A current rec list diary asks Dkos posters to stop praising Bannon. I feel that diary got a bit derailed because people assumed that the criticism of the praise of Bannon was (1) an attack on the left or (2) overblown b/c the praise was confined to two posters.
I think it is important to point out that the comments highlighted in that diary are simply the symptom, the disease is much larger. Members of the media — left, right and center — have been normalizing a man who most POC and LGBT view as a profound threat.
Here is Jake Tapper of CNN —
Tapper’s claims were echoed by the Young Turks writer Michael Tracey —
In reality — Bannon advocated to replace US troops in Afghanistan with a mercenary army.
I don’t think I have to explain here the dangers of a privatized, mercenary military force. Bannon has often talked about the US as being in war with Islam. www.independent.co.uk/...
Bannon claimed war in the south pacific is inevitable. www.theguardian.com/… while also advocating starting a trade war with China, popular with some on the left. He’s not a pacifist. He’s a con-man, just like his former boss who is willing to change his message on a whim to suit his best interest.
Jane Meyer staff writer at the New Yorker, yeah buts Bannon’s racism to praise his economic policy —
Of course Bannon is bankrolled by a different set of billionaires. One who are apparently more beholden to racist rhetoric. And he threw his support behind another billionaire (Trump) but yeah, he’s a populist.
Jane Mayer is not the only one pushing the idea that Bannon is a populist. www.fastcompany.com/… Citing two intercept articles, this author has the audacity to compare Bannon to Bernie Sanders. He writes —
Today, anonymous sources are saying that not only is Bannon lobbying for a higher tax rate, he’s also pushing for more government control over technology giants. Specifically, writes The Intercept, he wantsFacebook and Google to be considered public utilities. This means essentially that they would be considered public goods that citizens consume, and thus should be held to more uniform regulation. (It’s also something I argued a few months ago!)
Yet Bannon’s recent pushes, if proven, show that he’s gunning for something that is definitely not within the confines of the traditional Republican party. And they’re also both pushes that someone like Bernie Sanders would probably endorse.
Bannon’s proposed tax rate — the same tax rate Hillary Clinton proposed during the campaign. His idea to turn Facebook and Google into utilities? Unplausible and insane. The efforts to absolve Bannon sometimes takes weird tones. Ostensibly liberal publications are now claiming the Trump white house is devoid of conservatives and is being run by Hucksters and Democrats —
Ryan Grim writes —
President Donald Trump never tires of reminding audiences that he is not a politician, and he proves it on an hourly basis. He is by turns a nationalist, a populist, and a demagogue — but rarely acts as a traditional conservative.
As the previous occupant of the White House once said, a president’s “success is determined by an intersection in policy and politics.” With the far-right White House strategist Steve Bannon gone, the team left behind appears to be ill-equipped to maneuver the political challenges needed to turn the administration’s ambitious policy goals into successes. The chasm between Trump’s approach and that of his nominal allies in the Republican-controlled Congress is about to be sharpened in relief — and the resumes of his remaining staffers are ill-suited to overcome the gulf.
I would argue that Trump is a pretty traditional conservative as he has not pushed one plan that has not been applauded or recommended by some part of the conservative base and Republican party. Further, even with Bannon, the White House proved ill-equipped to accomplish anything. Bannon was not competent.
Now I’m not here to defame anyone. All these people/publications have been consistent in their condemnation of Bannon and Trump’s racism and incompetence. Here is a great list of Bannon’s racism/sexism/homophobia writer Mehdi Hasan from the Intercept put together —
This is good. Because the key to understanding Bannon, is to understand that at his core he’s a racist/sexist/bigot, and that it permeates his entire world view. We cannot normalize him. You can’t “yeah, but” his racism. We can’t let him become a person who joins the national conversation. His goal is to bring racists and racist ideology to power. To do that, he will advocate any policy position he thinks will seduce people. He will pal around with neo-cons and neo-liberals. He will spout economic rhetoric. He will simultaneously advocate raising taxes while working for a boss and party pledging to reduce corporate taxes and taxes on the wealthy. He will inflame the prejudices of white people while promising to soothe their economic concerns. If he was really concerned with the underclass, he throw his lot in with Bernie or Clinton. But his central belief is racism. That is what drew him to Trump and vice versa, and that is what he will dedicate the rest of his post white house life to fighting for. He’s already laid out his strategy.
While Bannon dismissed his would-be allies in the alt-right or ethnonationalist right, he still argued for the importance of focusing politics around race: "The Democrats, 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."
www.vox.com/…
And to get the left to talk “identity politics” he has unleashed the most toxic elements in our nation. He helped put Trump in the White House, he helped put Sessions at the DOJ, Devos at DOE. He wants to unleash his racist element, so he can play white knight to working class whites. We must put pressure on the media not to legitimize him. And we must not “yeah, but” him ourselves. My 2 cents.
