig leaf for xenophobia and racism.
Bro’s appearance today throws all of this into even sharper relief. We expect presidents to recognize that their role carries with it obligations and duties to try to calm the antagonisms that are being unleashed at moments like this. That’s particularly true right now, with experts warning that Trump’s handling of Charlottesville’s aftermath could cause an escalation in white supremacist activity — meaning it could end up encouraging more violence and death. But Trump’s response at this critical moment is rooted largely in megalomania and a desire not to be seen capitulating, and his chief strategist is barely disguising his view that racial strife and turmoil are good for Trump politically.
Trump will always be driven by his own infantile need for attention. But he’s demonstrated over and over again that he is also a simple-minded bigot with a violent imagination and has been for years. These two characteristics in the office of president of the United States present a clear and present danger no matter who is advising him.
Bannon, on the other hand, is a wily operator whose essential philosophy is that we are on the cusp of a completely new system born of chaos and he wants to be the instrument that brings that about. He’s essentially a secular armageddonist. Reports as of right now are that he’s already been in contact with the Mercers and has secured their financial support. We don’t know what he’ll do with it but it would probably be a good idea not to take anything he says at face value. When he starts talking about economic populism and trade wars with China, watch your back. There’s probably an “alt-right” neo-Nazi wearing khakis and nice white polo shirt standing there with a gun at your head.
Oh, and by the way — Trump’s not going to change. He can call up his bud Steve any time he wants. He was a pussy-grabbing, torture-loving, Mexican hating, Central Park Five black-lives-don’t-matter, bomb the shit out of ’em and take the oil guy long before he ever met Steve Bannon. And as the conservative commentator Charlie Sykes said on MSNBC this morning, anyone thinking that Bannon or anyone else can part Trump from his base underestimates the cult of personality that’s built up around the man. Those rural white voters love him. And they will take his word over anyone else’s including Steve Bannon.
The best we can hope for is that he doesn’t start a nuclear war. Anyone saying that this departure means he’s going to make that pivot once and for all is making a fool of herself. We may be entering a new phase, but Trump is Trump. Things will never be “normal” until he and his sycophants are out of power. (That means the enabling wimps of the Republican Party too, in case you were wondering.)
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