Bannon, Trumpism, the GOP, and American politics

[QuikSand]

Sorry if it's presumptuous to split this out from the main "Trump" thread, but there's really no way to maintain a conversation there with so much happening. (Not meant as a slight, just a logistical observation) Here, I'm more interested in broader issues of political philosophy, rather than just the headlines or tweets grabbing attention right in the moment)

I'm hoping this might be productive. Sorry if I'm wrong about that.

. . .

So, I listened to the Steve Bannon interview with the NY Times today.

It's online here, the Nov 10 installment. (https://www.nytimes.com/podcasts/the-daily)

I came away with a very different impression of him than I think I had been carrying around previously. Not a 100% positive one, but I think I would put him into a different slot than I would have before hearing that much directly in his own words.

I've got more to say, and hope to do in this thread, but overall... I think that interview is worth a listen, especially if you are a left-leaning type who mostly writes him off as either a true neo-nazi-sympathizer or as a just-win-at-all-costs opportunist. I came away persuaded (at least in part) that there is more coherence to his vision of America and American politics than I came in with, and I think there's real value in that.

I have friends and acquaintances with whom I disagree pretty fundamentally politically (in both left/right directions) with whom I can have a good, productive conversation about policy. I value that level of exchange. I get some of that here, too, from time to time. Among the things I respect in people who talk politics is when I can at least understand the "why" behind their views. I know plenty of political people who are just about their side and winning... and are very thin or vacant as far as the purpose of the team or the win.

I think before listening to him personally, I likely would have assumed Bannon was just one of those people. I now think that was shallow to assume as much, and I think I understand what he thinks more clearly. Perhaps that was the goal of him waltzing into the NY Times studio to talk with them in the first place.

Anyway...give it a listen. And maybe we could even keep this thread civil and thoughtful.

[RainMaker]

He's always been a good interview. Can come across quite persuasive.

I still believe actions speak louder than words. Breitbart tells me what he is and what he stands for.

[digamma]

I'll check out the interview. YOu may also want to check out an episode of the podcast Embedded, by NPR, on Bannon from a few weeks back. That left me with a different impression of Bannon than the one you paint above, more along the lines of an opportunist, but different than the win-at-all costs guy we read about.

[HerRealName]

He may be more concerned with working class Americans than I guessed before but he seems completely lost coming up with any policies that would actually help. He spends a lot of time instead blaming the mainstream media and illegal immigration instead.

You would think campaign finance reform would be a natural issue where Trump could make some progress as an outsider. Also, infrastructure bills would create jobs for working class Americans. Instead, he talks about trade deals to bring back manufacturing jobs. Those jobs aren't coming back. Automation will continue to march forward regardless of any trade deals Trump negotiates.

Even if I take him at his word on the white nationalist stuff (he blames the mainstream media for them too), he still comes across to me as a salesman and not a person that is actually working to improve the country. So, I expect that he'll just keep on blaming the mainstream media and illegal immigrants for the country's problems while selling t shirts, supplements, or whatever it is they sell over there.

[Marc Vaughan]

He talks an 'interesting' game but its shallow and meaningless once you scrape its top off ... the rhetoric that he's 'taking back government' from Wall Street is stupid when you consider who he and Trump have been putting in place, its people interested in looking after the 'average Joe' ... its billionaires and Wall Street cronies ... who are interested in looking after themselves.

This can be seen in the stripping of social supports from the normal people in the country, whether that is on healthcare, education, tax reform or any number of other areas.

[RainMaker]

I think the working class Americans he panders to are just useful idiots to him. His policies really don't help them at all.

[stevew]

We've clearly evolved into helping those more fortunate than ourselves instead of less fortunate.