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Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Genferei.
Very interesting. Much more than the media generated outrage of the past day. The controversy that’s been reported about him is looking more like agendas from groups in opposition to him (both Left and Right). Thank you.
All these attacks on Bannon have given us a variety of opportunities to see him in his own words and appreciate his insights and intelligence. He saw all this coming and he helped it along. I’m glad he’s where he is.
Great reporting – and thanks for sharing the link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMZFfxFl53k
He was a KGB cookie-pusher. In other words, a junior-level thug.
I think he has graduated to senior level by now.
Interesting. I’ll need to mull over that.
Christians sound so pathetic when they blame the world’s woes on others not sharing their superstitions.
Believe what you want, it’s a free country. But please stop insisting that everyone needs to agree. Not all atheists are communists.
Pathetic only to people with a wanton disregard for history, economics and civics. The only words that should ever come from the mouth of any atheist who enjoys the liberty of western civilization towards any Christian is “Thank you!” You are of course free to say whatever you want as we won’t kill you like everyone else does but its still a bit of a turn-off.
I saw nothing in that report @genferei that is scary…unless you are an establishment Washington figure. He seems like the exact type of guy to be in a leading position in Trump’s administration, especially ideologically. I saw where Pence recently may have exposed why he took over from Christie in staffing this administration…he removed all the lobbyists from Christie’s gaggle. Again, from my seat in the nosebleed section, things seem to be progressing well.
@genferei, what do you think of Ben Shapiro’s take, that Bannon panders to racists in the alt-right? Is that wrong? Or are, maybe, the above quotes another example of Bannon telling a group what it wants to hear? (This is a sincere question.)
But if you look at what Bannon has actually said and written doesn’t that complicate the task of calling him a neo-Nazi and then dismissing whatever he has to say as malignantly motivated? You would be complicating the life of paid journalists and editorial writers by doing so so you must be some kind of fascist.
I discovered over the last couple of years that I must be a racist because I attended a large tea party march in Washington DC with a lot of polite, cheerful, rather normal people and because I think Barrack Obama has implemented spectacularly bad policies.
It was surprising to learn that I am a racist. I have two half African-American grandkids, my dad was a lawyer in the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ in 1965-7 when the real struggle for racial justice was underway. I once got roughed up at a George Wallace rally because I was clearly not a supporter. I am unaware of any current statements, actions or memberships that would make me a racist but all those smart people in the MSM think I am a racist so I guess must be. And a Nazi, a misogynist and homophobe too, I guess.
If if vigorously deny these tacit accusations and question the character and intellect of the accusers would that make me “divisive”? Just asking.
Not recently, anyway. I’ll watch my back. I don’t trust any group with power.
What I see is a man very much divorced from Classical Liberalism. Bannon seems to fall smack dab in the “Not a Classical Liberal” camp. I don’t know what that camp is other than its “Not Me”. To put it in terms of recent world politics, Bannon comes across as an American version of Nigel Farage without the sense of humor. I’m more interested in Daniel Hannan. Sure those two men can work together on discrete issues – but in the end they believe in fundamentally different ways of ordering society.
Based on actions and ignoring rhetoric, you could say the same about a depressingly large number of Republicans. So, nothing much new in that regard, it seems to me.
You’re right but I think there’s a difference in intent. Republicans are nominally adherents to Classical Liberalism but fail at execution due to either corruption or fecklessness. Bannon is actively opposed to it – there’s nothing inherently evil about that, it’s just not in line with my beliefs.
In what sense? I don’t disagree – if forced to generate a label from this transcript it would definitely have “Catholic” rather than “Hayekian” in it somewhere. Then again, it might even have “McCloskeyian” in it (and she’s Anglican).
If I could put a label on Bannon it would probably be Traditionalist. Nationalist and Populist also fit, but I think his populism is a means rather than an end. That said there is absolutely a strain of central planning in his economic thinking that wouldn’t fit with a Classical Liberal worldview. He wants to direct banks to behave in certain ways, he wants to move us back to a certain type of manufacturing based economy. If that happened absent government intervention I would have no problem with it, and I certainly think that the incentive structure created by current government and Federal Reserve intervention is warped, but I don’t see Bannon as being a big proponent of emergent order.
I think that makes for a pretty good summary. At least, of that dimension.
All that “classical liberalism” is great for think tanks and what’s left of the conservative academy, but, it seems to translate quite poorly to electoral success.
And, since the opposition is quite content with managing the decline and accommodating Islamists, I am willing to trade a little classicism for some permanence to the majority.
The liberals didn’t wreck America overnight, If we have to slowly march the country rightward for 100 years, so be it, as long as the direction is correct.
I don’t want to read the collected thoughts of John Kerry, Valerie Jarrett or Eric Holder. Yet somehow the country will soon (hopefully) have survived all of their tenures.
To me it’s secondary if Mr. Bannon has a coherent philosophy or great historical judgment, apparently he did a very good job for Mr. Trump so far. I would not overestimate his influence, but think it’s only fair and logical that he stays as a close advisor to the President-elect.
I’m assuming that Bannon exploits-for-profit rather than wholeheartedly endorses the simmering racism of the alt-right fanboys reading Breitbart.com, but that does stand in stark relief from what he was saying about the decent old-timey corporate leaders letting their Judeo-Christian morality inform their capitalism. If he had taken the same approach to Breitbart when he assumed control, we wouldn’t be having this conversation (probably for many reasons).
Well said, and I generally agree. However, those of us who are not regular Breitbart readers are at a disadvantage. It’s really time for those like Ben Shapiro who seem more concerned with what Bannon sanctioned at Breitbart (as opposed to whom Bannon actually is) to start providing a decent selection of links to articles that support this proposition so we can judge for ourselves.
That and, you know, founding our nation.
Give him a chance to crack a joke –
Very good post – there are already too many knee jerk reactions and why we have so much trouble – I believe he is also a Harvard Business grad and a former naval officer. Notably, earlier in life, he was also a Democrat, like many of us.
Nobody has a perfect resume or life – we all screw up. Those that are so quick to hold others under a microscope need to look in the mirror. It has become dreadfully difficult to serve in public office. Those that step forward, we should give them a chance. There have certainly been some startling European characters in lead positions in their countries, as well as around the world. It’s not helpful to demonize people before they have started the job.
All of that sounds like he has put thought into things.
Yes, enough so that it makes me wonder about Ben Shapiro’s assessment that Bannon has no ideology other than power and self-promotion. Shapiro’s take on Bannon had struck me as fairly credible and even handed (especially considering his own history with Bannon). Now I’m not so sure.