Of course there is a intra-party war. The Republican Party has become an amalgam of two ideologically-opposed factions. Bannon has little interest in traditional economic conservatism that has dominated the Republican Party for the last century and more. Bannon's ideology has more in common with European far-right parties than the old Republican Party. Those parties, often with roots in pre-WWII fascist movements, embrace social welfare policies alongside ethnic nationalism. National Socialism, whose German equivalent "Nationalsozialismus" was shortened into "Nazi," meant exactly that: a combination of nationalism and socialism. (At least, in the party's early days.) Bannon's faction is all for something like universal healthcare, as long as "universal" means white and native-born.
How did this man come to believe he wields such power over others? More important- how did others come to allow him to wield this level of power over them? This man is an opportunist- for an audience of weak-minded and desperate people who refuse to live in the 21st Century. I seriously doubt Steve Bannon believes anything coming out of his mouth and can only imagine how much he scorns the foolish sheep he so easily leads; What a racket he's got going.
5
There is big money being funneled into Bannon’s campaign and apparently cheering crowds attend his speeches. But I am wondering if Trump supporters even know who Bannon is. Trump is a TV brand. Disoriented Republicans voted for Trump for a variety of reasons, one of which was that they didn’t really think he would win. Bannon helped fuel the anti-Obama wave and now hopes to do the same with Republicans. Without a memorable face or appealing manner for his cause (which is 100% reactionary, nothing more), I wonder if he will get far. He’s too cerebral for Trump supporters and not cerebral enough for true thinkers.
3
Americans have a hard time figuring out someone like Steve Bannon, because people like him have never really had a place on the American political stage. Americans think of left-right in economic terms. Left means social welfare policies and regulation, right means laissez-faire economics. That has traditionally been the main dividing line between left and right in America.
However, Bannon is an ethnic nationalist, and he is willing to embrace left-wing economic policies if it will get him the ethnic, racially pure America he wants. Disconcertingly for liberals, Bannon has made common cause with labor unions on trade protection. He has bashed other Republicans on healthcare. He has even advocated antitrust regulation against large tech companies.
It may be that Bannon has no real commitment to these issues, and they are just sugarcoating to help sell his white nationalist ideas. But Bannon represents a new breed of Republican in that he is has little interest in economic conservatism.
1
The only lamentable thing about FDR's "purge" of the right was its failure to succeed.
The author, in the course of insinuating that FDR's plan to "pack" the Court was unwholesome or wrong, neglects to note:
a) The majority of the Supreme Court, when FDR took office, consisted of retired executives of railroad corporations.
b) There is nothing in the Constitution, or in statutory law, mandating how many people should be on the Supreme Court
c) Prior to FDR, the size of the Supreme Court was modified on several occasions.
In the 1930's, millions of Americans were hungry. Vitamin B deficiency diseases, bloated bellies and rickets were ubiquitous, especially in the South. Union activists were murdered. Much of the right wing was pro Hitler and downright Nazified in its hostility to blacks and Jews. In the slums, there was, in addition to the rats and roaches and filth, insufficent ventilation and Tuberculosis stalked the streets. (Go to Montefiore Cemetery, an old Jewish cemetery in Queens County, and see the tombstones of thousands of tuberculor tailors)
Dire Poverty should not be polite and wait its turn. G-d bless FDR for tryiing to purge the Democratic Party of Its Southern aristocrats who in their classist obssessions were no different from the English aristocracy we supposedy revolted against. (There's one difference: The English aristocrats had Byron and Shelly and Keats; the Southern aristocrats had food like hoppin' johns and entertainment like "He Haw.")
3
Sorry, not interested in ridiculously strained political analysis from a reporter who thinks that not voting in four straight presidential elections confirms his “objective journalist” bona fides instead of revealing him as failing in his basic civic duty. This he told with astonishing pride in a Times Talk with Dean Baquet, Maggie Haberman, and moderated by Jim Rutenberg.
2
I hope that the Republican voters know that when one of their candidates is being backed by Trump, that candidate is being backed by a petulant, childish, vindictive, sleazy, corrupt, ego-driven, racist, sexist.... I could go on and on. That candidate would not be backed by the best of us. He or she would be backed by the worst of us and carry with him/her Trump's taint. Therefore, if Trump backs Candidate A, it logically follows that Candidate B would be a person of much higher caliber and an infinitely better choice for the betterment of (what is left of) this country. If I were a Republican running for office and if Trump and his lapdog Bannon refused to endorse me, I would consider that a badge of honor and the highest possible compliment.
1
I want Bannon out front and center through the 2018 mid-terms. Cover everything this white nationalist has to say. Encourage his over the top remarks.
Then, in early 2019, he can join his pal Richard Spencer lecturing to rooms of uneducated white men as they try to figure out what just happened. For about $3-5,000 a pop.
2020? Footnote to history. Bannon's problem is that people aren't as stupid as he thinks they are and he's not as smart, either.
Example? Here in Arizona we are not going to elect a woman who thinks jet con trails are a government conspiracy and affect your mind. Bannon's pick.
Not gonna happen.
"Donnie, can you spare a dime?"
1
OK, Independents and GOP Moderates, the ONLY way for you to purge yourselves of these Bannonite crazies is to vote for the Democratic candidates in 2018 and 2020. Or you could register as Democrats and vote for the more moderate Democrat in the primaries and then again in the general. Yes, I KNOW you really DON'T WANT TO, but if you want to put the United States on a saner path, the only way the GOP will stop this and listen to normal citizens is by pushing the GOP out of power for a few years. That is the only way they will realize that they can't get away with this stuff. Just do it for the next two major election cycles, and then you can go back to voting for a healthier, more responsible Republican Party.
4
Wow, whoever thought we'd be turning to Karl Rove as the voice of "the moderate Republican?"
2
It is hard for me to take this comparison seriously. For one thing the Republican party doesn't even enjoy the approval, much less the wholehearted support of a majority of American people. Add to that the fact that Bannon only represents an extreme fringe of the Republican party and what he manages to stir up begins to look more like a tempest in a tea pot, than a political movement that deserves to be taken seriously. This even given the undeserved media attention that he manages to get, apparently just for saying outrageous things. The WaPo, NYT, CNN, MSNBC seem to be determined to keep this lunatic in the limelight, though.
As for FDR, he at least had a coherent agenda that his opponents understood even if they didn't agree with it. Like silly putty that's been rolled up to look like a ball, what Trump tries to pass off as an agenda bounces off the table, hits the carpet and proceeds to lose its shape, melting into an unintelligible blob.
2
Roosevelt was the President. Bannon is not. You cannot extrapolate one event in history. There are too many variables. This is no way positive for the GOP.
1
If Bannon and Trump are working to unseat so many Republicans, then why are they so frightened of censuring Trump, if not impeaching him? They won't reign him in because he is an embarrassment, is unprepared for the job and doesn't desire to prepare himself, knows nothing about policy and doesn't think informing himself is necessary, governs by executive order only, etc, and etc. What have they got to lose now?
1
Let Bannon bash away. It's our only hope at this point. Those of us anxious to see the end of the Trump's presidency.
2
Baker makes one error: As far as I remember and have read, FDR never proposed "compulsory universal military service." The draft law enacted in the summer of 1940, during the presidential election campaign, was for males only.
Incidentally, it barely passed reenactment in the summer of 1941.
Universal military service is a concept floated at times post-war. It never took off.
Good. Now if Democrats would just not "Berniebot" each other, maybe we could win back the Senate and the House in 2018. There is plenty of room in Congress for Blue Dogs and Uber Progressives.
1
The Times Guideline to Ethics states that "When we use facts reported by another publication, we attribute them." A fact is a small thing. An idea is much bigger. Surely the use of an idea from another publication requires attribution. The exact same FDR-Bannon analogy appeared in Politico six days ago. There is no attribution.
1
I am reminded of the line in the motion picture Malcolm X, "No one man should have that much power."
1
Bannon misuses Caesar's assassination by Marcus Brutus as an "honorable" analogy to his attempt to pick off GOP members of Congress who won't carry his escutcheon. Historical accounts and the Shakespearean play reveal Brutus to have from the noble and distinguished family of Roman politicians and a soldier under Julius Caesar who conspired to kill Caesar to prevent Caesar from becoming the Roman Emperor, something the Roman Senate had acted to prevent. Marc Antony eulogized that Caesar's assassins, every one, were "honorable" and that Caesar may have been too ambitious. Even a cursory reading of the play or history of the event reveals that Caesar's assassins acted reluctantly but firmly and did not seek to overturn the established Roman order as decreed by the Roman Senate. While Marc Antony called each of Caesar's assassins "honorable" and Brutus, in particular, "the noblest Roman of them all", all were acting against a military and political leader (Caesar) who some feared would usurp the Senate's authority by accepting the title "Imperator" imposed directly by the "people" bypassing the Senate.
The politics of Caesar's death are straightforward and the honorable motives of his killers clear, but it is unlike everything Bannon's effort encapsulates: he wants his proxies holding the power of office; he wants a specific agenda imposed; he wants kingship without threat of being deposed. None of this is analogous to Caesar's death, and Bannon's use of it is offensive.
Remember, its not always as good as it seems, but its also not always as bad as it seems.
We are currently in a bubble, thought its not easily visible. It is the same bubble that the Dems were in between 2009 and the mid-terms.
This too shall pass.
"Mainstream conservatism," while never divorced too far from racism and never overwhelmingly popular, at least provided a useful counterpoint to mainstream liberalism for many years. It became even less popular with the catastrophic presidency of GW Bush.
As a result, 'mainstream conservatives' have been compelled to either (i) accept the fact that what remains of conservatism (while it still pays well) is vacuous, or (ii) adopt the ideology of the loony fringe.
The loony fringe, however, has never been capable of governing. They can only fight.
I'm happy to see that now they are now fighting with each other.
It would be good to see a little less tribalism, however, in politics in general. But I don't think we'll get there until we reduce the influence of money.
The (mind-boggling) election of Donald Trump is a turning point in American politics. Anything is possible from now on, including Trump's candidates being elected and s taking over the leadership of the Republican Party.
1
Reading about Bannon for quite a time now, I've learned he is not so much driven to be an admired public figure as something even more sinister and an aberration of personality that is the urge to have everyone think just like him, verbatim. There were all kinds of men in history just like that and Bannon should be better understood to determine potential harm.
Bannon wants to be the puppet master pulling the strings of as many Congressmen as he can. He is highly competitive. His ideas should be analyzed exhaustively to determine potential outcomes that put his goals above the good of all the people.
He has helped elect Trump and even after all the harm the election of Trump did with the help of Russia, he has rejected any responsibility in his harming of America and continues to promote damaging ideas and people, now focused on Congress. He has no remorse about his responsibility, perhaps might even relish it.
You must focus fully on Bannon and understand his ideas and program to understand the future he is molding. I firmly believe in freedom of speech for everyone including myself but am always on guard for dangers to our future, and Bannon is one to watch and understand. Then you will see the future, not through prophecy or superstition, but careful analysis.
Bannon is firstly protecting his puppet in the White House who has adopted his ideas and is now trying to mold Congress in his image. Bannon knows the majority follow others without introspective thought.
1
Influencing by encouragement than by opposition only makes sense if you have a clear agenda, like the New Deal, to sell. Trump, on the other hand, is promoting the hate and distrust of minorities and institutions that about 37% of the electorate have been primed to abhor. When Trump’s base says "he tells it like it is," it makes no difference to them that facts contradict his declarations. The he point is, Trump is reenforcing, rather than challenging, their beliefs. That is all the "encouragement" they need.
In states where 65% or less of the electorate is Republican and participating in the primaries, 37% should be enough to pick the GOP candidate going to the general election. In solid red states, the blame game that energizes the Trump base may be enough to win, even if it makes the more old fashioned ("establishment") Republicans uncomfortable.
Bannon may or may not have a knack for picking candidates or running a campaign, but if he just attaches himself to candidates who are willing to repeat Trump’s list of fears and accusations, he may end up on the winning side of the GOP primary battle. If so, he will undoubtedly proclaim himself a king maker going into the next general election.
1
One important point regarding FDR's inability to take over the democratic party not mentioned in the article that isn't consistent with Trump's situation. The base of the democratic party at FDR's time was the Solid South made of conservatives and segregationists that developed after the civil War. Remember that the Republican party developed out of the loins of the Whig party before the Civil War and was the party of Lincoln and the North. FDR was trying to take over the party to move in a liberal direction by opposing the very base that composed the Democratic party and is the reason why he failed and the voters of the South continued to vote for their Old Boys.
Trump and his situation is much different. He has relied on and taken over the base of the Republican party which is the conservative (and in some cases segregationist) South and Mid West. He is just taking this base from the establishment republicans by moving more to the right using nationalist and anti immigration themes. Unlike FDR, Trump has no policy objectives in doing this. He just wants to "own" the Republican party and consolidate as much power for him to control. That's why he and his minion Bannon are attacking establishment Republicans. They just want to install unthinking Trump Republicans that will be loyal to him.
2
Remember, its not always as good as it seems, but its also not always as bad as it seems.
We are currently in a bubble, thought its not easily visible. It is the same bubble that the Dems were in between 2009 and the mid-terms.
This too shall pass.
Please buy Bannon a gooey, triple-layer fudge cake a la mode -- on me. Make it a 5-year daily supply.
1
The media, including this paper, is putting Bannon on the cover pages, the same way you did Trump. Stop giving this man so much importance and move him to page 10. The more newspapers, TV, and talk shows and other outlets give his sick agenda importance, the more it will grow,
3
I dearly admire and respect Franklin Roosevelt and will make a point of paying no attention to the activities of Mr. Bannon from here on. I share Roosevelt values, simple as that.
6
Mr. Bannon is as politically toxic as he looks. Letting him pursue this strategy is the equivalent of giving an inebriated alcoholic the car keys saying, "You drive" before getting in the passenger seat.
19
Is the empty-suited, but ego-ballooned, Bannon in actuality little more than a self invented, provocative "lady of the night" sent off to ply his disruptive trade by his Mercer benefactors?
15
Some in the party vote contrary to their campaign promises and voters should have an opportunity to select an alternative in the primaies. The best example may be those who campaigned on Repeal and Replace and then voted against it.
There appear to be many in politics who campaign to the interests of their constituents and go on to govern/legislate to the interests of their political establishment.
While Bannon may have a strong ability to persuade and inform, he gets one vote like the rest of us when it comes to primaries and election. Ultimately the outcome of the primary and election will be determined democratically.
WRT overreach, I would argue that those Federal activities outside the original intent of the enumerated powers is overreach and I hope Mr. Bannon can help reduce that overreach perhaps by supporting constitutionalist.
US Consitution, Article I, Section 8, including the final paragraph.
1
To argue in fine grained details regarding the intended limits on the Federal Government relative to the states would take more space than is available here other than to quote James Madison from Federalist 45. I defer to James Madison, recognized by many as the Father of the Constitution as follows: "The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government, are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for the most part, be connected. The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State."
In short, in my opinion which most here will not care about, it is the role of the states not the Federal government to do Social welfare, education, and healthcare. There are a few enumerated exceptions like post offices and post roads but that is basically it.
I think Bannon may have issues but I believe he is more a friend to the intent of the Constitution than FDR by a long shot. How do internment camps for innocent citizens of Japanese descent fit into the Constitution.
If you are referring to the necessary and proper clause I believe that means necessary and proper to carry out the enumerated powers, NOT necessary and proper in general.
Caveat to Bannon:
When you start to believe your most extreme rhetoric, you're already too far over the tips of your skiis.
Hillary lost because her base didn't turn out, and a minor contribution from Russian meddling.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Bannon is on a sugar high, and the crash will be breathtaking.
12
Mr. Trump and Mr. Bannon are using carrot and stick to keep Republicans off balance, to put fear in their actions and therefore ripe for manipulation. It's working based on the congressional silence to the disgusting behavior coming from the White House. Those up for re-election don't know which way to jump and are even afraid to ask how high. It seems to be a game of political dodge ball, keep them hopping every which way to avoid being smashed then treat them as the puppets they've become.
It keeps everyone focused on those antics and not the destruction going on around them.
3
Bannon should go back to Hollywood and pioneer a new character, a 21st century W.C. Fields. I have never in my life (I am over 50) seen anyone at this level who, at first impression, displays so many manifestations of over-consumption of alcohol: Perpetually disheveled (he's an old "preppy," ok), bulging red eyes, peeling, scabby skin. It's all too obvious. Even John Boener who smoked and was a drinking legend in his time, despite the gaudy fake tans, never looked as bad. Not even William "Wild Turkey" Weld looks this bad.
13
Why does the press
give him so much attention?
12
Because he is a polarizing figure.
Why can't people just ignore this two bit, pompous, opportunistic gas bag who always looks like he has a hangover? If the media just didn't give him all this attention, maybe he would just go away.
15
I hope that somewhere down the road that Bannon & the Mercer’s will be held for treason. They have no interest in “making America great again”.
9
I support you Steve Bannon. Take a sure shot at Sen. Mitch McConnell, the slippery Senate Majority Leader. Why do you need to find a Brutus? You ARE Brutus!
4
BTW, what happened to Brutus?
3
We have to keep the objectives in mind. Bannon's objective is to destroy the United States government. Electing the worst possible candidates goes a long way toward achieving that end.
My bigger curiosity why the Mercers, Bannon and their partners, ostensibly folk who have thrived in America, want to destroy it. Makes me wonder who all their partners actually are.
17
I wouldn't call it an over-reach. It's more like wishful thinking.
4
This is all a ruse. Trump has cut a deal with the congressional republicans. They will pretend to oppose him. He will pretend to oppose them. The reality is that they will nevertheless be working together to accomplish similar goals.
The republicans might not care for Trump's style but don't kid yourselves, they're salivating over Trump's proposed tax cuts and Trump's proposed armaments programs. They have no problem whatsoever with Trump. When will these rich liberals and moderates realize that, yes, their republican neighbors and colleagues really are on board with the whole program? I get that your class likes to stick together but the way you fawn over republicans who proffer the tamest, most ineffectual criticisms of Trump is sickening. They may disagree with some of Trump's tactics but they are still on his team.
9
Love that NYT photograph of Bannon addressing the "faithful" in Phoenix where he is stumping for Kelli Ward (a real Noble laureate, indeed!). There must be at least 50,000 people in that auditorium on the edges of their chairs listening to Reich Marshall Bannon. (He is wearing khaki pants and the black shirt.)
FDR may have had his issues with getting loyalists on board, but the times when FDR governed were so different and more fraught with peril than anything Bannon or Trump has had to address. Harry Hopkins was FDR's best go-to person. Steven Bannon is nothing but a flame-thrower, disguised as a fireman driving a kerosene truck.
I know there is a God who powers in our political orbit. I sincerely hope all of this evokes memories of Sen. Joseph McCarthy and Father Charles Coughlin to rain destruction upon the likes of Bannon's nativism and ugliness he has brought to our nation's public discourse. Ultimately, the total political banishment and being tossed into the dustbin of "irrelevance" is the best for Steve Bannon, but first he must be publically humiliated and ruined.
3
So the cannibals are hungry? Now they are starting to devour each other. Not a pretty sight, but it illustrates that we are dealing with barbarians, and there is no honor among thieves.
Contrary to liberal mythology, Trump's supporters are not hurting but are generally comfortable middle class. They are not deeply issue oriented, but they are deeply attitude oriented, and Trump's attitude of reckless, even giddy slander and free-wheeling chaos mirrors their own to perfection.
The only possible benefit is that that tiny percentage of swing voters will have had enough of Donald's antic after four years and either vote him out in the primaries (not likely) or stay home during the general election.
5
When when someone gets fired, don’t they usually go away? Unless that “ someone” was one of George Steinbrenner’s managers?
4
Great article. Only FDR was a really interesting man with an enormous grasp of history. Steve Bannon is rapidly becoming boring. You can't declare war on everyone, you can't rattle your sabre every day without people beginning to say, "Fine. What else have you got? How about something constructive and, um, adult." FDR was actually trying to make peoples' lives better. I can't say the same for Mr. Bannon. He's too busy fighting his own demons.
6
There is one huge difference that disputes the substantive parallels between Bannon/Trump and Roosevelt. Roosevelt was a patrician with empathy and a paternal sense of commitment to the interests of the common man and woman. He was blocked by legislators in his own party deeply indebted to the already rich and powerful and their interests, who hated him. Not so with Bannon and Trump. Were Roosevelt president in our time, I would be resolutely on his side, just as was with Sanders. Their asymmetrical rhetoric notwithstanding, Bannon and Trump need to be defeated in their efforts wherever possible. Nativism is not the friend of the commoner.
5
Bannon has seen life from one of service to the people in the Navy and one of service to himself on Wall Street, and he's found that one need not live in a free country to be free if one is rich. If our country ends up with no real democratic institutions nor equal justice and liberty for all under law, it's no problem.
6
Steve Bannon has no "party" to vow a war on.The last time I checked there was not a Leninism party on the ballot. Bannon's" party",as such, is his own inflated ego , and his visible desperation to cling to power now that he is out of the White House. He misses being the official Trump whisperer. And,he misses being recognized as the " brains" of the Trump regime. Nevertheless, I hope his war on the Republican party is a smashing success.
12
everyman USA:
Do not be fooled, Bannon is still the "Trump Wisperer", or better Svengali. He can be much more effective in his current role, as he can operate more savagely without restriction, now that he is no longer in the White House staff. He is a dangerous man.
Bannon the Shakespearean: does he even know what happened to Brutus?
8
When the minority openly threatens the majority, the only possible outcome is the crushing of that minority. So what is Bannon aiming at? Probably just the formal splitting of the Republican Party, with himself at the head of a new Nationalist Party. Well, why not? It might finally usher an era of bipartisan work between the rest of the Republicans and the Democrats and put an end to the dysfunction that is paralyzing the legislative branch and destroying America's standing in the world.
3
Do you seriously think Bannon is eager to see the Republicans and Democrats work together to resolve America'S problems when Bannon's most fervent hope is to see this country collapse so that he can be the white supremacist leader of a new social order?
Bannon's Senate candidate to defeat Jeff Flake is Kelli Ward. The leading newspaper in the state associates her with conspiracy theorists and other kooks. In the primaries, the Republican Party in Arizona generally nominates the candidate with the best chance to win the general election. Flake has gotten into trouble by consistently distancing himself from Trump even though Trump won the primary here. Flake doesn't have McCain's wide appeal. He is wonkish and not well known among voters. The Democratic nominee is a conservative Democrat, as so often is the case in Arizona. She's got a D next to her name, but she has little appeal to most Democrats.
Ward has broken strong out of the starting gates. So pundits are taking her seriously. But, in my humble opinion, she doesn't have a chance. If Flake can't beat her Kilpatrick (D) will. Ward is being taken all too seriously on the national front. Statewide candidates like her are a dime a dozen and we Arizonans know that they never win. Whatever you may think about Arizona, politics, we are not Alabama.
With Ward, Bannon is trying to convince his following that he's onto something. Ain't gonna happen. Bannon is a bag of hot air.
5
I wouldn't compare Bannon to FDR. Try Norquist and Gingrich.
11
Oh my, you hit it!!!! It's the new Triumvirate. Bannon, Norquist, and Gingo.
Trump sells a false hope that does not exist, more abuse than fact.....its just his nature I guess.....there will be serious trouble when this Trump created bubble bursts......and no one wants to be Trump then.....very dangerous to be honest......
2
Let’s keep the FDR Bannon comparisons to a minimum please.
5
Yes, with FDR's diregard for the Constitution, threat to stack the supreme court, and internment of innocent Japanese American citizens without due process that would not be fair to Bannon.
John, riiiight, because we are under attack by three nations with ten times the armament that we have. As was the case in WW11.
This amounts to an attempted takeover of the Republican Party by white nationalist ideologues who represent the politics of hate and division. It will be interesting to see if the moderate or establishment wing is able to redefine the party as a conservative one, not a racist one.
10
Talk about an "empty barrel".
Bannon's wrecking ball mission of “deconstruction of the administrative state,” is anything if not transparently devoid of any sense of its aftermath, therefore childish.
Sure, the 1st Amendment means any huckster can stand on stage barking into a microphone, but why, NYTimes, give him a front page platform?
From Goldman Sachs to Biospheres to Hollywood to the White House, the guy's into what he's into, gets bored or fails, then it's onto the next with equally inexhaustible gusto.
When total destruction of the ruling classes doesn't pan out, he'll be off selling cave condos on the moon.
12
Bannon is only news because you make him news.
12
My friends, Steve Bannon is known in Hollywood circles as just another crack pot who wanted to make it big but did not know how to play. He got lucky by hitching himself to the Trump star and throwing bombs. That happens to a few of them now and then.
One look at any story Breitbart publishes, with the ensuing melee of all the little crack pots gushing out hyperventilating comments, shows anyone with a brain that he's a fraud.
The trouble is that is brand of extremism enables the zealots. His lies pump them up. And enabling the lot of them is dangerous.
11
As many of us predicted would happen, the Trump presidency has shattered the republican party. Now we see open warfare.
Just a reminder to the people who still insist, out of sheer pique, that Trump be removed: oust Trump and you neutralize Bannon's influence - meaning you rescue the republican party.
You really want that? Why?
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
8
Trump poses an unequivocal danger to humanity. Bannon does not have the launch codes. Trump has to go before his insanity makes him use them. That's why.
4
Compare Bannon to McCarthy, maybe.
Not to FDR.
15
Why is the Times covering this silly stuff and not hammering away at Republican efforts to suppress the vote?
11
Peter Baker, best known for his puff pieces on Obama, and recently for his shameless attempt to rehabilitate the war criminal George W. Bush, is serving us another hard to digest piece of 'journalism'.
The comparison of Steve Bannon to FDR is tenuous at best.
FDR was doing his maneuvers for the greater good of the country, mainly getting more liberal New Deal legislation past and putting liberal justices on the Supreme court.
Steve Bannon is an anarchist who doesn't really have any principles besides his own personal agenda.
A more adapt analogy would be Bernie Sanders (aka FDR) fighting the the Clinton/Obama cabal (aka Southern Democrats) to bring about universal healthcare, free college, a living wage etc. to the American people.
Steve Bannon's historical analogy would be Lenin, maybe, even though that would also be rather tenuous, wanting to storm the palace, chop off some heads on the way, and burn the whole system down.
This forced comparison with FDR presented here just doesn't make any sense.
It's not surprising, though, in a country where the party of FDR has moved so far to the right that if they move any further they'll fall off the right-wing cliff.
For those of you interested, here is FDR's letter to Corporate Democrats in 1940
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBvWk-W5Jqs
(annotated by good ole Jimmy Dore)
If you don't know your history you are bound to repeat the same mistakes over and over again.
11
What a piece of work is Bannon! how Noble in
Reason? how infinite in faculty, in form, and moving
how express and admirable in Action, how like an Angel
in apprehension, how like a God?
O wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in't.
4
Bannon isn't Roosevelt - which is the entire point. If a REAL leader, with the intellect, support, and history that Roosevelt had, couldn't manage this, a hack like Bannon has no chance at all.
7
Your analogy to FDR is misplaced. The Trump/Bannon wing of the Republican Party is demonstrably stupider that the New Deal Democrats were.
9
This article fails to take into account the possibility that Bannon wants Trump impeached and removed.
2
Not just yet, but eventually. Trump is Bannon's stepping stone for the time being. Bannon saw Trump for what he was early on, a perfect host for Bannon's parasitism. He'll use Trump until no longer useful, which, ironically, sounds like Trump's playbook. But as Bannon knows, Trump is too stupid to recognize that fact.
4
Please Proceed, Bannon. Makes is easier to identify the white nationalists.
Not that we don't know, but the videotapes ARE useful.
7
FDR ain't no Bannon.
3
Or, rather, Bannon ain't no FDR
3
it is utterly astonishing that a person of Steve Bannon's low quality has entered national politics as a mainstream Republican operative. Whatever strategic arts -- and dollars -- he brings to an election campaign, he is a Nazi and Klan sympathizer. A pariah.
He doesn't deserve headlines. He doesn't rate the front page. And anyone in the Republican Party who says otherwise is disloyal and should be shunned.
8
Bannon's political philosophy reminds me of a bad movie, the kind about man-eating plants or Godzilla versus Mothra and the Slime Monster; all histrionics, and very little intellectual content. A high-school debater could tear Bannon's political philosophy to shreds--and he/she would probably have enough sense not to stay up until 2:00 a.m. watching creature features with plastic man-eating plants and guys in rubber suits stomping on scale models of Tokyo.
Angry rants like Bannon's may get you noticed in the short run, but in the end, both Bannon's politics and man-eating plants are just BORING. I hope the American people realize that Bannon's political ideas are just annoying nonsense, in time to save our civilization, because the kind of world Bannon wants to bring about is pretty grim.
And voting for one of Bannon's candidates? Not in a million years.
6
Steve Bannon is no Republican. To pretend that Bannon is a Republican, a man who wants to "deconstruct [aka destroy] the administrative state" [aka our Constitutional democracy] is to believe in a 1984-like vision that "autocracy is democracy." The Republican Party should put a "ban-on" him and let him form his own white supremacist American Nationalist Party.
5
Donald J. Trump and Steve Bannon are losers. FDR came from money and got the U.S.A. out of the Great Depression. Yeah, he tried and failed to pack the U.S. Supreme Court and had to deal with the public ancestors of right-wing talk radio, but the economics were worse in the 1930s than they are currently in the U.S.A.
Also, I'll dislike the Republican Party until I learn otherwise for putting term limits on the Presidency. There's at least one former POTUS that I would have been delighted to see have a third or four term.
6
He should really try to get more sleep and quit missing those AA meetings. Besides, the Three Stooges had way more credibility (and a bigger fan base) than he ever did.
9
Regardless of his effectiveness Bannon is Republicans' worst nightmare. He couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of politicians.
6
Susan Dunn, a Williams College historian and author of “Roosevelt’s Purge,” the definitive book on the 1938 election.
“To me, Trump’s purge is only about vindictiveness. He wants to strike out at and defeat the people who have dared to criticize him.”
4
We need continuing deep reportage on the Mercers, the Kochs, Adelson, and their ilk until they are no longer a threat. Creatures such Bannon can be mentioned in one sentence or a footnote as examples of tools and pawns.
6
Somebody ought to gainfully employ Bannon, else, he will be dishing out hateful harangues ad infinitum. His pointed philippics hurled at specific GOP leaders reek of malice and ill-will, and actually he sounds quite inane as well as insane. What in the world is he trying to achieve, by impugning others? If it is self-preservation, it is coming at a price of assailing others's stances and position statements, and Bannon, conceivably, seems to be bleating like a goat. He thinks he is an action hero. Not a whit.
Let's hear some constructive ideas from Bannon, to heal the nation's woes, and not a rapid rat-a-tat of rattles, berating others. Nope. He won't listen and he will continue to blowhorn unwarranted flapdoodle about fighting GOP with his twisted ideas of ultra-conservatism. To add fuel to the fire, there are quite a few of them actually listening to his pointless drivel.
He paints a lugubrious picture of the country's plight, and seems to offer nothing but a Cimmerian cave. His myrmidons apparently are agog with gusto, and seem ready to obey the leader. Beware! That's trouble brewing in a corner, and can ignite like a fire.
He is fully owned and operated as Rebekah Mercer’s pit bull.
1
I am no fan of Mitch McConnell, but find it interesting that Bannon threatened to find someone “to be Brutus to your Julius Caesar.” Is he inferring that he will take on the role of Cassius by plotting a conspiracy to beguile Brutus into killing his noble friend, Caesar? I guess at least Bannon is owning what his sleazy role in this would be and McConnell should beware the ides of March.
2
Trump's normalization continues apace with this strained effort to draw comparisons to FDR. Did FDR ever obstruct justice, encourage racists, steal from the poor to give to the rich, threaten the media, insult a gold star parent, a war hero, a judge for his Hispanic heritage, accuse his predecessor of falsifying his birth certificate, his academic achievements, of eves dropping... FDR? No, there's no possible comparison. Give readers a break!
6
Bannon is a political arsonist who really does not care if a particular candidate wins or loses because he will be starting so many fires. His nativist agenda and Spencer’s white nationalism are very likely the future of the GOP. Neither cares about governance, just about disrupting the old order. The torch and pitchfork crowd has no idea what they are bringing about by supporting these two.
3
When will this monstrous individual be charged with sedition? Clearly his goal is the undermining and ultimate destruction of the Republic. Why are his actions tolerated when movements like Black Lives Matter are demonized and targeted?
5
This is a truly strange premise for an article. By comparing Bannon with FDR, you simply elevate Bannon. As Susan Dunn, one of your sources, who, as you note, has written the "definitive book" on the Roosevelt purge, said, “To me, Trump’s purge [is it Trump or Bannon?] is only about vindictiveness. He wants to strike out at and defeat the people who have dared to criticize him.”
So why the article comparing the two? Surely this is not a slow news day.
3
Can we please stop giving Steve Bannon so much attention? The press--all media--is serving as a megaphone for him. He's no longer part of the presidential administration and without the free publicity he's receiving he will lose a lot of his power. Ignore him!!!
2
everyman USA:
Yes, IGNORE HIM. Hopefully, he will not be able to tolerate being ignored. Treat him like the badly behaved 2 y/o child he is. But, at the same time, remember, his behavior is more ill-willed, vicious and nefarious than most 2 year olds.
Ever wonder why he's always dressed in black clothes?
Dixiecrats = Today's GOP
2
Steve Bannon is nobody. Before he ingratiated himself to candidate Trump through insincere flattery, he was just another guy running a racist web site. If you guys would stop covering his every word as if it was handed down from on-high, he would fade away into the racist backdrop that he crawled out from.
8
The analogy of FDR is strained.
Bannon is trying to decimate an entire political party and replace it with, what: a populist, alt-right, racist calamity. Whatever one can say about FDR's missteps (and there were plenty for a man who served 3+ terms in office), No one can justifiably accuse him of playing with anarchy, as Trump is doing.
In fact, placing Trump in the same company as FDR is not just blasphemous, it also besmirches FDR's stature as one of America's greatest Presidents, arguably behind only Lincoln and Washington. Trump is already the nation's most disgraced and disgraceful Presidents, and he hasn't even been in office one year.
And by the way, anyone who believes Bannon and Trump are NOT in close contact is completely naive. Together, they are attempting to build a movement that has at least one (and better) historical analogy: the Know Nothings.
2
Of course there are lessons to be learned from history. But people like Bannon his alt-right ilk have no notion of the real history of governance and societies and cultures. People like Bannon have created their own reality. His is a fantasy world. And those beliefs are extraordinarily dangerous in these times.
3
Unfortunately he and Wendell Wilke both died as WW II ended. Both concluded they were of the same mind on this issue. President Eisenhower also wouldn't tolerate Tail Gunner Joe McCarthy and his radical bunch. Comparing President Trump to FDR or even IKE appears to be a reach (bridge) too far. Trump is simply an erratic amateur provocateur whose history in business apparently is border line ethical. Americans now have learned "BE careful what you wish for".
2
So glad to see the really bad and the strategist of the deplorables tear each other apart. A combination of hope for a better tomorrow and schadenfreude (def.: pleasure derived from another person's misfortune, in this case, the party of bigotry, inequality and right to guns but not healthcare).
2
This topic and why it will succeed will remain incomprehensible and opaque to Times readers who still think there is no such thing as the liberal media, that the left in this country is not grandstanding on every level, and that they know better than those supposedly less smarter rubes they laugh at at dinner parties.
Not overreach. Just strategy. All he needs is for one of his dopey candidates like Moore to get elected to continue to make overarching claims to being a genius, leading the inevitable forces of history that tear the Establishment to pieces. He is not about accuracy; he is about ego, power, self-importance and serving the Mercer Machine to keep the checks coming.
He's got a bad case of the alcoholic Delusions of Grandeur.
Deplorable, just as HRC stated.
1
FDR definitely not perfect (his attempt to increase the number of Supreme Court justices to 15 comes to mind), but Bannon is a mystery, to put it kindly. All of his energies seem to be in destroying the country, but then what? Healthcare for all? The rich DON'T get richer? Infrastructure? The environment? I wish someone would sit down with him and ask him specific questions on how he sees the future IF all goes according to plan. Right now he is a death spiral of whirling goblins spewing gibberish.
1
As a progressive, I say bring on as many fringe candidates as possible. This will at least prevent the GOP from getting a super majority in the Senate next year. We need more candidates that practice witchcraft (Christine O'Donnell, Delaware), believe that rape is part of God's plan (Richard Mourdock, Indiana) and believe that the female body has a way of "shutting down" and not getting pregnant when "legitimate rape" is involved (Todd Akin, Missouri). So Bannon needs to get to work to bring candidates like this to the fore. He did a great job with Moore. I know there must be a deep bench of other candidates out there like these. Good Luck Steve!
2
The Dems don't seem very energized to fight back against the GOP, even with a right wing extremist like Bannon leading the charge aiming to make the GOP even more extreme.
Can you imagine how the GOP and Fox News would react if a left extremist was ranting on the left like Bannon is on the right? They would be pillorying the Dems and playing it up like crazy. Meanwhile, when Bannon rants, and Trump supports him and the white supremacists, the left does nothing.
At best Trump only has the support of 25% of the American voting population - 47% of the election voting with only half voting means he had the support of under a quarter of the adult voting population; and you have to assume that anyone who liked Trump made sure to go out and vote for him. This small minority allowed him to sneak through the election. It also allows him to control the GOP through the primary process. His supporters are rabid and Bannon's and Trump's job is to keep them riled up for 2018 and 2020.
Meanwhile, what will get the 75% to rise up against Trump? If history is any guide, it may have to get a lot worse before it gets better.
2
The lunatics gained control of the Republican party seven years ago. Their madness will only subside after they have lost to a resurrected Democrat party and their madness is replaced by people willing to work to return the party to more moderate positions. Bannon, like Trump is a symptom of the use of base emotions to control a rabble. Ever greater doses of fear and hate administered every two years inflamed conservative emotions which became uncontrollable when a black man was elected President.
Much as happened to the liberal impulse which dominated America from the 1930s to the 1960s; the conservative impulse which rose in the 1970s then to power in the 1980s, has run it's course. The current Republican party is not "conservative" at all. It is dominated by extremists who wish to drastically "reform" our civilization. The radical right is now perturbing the middle of the political spectrum, whom will come to perceive the democrats as saner and thus safer. Bannon, and Trump are symptoms of a movement which has lost all contact with reality.
1
Brannon now at the same level as FDR?
Come on!
Steve must be loving this article for that reason alone.
3
it's the two-faced double-talk that I have come to expect from our president. he'll tell you one thing to your face and then try to submarine you from some other side. this is not a trustworthy man this is not an honorable man this is not a man who should have been put in the White House. and America sees that or a large portion of Americans see that. not only that but his on party can't work with the man. now he's trying to take out persons from his own party, REALLY. someone really ought to explain that he's there to help the country not tear it apart, and drain the swamp? he is the swamp.
Any comparison between Trump and FDR is ridiculously insane. I never like Bannon but now I love him. If he can break the Republican , me and majority of Americans will be grateful to him. McConnell - Ryan gangs are good for nothing. They made the Republican Party an obstructionist party or a party NO. Their legislative accomplishment in last few years is ZERO. They could not put one bill on Trump's table to sign. For their failure, Trump may finish his presidency signing no bill . To be a successful president, Trump and Bannon axis have to drive McConnell-Ryan gangs out of congress and extend their hand to the Democrats. Otherwise, history will treat Trump very harshly and his voters will be very angry.
2
The demonizing and hatred of Mr. Bannon from Democrats is part of today's Democrats' reflexive groupthink, meaning complete LACK of thinking. I probably wouldn't agree with Bannon on all subjects, but would hope Dems remember the adage to the effect "the enemy of my enemy might be my friend". I also have read Mr. Bannon's statements: 1. in favor of raising taxes on the rich 2. in favor of prioritizing working class America's problems and trying to solve these problems, and 3. in favor of sharply reducing US involvement in horrendously expensive wars overseas. What is it you all find so objectionable about those goals??? Why do you want the rich to continue to avoid paying their fair share, why do you all want your fellow citizens to continue to suffer, and why do you want more US involvement overseas, even though it WILL bankrupt the country?
America was once a Democracy wherein every person had one vote. I called this the wisdom of the masses, like a networked super computer that made the best possible decision given all the data.
I find demogogues like Trump and Bannon, to name just two of many, to be so self confident in their own minds that they feel they know what is best over the opinions of 320 million Americans. How would you feel if little ole' me wrote that I know what is best for all of you and made all your decisions for you?
2
This writer is simplifying FDR. By 1938 the New Deal was virtually done, and the coming war was on everyone's mind, even then isolationists.
1
Warnings should accompany anything written about or by Steve Bannon. Those warnings, like with opioids, should include the health risks and dangerous side effects from swallowing hate-filled ideology disguised as nationalism.
Terrifyingly, this man who seems to be nothing more than a "dark force entity"--with megalomania inclinations who hangs out in a shadowy world believing he knows indisputable truth--is the favored side kick of our oblivious president. And he's prepared, if he has half a chance (that includes using Trump as his personal puppet) to overthrow not only Republican establishment but establishment in general including world order, as well as, us "peons" and crown himself and his mouth piece Donald Trump king of the hill; king of the universe.
1
As a devoted Democrat, I truly don't know whether to laugh or laugh.
3
Steve Bannon is targeting everything that really threatens the United States of America. The neoliberalism of the Republican and Democratic elite stands in opposition to everything the founders hoped their new nation would oppose. Jefferson in particular warned about the corporatization of America.
Bannon knows his history which sadly too much of America does not. The men who wrote the founding documents were special. The founding documents changed the world but the revolution was about nativism bigotry and exceptionalism. The last of the Intolerable acts was the Quebec Act that gave Catholics the same rights as Protestants. The great conservative thinker writer and lexicographer of the 18th century Samuel Johnson tells us how much the anti Catholic fervour played in the American Revolution itself in his 1775 response to Congress titled
Taxation No Tyranny ( An Answer to the Resolutions and Address of the American Congress)
http://www.samueljohnson.com/tnt.html
Johnson played the same cards that Bannon is playing today and they are the same cards Major Clifford Hugh Douglas an avowed Christianist and anti Semite played when he wrote his theory of economics called Social Credit.
Social Credit is very much a right wing populist philosophy that closely resembles Bannon's and formed the the government of Alberta for 35 years, was for years the government of British Columbia, and was a major force in Canada's parliament and still has currency in Canada's conservative party.
2
It would be a mistake to assume populist economic nationalism, as it is being termed, holds appeal only for those dispossessed on the right. Eventually the message will "trump" seemingly irreconcilable, yet minor in comparison, moralities and wed the outraged left with the fed up right. These will not be electoral allies, but rather equally reliable disrupters whose loathing of both major parties will make 270 electoral votes elusive. Thus the future of brokered Presidential election outcomes - much like party conventions of old - playing out in the House. Let's hope the combat remains political and polemical only.
While the 80 year difference between 1038 and 2018 is large. I think it is not as wide as the political chasm.that now exists in American politics. Both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party had liberals, moderates and conservatives in 1938. Today the moderates have pretty much disappeared from both and the partisan divide only threatens to get worse. To this picture add Trump, who is sui generis; he is beholden to no party, has no ideology and cares not at all about any policy goals.
The Bannon/Trump purge attempt will further fracture the Republican Party, whether it succeeds or not. Do not forget that Roy Moore, had he been in the Senate, would have voted against the Republican healthcare bills, while all of the targeted Republican Senators were "yes" votes. I say let Bannon do his thing. It can only help Democrats, who, unfortunately, are skilled at snatching defeat from victory's jaws, and need all the help they can get.
The only point of similarity is the strategy of replacing a sitting member of Congress to effect an agenda. But the agenda and its implementation are important differences. FDR was a Democrat, cherished the democratic process and sought to improve the national condition in a very difficult time. Bannon, by contrast, is a 21st-century Trotskyite who merely wishes to destroy the prevailing state so that he can build some amorphous, ill-defined future society in which inequality is the cornerstone.
What this article fails to mention is that FDRs bluff to pack the court had the effect of getting the Supreme Court to purge itself. Hopefully Dallek includes this info in his book.
I have read that this is exactly what happened in Russia, when Putin took power. He deliberately and strategically wore down the liberal and progressive opposition within a year with similar tactics. I'm not so sure, as the article states, that Trump is channeling Roosevelt as he is working with Bannon - the coy behavior is part of it.
Obama said recently that you can't run a divisive campaign and then govern successfully but I don't think that was ever Trump/Bannon's intent. What we're seeing now IS their intent, and the Republican party is letting it happen.
I find it extremely insulting to my personal experience of this Trump administration for this to be compared to the FDR era. It diminishes the several attacks on women, the middle class, and belittles the intelligent and decent people who are exhausted with Republicans right now.
No, FDR was fighting for a better America. Steve Bannon is fighting for God knows what? His own personal entertainment?
Once again, this "lug" can't fathom that while he may win the battle for the GOP he will lose the battle via the general election. That should be good news for the majority of us. Now get out there and vote.
As Democrat part of me hopes that Bannon and the rest of the "alt-right" push the Republican party so far to the right it basically dies because of shifting demographics. However, I have been thinking lately about my own echo chamber of Californian democratic and progressive ideals and realize that I feel so disconnected and divided from conservative Americans that i find myself wondering if California should break away from the country. I know that most conservative Americans from "red states" probably would be happy to see us go. I guess it seems that both parties have moved so far to the extremes that the division is only growing. I hope that both parties can move back towards the middle. I think that if people could focus on issues that are important without any party label on them, we could have a real chance of good communication between citizens and create the America that will last for another couple hundred years. However, I fear that if the politics of Bannon become the standard for the Republican party that divisions in America will only grow to the point of fracture and violence.
We've seen this before but the model isn't politics. It's consumer products, specifically tobacco. This is a branding war. Bannon's product is stronger and purer than the filtered perfumed versions. The GOP already cripples its most devout, vulnerable believers, but it makes their lives worse with a little clever discretion and moderation. Bannon's version of Conservatism distills everything about it that is engineered to be addictive and harmful, and he wants to deliver the intellectual nicotine straight to the veins.
We are seeing the end of the GOP. The time has come for moderate members of the present GOP to join with moderate members of the Democrat party and be a new party. Who can bring the two moderate groups together? Now we need a real leader. A Colin Powel or some one of such gravitas and cross party appeal could do it. We know the GOP is finished and identity politics or Bernie Sanders socialism has fractured the Democrats. Americans are looking for unity and working together and not what we have now. Even John McCain could have brought the US together, but as he said his prognosis is very bad. The new Cal senator and Ms. Warren will fight for the Democrats nomination. They are firebrands, and will not unite this country. General Kelly speaking at the recent press conference reminds us of the quality of people we have in pubic service: we need the right one to run for president.
Bannon and Trump. indeed the radical right, have succeeded in taking control of the Republican Party. A party which is too cowardly to save itself. A few struggle, but in futility. As Republicans through zeal or cowardice surge to the extreme right, Americans are reconsidering assumptions held for over forty years. The American middle is moving to the left. Not much, just enough to put the Democrats in power until thy move too far to the left.
Steve Bannon desperately wants you to believe he has a plan but it's all smoke and mirrors ending in nihilism. Bannon: you need to support Trump's agenda. Trump: I don't have an agenda and, moreover, a political ideology - just a desire for ratings that comport with my narcissistic pathology.
Bannon: We'll primary you. The GOP: go ahead, and if you're successful you'll not have a party for long as the Dems will be gleefully picking up the pieces.
You cannot separate the messenger from his message - a man bent on self-destruction with a personal life in tatters and the need to believe he is a warrior when he was, indeed, a second-rate Naval officer going nowhere. The same for his "plan", which, like Trump's, is only about his 15 minutes of fame - not populism, nationalism or restricting trade.
Why do Democrats hate Steve Bannon when he helping them by declaring war on their traditional Republican enemies.
Given that it is hard to unseat an incumbent, wouldn’t the Democrats benefit from the primary fights that Bannon is planning? Maybe the entrenched Democrats are worried about a similar insurgency in their party.
By the way, Bannon has some interesting populist ideas.
For example, he says that we should be a nation with an economy rather than an economy in a global marketplace with open borders. That’s a good bumper sticker slogan.
Of course the devil is in the details, but it is an idea worth considering.
I have to wonder about a guy his age who constantly uses military jargon and metaphors. Yes, he served in the Navy...thank you. But, he never served in combat. He doesn’t really know what “war” is really all about. Bannon also likes to refer to himself as a “street fighter”. Really? Really?
I think he’s a “wannabe” , a poser who’s trying to convince himself of some macho traits that he’s never had.
5
Stretch, to say the least.
First, Bannon is, on the surface, nothing more than a nihilist - going after the “party Elite” just for the sake of upending the apple cart.
Second, if Bannon is acting on behalf of Trump, it is not principled but merely a moment’s pique. An impulse.
Third, neither Bannon nor Trump are the powers pushing this. It is Mercer Family and the Koch Brothers circle trying m9ld the government into a machine that works for them.
Try again.
62
Franklin Roosevelt was a superbly idealist leader and person, and I think this comparison problematic.
45
Why? Steve Bannon has called for higher taxes on the rich, for more and better employment for the working class, and for less ruinously expensive world cop idiocy. I agree with all those goals, which would help ordinary Americans. Please explain what is wrong with wanting those things.
1
Hmm, It’s okay if my guy does it, but criminal if your guy does.
The failed adviser continues to dupe the racist-sympathizers. Is anyone surprised? What will it take for the starers in the republican electorate to wake up and come back to society? why isn't the NYTimes looking at that?
10
YOU are comparing Bannon to FDR who was President of the US for over a decade...Really this is stupid...there were 500 people at that speech in CA...Bannon is a has been...stop covering him.
65
From what I have read, readership at Breitbart is down compared to last year. The readers there are elated about the recent Roy Moore election acting like its the start of a revolution. They seem to miss that the election only involved about 14 percent of registered voters and that Moore only got a little over half of that meaning that about 7 percent of the registered voters chose him. He will still probably win the election against the Dem but its not big hugly numbers.
I heartily agree. Bannon is a flyweight as an intellect and has absolutely nothing like FDR's motivation--his desire to is to "deconstruct" the USA not to rebuild and improve it. Who needs this freak?
1
All we need is for three brave and patriotic GOP senators to disassociate themselves from the Republican Party and majority control of the senate will slip from Trumps grasp. He would then lose his Rubber stamp Pence tie breaker vote and congress and the senate will have to re engage in the normal deliberative process of making legislation with both parties at the table. These three senators will have more influence and power than they have today to act on the public behalf. It would be a much quicker and less disruptive way to check Trumps worst compulsions than impeachment or 25th amendment option.
38
Unfortunately the Senate can't stop him from starting a war by his own volition. a nuclear one to be used as just another 'shiny bauble' to distract the public and news media from his treason..
1
Bannon and his Mercer backers are dangerous operatives. Everything I have read on them tells me they do NOT have the best interests of your country at heart. They want to dismantle and take down long standing institutions and norms and replace then with who knows what. Watch out for these dark forces. They are not well intentioned.
221
This reminds me of the story of yelling fire in a crowded theater not being viewed as free speech. Those such as Bannon wielding the power of the porta podium have the same effect on society.
1
And trump, McConnell and Ryan are?
He’s no Roosevelt!! He’s just a troublemaker!!
18
That's exactly what the Republicans of his day said about FDR.
Bannon is neither a president nor a public official. He is just another unattractive man with unattractive ideas. In fact, he is only important because news agencies such as New York Times report on his activities.
23
Stop reporting on Bannon. Eventually he'll crawl back under his rock.
20
I think it is outrageous to compare Bannon to FDR. False equivalency.
Normalizing to the extreme. I'm disappointed in you, NYTimes.
15
It's not a "vow," it's a threat.
I desperately wish the NYT would stop relying on the word "vow."
14
"Vow" is headlinese, a dialect of English made obsolete by pages like these. Other examples:
"Ink" (v.): ratify, sign, or formally agree
"Pact": treaty, entente, contract, or charter - frequently inked
"Rap" (v.): criticize
"Tiff": public disagreement, often resulting from, or generating, raps
"Woes": any combination of emotional distress, financial difficulty, bad press, criminal charges, or lawsuits.
The classic example of headlinese is from Variety: A story about small-town moviegoers' rejecting rural-themed movies ran under the hed "STIX NIX HIX PIX."
bannon has never been elected to anything - he is self-proclaimed as - I don't know what you would call it - he is nothing but a red nosed drunk with an audience - to compare him to FDR - is more than a stretch.
20
My description of Bannon is "soup sandwich". Too sloppy to do anything but make a huge mess.
Bannon wants to take the republicans further to the right? Go ahead, might as well go to the logical end of the journey to racist fascism youve started, republicans. Win all those sweet sweet republican primaries and see how you bomb out in general elections, Hillary wont be running next time.
8
Please stop giving Bannon free publicity for his vile propaganda. He would not have so much influence without free media megaphone. Look at what happened last time a blowhard liar got to be center of media attention.
41
But Trump doesn't have to do it.. Bannon is doing it for him, not from the WH.
2
Comparing anything FDR, our greatest president, tried to accomplish with someone associated with the worst president we have ever had (actually tied with George W Bush) is an insult and unworthy of any consideration.
8
If the Mercers want to reduce the Republican party to a fractious collection of squabbling factions, more power to them. Let Bannon spread their money far and wide; it will help the economy.
5
And he makes these grandiose threats from what, a wacko fake news website he runs? It's not quite the same as being part of Trump's inner circle, Steve. Or even being an official of the Republican Party.
6
Huh. Glad to see that America was "Great" in South Carolina, even back in 1938. Some things never change, I guess.
1
Perhaps Bannon is a sincere fanatic...most are. But his use of clever political talk - sales pitches born of marketing's subliminal emotional appeal - makes him a wolf in sheep's clothing...disheveled clothing.
His angry populism/nativism+ethnic cleansing, via an authoritarian promise of safety & power is no different from all previous demagogues.
The problem is he has yet to face a sturdy opponent- someone smart, articulate, butch and down-to-earth enough to assert compelling common sense and rationality.
The key may be to flush out Bannon's 4th Turning delusional system that incites him to seek a New World Order. Grandiosity is a sure sign of deranged thinking, no matter how fiercely argued.
4
Bannon sees history as a repeating cycle, where there is nothing new under the sun. He just wants to hurry the cycle through the meltdown phase now.
The comparison is very off. There is nothing similar about it. Bannon is not president and he is a mentally unstable dangerous spreader of conspiracy's and undermininer of our nation. He has gone well beyond the republican desire to keep our government hamstrung and the people powerless to active positive efforts at creating chaos, anarchy and terror in the streets.
As for FDR trying to "pack the court" he was doing things for the American people to make their lives better then and in the future. It proved correct in the next 50 years of economic stability and growth. The motivation of the republicans since they began "packing" all of the courts across the nation not just the SCOTUS, is to undue what FDR did for the people and to give away even more to the only people any of them represent honestly, the wealthy, foreign and domestic.
BTW FDR's domestic policies did us good and kept the entire nation in good shape until they were destroyed after reagan's election and the fraudulent de-regulation campaign by the GOP. In fact those 50 odd years are often referred to as the best this nation has ever seen and even the republicans who destroyed the basis for that good time hearken back to it without giving credit of course, when they seek to dishonestly use nostalgia for a mythical time in America that never existed
13
Bannon is being compared to FDR. Really. Really?
15
Bannon supports an overtly White Nationalist agenda, and tolerates if not encourages Fascist wannabes and Nazi sympathisers in his organizations. Is this really the direction the Republican party is choosing to go? All the American servicemen men and women who died fighting Fascism in all its forms are rolling over in their graves. And we are starting to see the same sort of fawning reports of his actions that we saw written about Trump during the campaign. The man is a sociopath. Any report about him that fails to mention this fact as a preface to discussion and analysis contributes to the obfuscation about what is really happening that is a hallmark of all interactions with sociopaths. Please do not get drawn into the long con going on here. If you don't know enough about sociopathic behavior to see this for what it is, read up on the subject to educate yourselves. Blissful ignorance is the trait they look for when seeking victims. Bannon apparently believes he can con the entire country.
7
We all look forward to the BannoNazis for America.
It is a culmination of the Nixon/Reagan racist policies.
PS: Note that the Dow Jones is at a record high:
To the Trumpers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan and all you coal miners:
How's y'all portfolios doing?
5
Steve Bannon/Franklin Roosevelt - in same headline?
Please, oh, please!
Party politics aside, Franklin Roosevelt turned the Great Depression around and led the United States through WWII.
Steve Bannon's goal is to destroy the sanity of this nation, and is depending on Donald Trump and followers on the insanity ride, to steer the way.
5
But the thing is this: FDR was PRESIDENT; Steve Bannon is.......what?
6
This is Robert Mercer's money at work. Stephen Bannon, Patrick Caddell, Jeff Sessions, Cambridge Analytica, Rebekah Mercer, Citizens United, Kellyanne Conway, etc.
Read "Trump's Money Man", 3/27/17 New Yorker Magazine. Trump didn't come out of nowhere. He got put in office by Mercer's money. Ayn Rand mindset. Bad bad news for our nation.
9
EXACTLY! Pernicious forces as in The Handmaid's Tale.
1
Did FDR rely on an rogue operative outside of the Democratic Party? One financed by a wealthy family with far to thee edge fringe ideas about this country?
It's odd that you compare FDR to Bannon and not to the occupant of the White House.
3
FDR will be remembered for his Four Freedoms. Bannon and Trump will be forgotten along with other would-be dictators and haters.
3
The blue-state readers of the New York Times don't want to hear it, but Steve Bannon is to the GOP what Bernie Sanders' supporters wished he could be to the Democratic Party: A disruptive force at its edge that doesn't trust the establishment in control of the party to which he nominally belongs, and is actively working to undermine if not destroy it. Those rare NYT subscribers who actually visit Breitbart -– I recommend it, by the way (for no other reason than to get to know your enemy) –- know that nothing gets the hackles of its readers up more than the behavior of the leaders of the GOP establishment (Mitch McConnell, John McCain, and W are popular targets). In the few notable GOP races and primaries held since last November, Bannon and Breitbart have been fairly successful in working against the establishment GOP candidates. Progressives who want to bring down the cautious Wall Street-funded leaders and establishment of their own party should be taking notes, not just simply jerking their knees in outrage, every time Mr. Bannon speaks. An amped-up, left-wing version of Breitbart might be exactly what progressives need to take control of the Democratic Party.
4
Great comparison! Now remind me how many Democrats Sen. Sanders declared "war" on.
Progressives don't like practical advice. It harshes their idealism.
1
I'm amused by Bannon's reference to Julius Caesar. He does know that Brutus was ultimately defeated by Caesar's heirs, right?
Is Bannon the Cassius in this play? Is he going to commit political suicide?
2
FDR - fought the Dixiecrats.
Bannon - embraces them - now as Republicans.
FDR - sought to improve life for struggling Americans.
Bannon - seeks to conserve white wealth and power while deliberately hurting others.
So really, not the same.
11
FDR, who vanquished the Bannons and Trumps of his time, mentioned in the same breath. I hear distress in the heavens above.
3
I don't understand all the indignation about comparing the motives and politics of Bannon and Trump's "war on Congress," to the motives and politics of FDR's "war on politics."
A bad move's a bad move. Come on, already.
I am waiting to see if Bannon intends to take on the Koch brothers' network. So far, it appears that Bannon's cheap populism allows him only enough "courage" to go for McConnell. Of course, the fortune of his personl billionaires, the Mercers, stands to loose pitted against the Koch brothers' network. But there is a great deal of hypocrisy involved as the Mercers have been part of the Koch network. How much time is it going to take for us to find out?
Hopefully Bannon candidates would be so conservative that sane voters would vote for Democrats. I wouldn’t count on that, though. Look who we elected President.
Putting the names of FDR, Trump and Bannon in the same paragraph is obscene. FDR worked to serve and save the nation, while Trump and Bannon are intent on destroying it
4
To the extent that Bannon's efforts at sewing anarchy in the GOP ranks result in its further fragmentation and marginalization, and hastens its demise, I encourage him wholeheartedly. The GOP needs a good schism.
1
Bannon's attacks are fueled by oceans of cash from reclusive and right-wing quirky billionaire Robert Mercer, who is part owner of Breitbart News. Bannon is having a grand time spending Mercer's money to disrupt the political landscape. I hope that journalists will "out" Mercer and make it clear that Bannon does not represent any kind of mainstream politics. He is running a circus that eventually will damage American life in uncountable ways.
Mercer was a supporter (and still is) of Ted Cruz, and this may explain why Cruz is not on Bannon's "hit list."
Read Jane Mayer's excellent article about Mercer in The New Yorker.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/27/the-reclusive-hedge-fund-t...
3
Right. The battle for the “soul “ of the Republican Party. Waged between the Koch/US Chamber of Commerce faction versus the Mercer/Thiel faction. The only only thing that distinguishes the two factions from one another is the blatenc
It will work if the main stream Republicans "fall in line" again like they did when they elected the incompetent President Trump, who has done nothing to show any loyalty back to them. I hope you all wise up this time.
Bannon is attempting to resurrect a de facto Confederacy on the basis that the any distinction between GOP and the Dems is one without any real difference. That the federal government has overreached its authority and jurisdiction, especially in the funding of social programs. That the States are sovereign jurisdictions unto themselves, beyond the reach of Hamilton's Supremacy clause and the theory of Full Faith & Credit needs to be mitigated and reframed.
Depending on how things play out, this guy is about to become the most powerful person in the United States and possibly the world. If his tribalism catches on which it seems like it is, he will have become the kingmaker.
Well, Bannon wants infighting in the Republican Party. Hopefully he'll remember all the talking points from Gingrich's GOPAC Memo - the one where Newt advised the Republicans demonize their opponents. So if Steve-o keeps this up, the Republicans will defeat themselves.
That's a positive for the nation, I think. I miss the days when "Republican" tended to mean a conservative person who could still deal with, rather than deny, reality. The GOP pushed those folks out. Nixon wouldn't stand a chance these days, Reagan would be a RINO.
When FDR was president, the Democratic Party was badly fractured. Those "Democrats" from the South are better described as "Dixiecrats". They left the party, starting in the 1960s, and joined the Republicans. Now they are taking over the Republican Party.
The fact that the entire right wng of the old Democratic Party left and joined the opposition had two effects. 1. The remainder of the Democratic Party was more unified, and more liberal, than it had ever been since its founding in the 18th century. 2. It gave the new Republican Party an enormous majority, allowing them to move to the right with impunity.
What Bannon is doing is very different from what FDR tried to do. Steve Bannon's "populism" was learned at Goldman Sachs. He is trying to use the animosity ginned up by the election of trump to achieve the goals of the corporatists like the Mercers. He is trying to replace the far right Senators and Representatives with extreme right candidates. I wish him luck with that endeavor.
Bannon is already 1-for-1, I would put my money on Bannon over McConnell come primary season. The FDR comparison also fails because Bannon (a private person) bucked Trump (the president) to win the Alabama primary. That's the more interesting aspect of this scenario.
Bannon has cleverly told his followers that he is supporting "the real Donald Trump", and they can support the "real Donald Trump" by supporting Bannon. But Bannon left the White House because he was losing Trump to the "globalists" and Bannon is really supporting his own political ideology under the auspices of supporting the Donald Trump.
Even when Trump endorses the opponent, the Bannonites dismiss the action as Trump being imprisoned by the globalists as if they're going to free Trump. It's all fantasy but clever and effective, so far.
2
Whether or not the comparison to FDR is apt, do not underestimate the strength of Bannon's message. You'll be making the same mistake as when you dismissed the possibility of a Trump presidency.
1
Bannon, except for a relatively small core base is, in the end a loud mouthed light weight. His time has come and is probably rapidly fading. During the campaign he hit the right note at the right time for the right candidate. Bannon in his own right has little to offer and little sustainable authority or influence. Whatever he got, he got from his association with President Trump. So the problem Bannon has is that as Trump's popularity/ approval fades, Bannon's profile will fade faster. Outside Trump's core, which is shrinking, people are finding he is not a competent President and increasing tiresome. In 12 months time, Republicans, unless they distance themselves from Trump, could be largely wiped out. And a lot of that blame will fall on Bannon as he is increasingly seen as part of the problem and certainly not the solution.
1
FDR's actions in 1938 have to be seen in the context of his unpopular "court-packing" plan of a year earlier. Trying to "pack" Congress with FDR sympathizers was thus not going to be popular either. There is no equivalent to the 1937 court-packing issue in our current politics. And, no, replacing Antonin Scalia with Neil Gorsuch is not equivalent, regardless of Mitch McConnell's unconscionable hijacking of the seat.
With freedom of speech and the press as cornerstones of our democratic society, the question becomes when will an informed public evolve and decide it has had enough of odd demagogues who oddly enough are able to convince them to not only listen but follow? I think it occurs roughly at the moment when it is decided that money or its promise cannot acquire your vote. Be sure when you hold up a mirror to politics that you are in the frame.
1
The country is a lot more polarized now, and with the help of right wing media it's a lot easier to get extreme right wing candidates elected in the Republican primaries.
Three shirts (at one time) do not a man make.
3
Why is it that only the NYT and Huffington Post seem to be the only ones fascinated with this creepy dope? Just don't publish any more stories about him and he'll fade into oblivion.
And by the way, isn't this guy a treasonous traitor? Based on his statements, he should be in jail.
38
>>"We’re putting together a grass-roots army,” he said in a speech in California on Friday night.<<
A grass roots army financed by a billionaire and his super-duper computer technology? I would say the army is a bunch of people duped into supporting more money for a couple billionaires. It will be an IQ test for the American public whether they join up with Bannon and the Mercers.
53
It's an abomination to mention chief hater Bannon in the same article with FDR.
FDR/Elanor wanted to restore/preserve democracy for ALL Americans after the Robber Barons caused the stock market crash and depression.
The chief hater wants to destroy democracy in America and around the world.
Please media- stop trying to make this a "normal" game. The United States of America is under siege from within and without. The people who own your companies might be part of the Robber Baron cabal but most of you aren't. They're coming for you next with their "robots" and social media mind-games. DO NOT LET THEM WIN.
75
Bannon will lose. He's a fringe political gadfly making the most of his moment in the spotlight. Already jettisoned by the White House, he's using the rhetoric of division in the GOP as catnip for the New York Times and other outlets. Bannon isn't a Republican. He's a nativist/populist/libertarian whose archaic worldview appeals only to a fringe group of the disaffected and dejected whose views don't fit with any Party (except possibly the Libertarian Party.) More power to any GOP leader who fights this self-seeking huckster. The GOP must hold firm to Reagan's vision, so completely different from the dark Libertarian worldview of Bannon, that is the heart and soul of the GOP.
15
Bannon and Trump are no FDR. Where FDR was trying to make changes that would lift everyday Americans up and improve their lives, Bannon and Trump only care about causing disruption and government dysfunction. Thanks to gerrymandering they might just get away with it.
244
Bannon and Trump are also no FDR in that Trump has not (at least yet) (1) rounded up minorities into internment camps and (2) nominated a KKK member to the Supreme Court.
FDR railed against Dixiecrats. Bannon isn't going after a consolidated regional block. He has a good chance of succeeding, particularly if there is sufficient Gerrymandering in areas he attacks.
5
Most , if not all, of Bannon's targets are Senators. Gerrymandering has nothing to do with the Senate.
Bannon is, or seeks to be, de facto President of the U.S. His agenda can be reduced to two words: destroy everything.
51
Sorry, but any article that equates FDR and Steve Bannon cannot be taken seriously. This analysis is a joke.
44
Correct you: ...article that remotely, with a infinitesimal small, vanishing quantum, equates....
Bannon is no Roosevelt: he is anti-American, a shill for the Community Party, like Putin bent on chaos in the American body politic. Like Stalin, he wants to suppress the wide spectrum of views within "his" party in order to exercise complete thought control over the populous.
16
Republicans could counter by eliminating a tax reform provision that would benefit Trump personally and which has no material public backing or constituency, repeal of the estate tax. Tell him in private to either muzzle Bannon or the estate tax rate will remain.
7
The estate tax does have a material public backing or constituency and it should not be repealed even to muzzle Trump and/or Bannon. Besides, I seriously doubt that either has the self control to muzzle their mouths even for a reward.
2
Were I running for election or reelection and trump called me offering support I would be running for the exits! Toxic waste dumps have nothing on the nastiness and evil of that man!
11
Bannon is a long term plan.....destabilize in preparation for his own presidential run.
5
Don't compare Bannon to Roosevelt. That's such an undeserving compliment to Bannon. Americans are good to rediscover high school history but this goes a bit too far. Bannon is hack job. Granted, he's now an influential hack job but he's a hack job all the same. Susan Dunn accurately describes the distinction. Roosevelt had a principled strategic purpose. Trump is vindictive and Bannon is obsessed with power for power's sake. These things are not equivalent. Please resist the temptation to create false historical analogy where no legitimate parallels exist.
219
Trump and Roosevelt -- False Equivalence
Andy,
I'm a liberal Democrat, so probably in your camp. But I'm not sure I agree with everything you say. Try talking to those on the far right and they say almost the same things you say but the names are just changed. I think the real problem with our country right now is extremists on the right and the left. They suffer from the same problem: they are completely uncompromising and have demonized the opposition. While there are definitely issues where no compromise is reasonable or possible (e.g., discrimination, abortion, etc.), I think compromise is possible on most of the matters that divide us. But it's starting to feel like there are only 3-4 people left in the country who are willing to compromise.
The mainstream press is at disadvantage, trying to assess and predict a firebrand like Bannon. So far, the mainstream press both failed to predict a presidential winner, and failed to prop one up. Prepare for more rapid change and surprises, because the days of liberal bias are numbered. It's entertaining to read the NYT comments, so predictably in line with all the left-leaning media they have been limited to reading. It will be so sweet, the victory of the new GOP, especially sweeter, when I read the arrogant denials of the predictable, established Left.
You're just whining because the conservative media were run so poorly that they all went tango uniform first.
Roosevelt built an admin state when the rest of the world was going fascist, totalitarian, or some form of communist. Bannon is a bigot who's risen to power via lies, deceptions, bigoted messaging, and cozying up to some very nasty Oligarchs; not to mention Bannon wants to disassemble the state that helps tens of millions survive every day. The only comparison between Bannon and Roosevelt is this ostensible intraparty conflicts. Roosevelt went populist for the people when he could have gone full fascist. Bannon is going attempting to go fascist when there is absolutely no call for it. Full Stop.
8
Trump supporters don't expect Trump to give them back jobs they lost back in the 80's or 90's. They know Trump's promises ring hollow. Since they have been deprived of the 'American Dream', they want to watch the rest of America burn. Trump and his Breitbart buddies just have the correct prescription for Democratic suicide.
3
Seriously?
Comparing Roosevelt to Bannon or Trump is like comparing Pericles to Caligula and Nero.
8
“Trump’s purge is only about vindictiveness.” Sadly, we live in the age of vindictiveness, where white people, especially men, lash out in anger and fury as they are being toppled from their undeserved place of prominence in our society. These people would rather sow chaos than accept equality of opportunity.
15
Please stop giving Bannon so much credit. He's a reckless opportunist bent on the destruction of US for his own twisted ideals and enrichment. His description of himself as an "economic nationalist," is Bannon's thinly veiled attempt at finding a politically correct term for 'white supremacist anarchist'.
What Bannon has is the Mercer's money, Breitbart and now (apparently) the NYT, to put his message out. Stop aggrandizing Bannon as being a visionary. He is a failed film producer that has reinvented himself into a blowhard, political opportunist.
18
This clown is really full of himself. John McCain put Bannon's philosophy in its place last week. Nativism, scapegoating, and McCain didn't say it, but I will, white supremacy. One of the strong underlying themes of Bannon's philosophy is the underming of our culture by the influx of Hispanic immigrants.
17
He is gonna run!
3
Surprising that Republicans who've not fallen under Bannon's spell aren't espousing their favorite "love it or leave it" ism.
If the GOP is so feckless as Bannon claims, why then doesn't he and his Bannonites come together with all other Trumpists and form a new separate party. Then they will be unshackled and free to move on in whatever direction they want. Instead of constantly being at war with themselves.
7
I suspect that Bannon and Trump sat down for a steak and some ice cream before Bannon was "forced out" and had a nice chat, confirming their old friendship and updating their plans to continue to bamboozle the American political system. It is early days on that score.
Without a public visitors list any longer for the White House or Mar a Largo, etc, it is hard for US citizens to even see the tea leaves, less read them. For all we know, those two curmudgeons break bread each week and update their nasty little strategies... Meanwhile they chuckle at how the press takes up their game. Perhaps I assume too much; that Trump has this type of Machiavellian intellect. But we keep underestimating the depths that he will go to the Trump us all...
12
Bannon and the extremist candidates he backs will help alienate moderate Republicans and Independents, while at the same time energizing Democrats. As for Trump, only the most rabid right wing lemmings view his endorsement as a plus. Everyone with an ounce of intelligence and integrity recognizes that he is a threat to the Constitution, our democracy, the economy, and indeed everyone who isn't of the one percent or its paid lackeys.
9
Bannon’s 15 minutes of fame are almost up.
Then, it’s on to the dustbin of American history.
Just like with Sarah Palin.
47
Palin was the person who introduced Trump at his original announcement speech - so unfortunately, she hasn't totally disappeared, and still haunts us. If America doesn't wake up to the Trump/Bannon nightmare - we are doomed.
1
Sarah, not nearly as dangerous.
1
Why are you comparing Steve Bannon a scurrilous wannabe, to a real President, F.D.R. Do you know something we don't know - who is pulling the strings?
10
Democrats need someone brave who would announce war on the democratic parties.
These two parties are both corrupt.
1
Isn't that what Bernie Sanders and his supporters are doing? Disruption is only a good idea if there is something better to replace the status quo. So far, I don't think either side could generate enough support to prevent chaos.
4
Well, we know Roosevelt, and Bannon is no Roosevelt, to paraphrase the great Lloyd Bentsen.
And the difference is that Bannon and Trump *have no plan*. It's all emotional falderal designed to manipulate poorly educated Trump supporters. It's based on Bannon's perverse reading of distorted political literature and Trump's desperate need for ego gratification. It's flames are fanned by the nonsense drummed up in Fox News and Breitbart that are designed to appeal to the fears, uncertainties and doubts of the weak minds on the Right.
Bannon's is a philosophy based on Trump code words that are designed to mass-hypnontise his shiftless followers into suspending disbelief. They are now even spreading lies about John McCain into the heartland where those spiritually poor people are believing them.
Our democracy is on a very dangerous path. We need to ban together to remove these Trump people from critical decision-making positions. Neither Bannon nor Trump have the education and experience to manipulate more than a third of the electorate.
To confront the misguided Trump follower in the heartland, we do need a reasoned policy; Trump and Bannon thrive on anger and emotion. They *want* to be attacked, such is their, and their followers', childish mentality. But Fox News and the other Right Wing pundits have built a big market from those unthinking people. We can't ban Fox News, or the Mercers. They can bring down our democracy; reason is the only hope to defeat them.
17
Something that is not clear is whether Bannon left the WH on his own, or whether he got fired. Irrespective of the reason, Bannon is now outside the WH. He is not a changed person. He is still continuing with his 'deconstruction', nationalist and populist beliefs.
Bannon is seeking a place, and prominence. The media should know this, and stop all publicity on his behalf. Bannon has his Breitbart. The NYT should concentrate on what is good and more newsworthy for the people to read.
7
Giving Bannon publicity only strengthens his perceived power by his base. Stop giving him a platform that feeds his ego.
1
The alliance between the Republicans and the White Working Class in an unholy and unnatural alliance which is the direct result of the Civil Rights Movement, when racist whites fled the Democratic party in the 1960s. The Republican Party committed suicide when it morphed into the party of the white Southern hordes of racists. What we are seeing today is the outcome of that political expedience.
6
The “suicidal” Republicans control all branches of the Federal government and a large majority of state governments. They’ve succeeded in institutionalizing what is likely to be a permanent, majority status. That’s hardly suicidal.
I don't like to see the names Bannon and Roosevelt in the same sentence. And any type of comparison of that sort elevates an alcoholic white supremacist into a serious policy maker.
13
What a slob! Bannon is both destructive and divisive, and does not contribute to a healthy national debate, even though he "stirs things up."
7
Bannon is a lightweight who has been given a platform he doesn’t deserve. He is a bull in the china closet intent on making a name for himself. That we have to listen to his nonsense is insulting. Try this— ignore him for thirty days. Don’t report anything he says or does. Maybe he will go away.
23
Bannon is a scary figure for sure but he deserves no comparison to FDR. FDR was a sittting President. Bannon has never been elected to any public office. He is just a white dude who runs an unforgettable website with a small radical following out of his apartment on Capitol Hill. His only tactic is throwing red meat to the mainstream media and having them make his news viral. Disarm him now . Don’t waste press on him. If you want to castrate Bannon and his minions ignore them. Their only power is what nyt gives them. And please notice that bannon is going after seats in the most backwards part of the country . It worked in Alabama it may work In Mississippi but will it work in more purple states like Texas and Arizona ? Unlikely . Please stop abetting Bannon by putting his name in your fine paper.
22
He's full of himself, and the only reason he has a platform is because of Trump and the Mercers. They need to shut this guy down, he's a fly, a big nothingburger.
14
Bannon is a mental midget, extreme and extremely obtuse. Voters who are equally dimwitted are drawn to him...anyone with intelligence and intellectually honesty will reject him as the empty suit he really is. As adviser to the idiot-in-chief, he was consistent to a fault, whereas his boss, equally dumb, is an incoherent, angry vacillater who doesn't even recognize intellectual honesty as a thing. Comparing either one to Roosevelt is a pointless exercise without merit.
Eclectic Pragmatism — http://eclectic-pragmatist.tumblr.com/
Eclectic Pragmatist — https://medium.com/eclectic-pragmatism
35
If you are so smart, how did you lose the White House? Time to check if intelligence is being mistaken for arrogance. Rural America and the Rust Belt are not nearly as ignorant as the coastal elite believes. Neither is Trump, nor a man who built a new media empire, by realizing that NYT and other mainstream press are not serving up journalism any more. It's partisan cheerleading. I have news for NYT historians. It's not 1939.
Shame on the New York Times for continuing to normalize white nationalism and everything Bannon stands for. FDR was a great leader; Bannon is nothing close.
121
Bannon is like Dracula trying to suck the life blood out of his own party. His primary interest, as far as I can see, is chaos and disorder. Perhaps he's one of those characters who believes he can emerge from chaos as the new, exalted leader.
104
Well after the primaries, trump certainly did.
It is very encouraging to read a historical precedent to what is unfolding with Trump and Bannon. I hope the outcomes with Trump are similar to Roosevelt, despite my feeling that this country has never experienced a president as unqualified and narcissistic as Trump and a man as destructive as Bannon.
12
What is truly frustrating with fringe candidates (on either side) is that we’re not a right or left wing country. Center right, by most accounts. The best the Bannon can hope for (and maybe it is his goal) is gridlocked government with far right and far left legislators battling it out and achieving nothing. Just as I don’t believe this country will ever go socialist, we’re not going to become Bannon’s vision either. I wish people would put country first and back common sense measures to ensure that we out moderates in office.
56
BAnnon and his crowd are all about Chaos. They revel in getting others to react to their antics and claims. Their number one goal is to unravel our government and our nation.
Trump on the other hand is a tiny-minded man-baby whose interests extend to his money, his daughter Ivanka, and how he thinks the world sees him. Beyond that, he is uninterested in America and the American people beyond them being sheeple.
6
The middle is a sinkhole, sorta like So Florida
Brutus? Caesar? That is a threat of murder, is it not?
The republicans are doing a good job in obeying their political master in Russia and attempting to foment a bloody civil war in the US.
15
Guess you need something to feed the bulldog. Not a valid comparison. History, in this case doesn't even "rhyme".
You're comparing Bannon to a past president. I guess that says it all.
3
Bannon needs to get over himself. White identity politics only works if you have lots of whites people who are disappearing, from a demographic POV.
6
One of the first/most important differences here is that it's not the president, but a fired chief strategist, who tries to purge a major political party from those who aren't aligned to his (= that strategist's) agenda.
Trump has already proven to have no agenda at all, and to be willing to immediately support bills coming out of Congress that do the EXACT opposite of what he promised to do on that issue (healthcare, for instance).
Trump only knows maffia-like "loyalty", where you're "loyal" to a person, and certainly not to a political ideal/agenda/promise. That's why he supported Roy Moore's opponent, while Bannon supported Moore.
So there's already a division at the top, contrary to what was the case in Roosevelt's time.
Secondly, there was no Fox News at the time, whereas today, Fox News has a LOT of power in framing issues and supporting or destroying GOP candidates. And FN isn't Bannon either, they rather tend to support neocons, whereas neoconservatism is precisely the GOP's dominant ideology, that Bannon wants to replace with what he calls "economic nationalism" but that is basically white supremacy using some economic rhetoric in order to make it look like a full-fledged governing doctrine, and in order to make it more popular to a broader, not necessarily racist GOP constituency.
That's how Bannon is now even supporting Lyin' Ted, a neocon himself: Cruz has been constantly willing to take over no matter what rhetoric if it's what is needed to keep his job...
9
My immediate first thought, along the lines of what Wesley'd said, was that Bannon is no FDR, & he's no Republican either. He's a splinter wing of the GOP, & the mainstream Republicans ought to know it. If the adults in the GOP (Are there actually any left?) don't get their collective act together & spank this boy & send him to his room without his supper, both their party AND the country might as well just put a gun to their head right now.
6
Bannon will say and do anything to stay in the news after being Trump dumped. Trumpty Dumptied.
Best thing the press could do is stop reporting what he says and does; banish him to the Bot Wasteland of the Twitterverse.
57
What's one more war? It wouldn't be a new day without word of another one. People need to keep themselves busy doing something.
1
I thought you were going to reference Teddy, who also revolted against the GOP, helping Democrat Woodrow Wilson win the election.
Wilson's election was disastrous. The U.S. entered WWI for no good reason one hundred years ago (funny how this centennial is mostly being ignored in the media) and then forced its young men into involuntary servitude (aka the draft). Wilson, a Democrat, set the U.S. on a path of a permanent state of war for the benefit of the elites.
3
Too many errors there to fix, I'm afraid. I'll put my energies elsewhere today. :)
3
Not the common opinion of Wilson but after reading Walter Karp's The Politics of War years ago I came to the same conclusion. Karp also predicted the Iraq war (the background at least). What would he have said about Trump's insurgency though? He claimed parties would mutilate themselves rather than let an insurgent run or, worse, win.
As the GOP argues among itself about what voices should be heard and heeded, I, a Hillary voter and fairly liberal Democrat, am trying to figure out where and with whom I want to spend the rest of my life. I am 66 and as Trump and his minority supporters secure their hold on the government from the White House to town councils, I know that I do not want to live out my life in an America created by Bannon and his racism and bigotry--and implemented by Trump and Pence. Many Americans have resisted, worked together, called their legislators and demonstrated. Nothing, so far, has made a whole lot of difference. Trump and the Republicans are simply wearing us down like a ranked football team does to an upstart opponent in the first half of a game. In the second half, the more powerful team just piles on the points while they grind a once hopeful team into defeat. I think the American resistance is at that half-time point.
So, in the weeks ahead, I'll watch closely what happens in DC and across America with Bannon, Trump and the rest. Canada and Mexico are looking better and better as options for living out the rest of my life.
313
Maybe at 66 you are ready to throw in the towel but at 58, I am not. I have children to fight for and after a month abroad in China, boy will I be fighting.
3
This morning New York Times direct included this statement: • Voters in Indiana’s Vigo County have an almost unerring record in choosing the winning presidential candidate...
Voter in Vigo County overwhelmingly voted for Bernie Sanders over HRC.
Ah, if only the DNC hadn't cheated and lied and played unfairly.
Of all the words of mice and men....
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Meg, although we would love to have you in Canada, don't you think you could make a greater difference by remaining at home and fighting for your ideals and country?
I have to admit though, it is difficult to watch what's happening in your country, I no longer have any idea what to say to my friends in the USA.
Your country is heading down a very dark path in what should be the most enlightened of times and I have no idea why so many Americans support that direction.........Regards, Ro.
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Bannon isn't a Republican. He's an anarchist. Republicans have many many flaws; being the party of Bannon isn't one of them.
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That's a (presumably inadvertent) insult to anarchism, a political philosophy with a following of sincere, independent-thinking people. Bannon's a nihilist.
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Any move further to the right is dangerous to the Republican party.
There are lots of independent voters and even moderate Republicans who will not vote for radicals, racists, polluters, non-believers in birth control, supporters of only the 1% (as opposed to say the top 25%), etc.
The recent budget is really a shot over the bow:
a) threatening Medicare
b) threatening blue state taxpayers with lack of deduction of state taxes which can range from 6%-10%+
c) threatening our 401k contributions
d) offering huge tax breaks to the 1% and next to nothing for the next 20%
Add lack of regulation for polluters, public land grabs of national parks, chemicals, health insurance travesties (birth control, sales of crappy insurance, lack of any subsidies for premiums or co-pays), idiotic and radical cabinet picks, war mongering, climate chang, disrespect for our international allies, immigration reforms ..
Those with most to fear would be:
Rep governors of blue or purple states
Rep senators in blue or purple states
Rep congressmen in overly gerrymandered districts
Also if the Republican party goes further right or further crazy, look for large scale numbers of Republicans leaving the party. If they are gone, they are independents and no longer vote for the Republican by default.
As a moderate Republican, I am on my way out anyway but if I can't moderate the Republican party nutjobs, then I will try to moderate the Democratic primary candidates .. which makes them very electable.
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Well said. I was a moderate Republican until 2 weeks ago and now am a registered independent. More should do the same to send a message. If the Republican Party moves further right it will continue to shrink.
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"Any move further to the right is dangerous to the Republican party."
This kind of thought or meme was often express in Germany in the 20's and early 30's, by the late 30's those expressing it were usually on their way to a camp.
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“...moderate Republicans who will not vote for radicals, racists, polluters, non-believers in birth control, supporters of only the 1% (as opposed to say the top 25%), etc.”
They will vote for ANYONE who will save them ten bucks on their taxes.
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It is no surprise that the NY Times would relate FDR to Bannon. Perhaps someone might compare the Declaration of Independence with the NY Times to have another relation of something that really represents America and something that represents the elitism of the British crown. Snobbery and support for monarchy are only different in degree and are the same in both being on the side of evil. Clintonism is democracy being slowly put to death, while Trumpism is faster but at least more open giving us a better chance of opposing it.
Why is Mr. Bannon so anxious about his masculinity?
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well, have you seen what he looks like? he also must have a monster truck.
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Comparing Steve Bannon to FDR?
Seriously, have we all sunk that low? What's next? Similarities between Hitler and Hamilton?
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The mega-rich fools who fund this kind of nihilism have a death wish.
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Does anyone besides me wonder what exactly Steve Bannon wants besides "disruption"? What's that code for? I think it's actually code for the aftermath of "disruption" - i.e., a police state where anyone who is not a white "citizen" can be rounded up, harassed, and subject to "special laws."
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I've said it before, and I'll say it again: WHO CARES about Bannon? He is utterly unworthy of any notice by the press. Ignore him. PLEASE.
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One brief aside. I have great respect for Peter Baker, but I wonder about this observation: "While Mr. Bannon acts on his behalf, Mr. Trump is playing coy . . . " Trump "coy"?
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Bannon is no FDR in the first place.
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If you must compare Steve Bannon to any past American leader, then compare him to Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy.
Steve Bannon is a white supremacist, a person that would strip citizenship for all non-white Americans. He believes that there is some actual superiority for white people above all other people on earth.
He espouses "Second Amendment" solutions for whites to attain their goals. He is an American traitor.
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True, except that Jefferson Davis was not an "American " leader. As leader of the Confederacy, he was a traitor.
Since Jim Crowe was alive and well in 1938 until Roosevelt finally started to put an end to it because he feared propaganda from the Germans and Japanese, this article seems woefully incompletely by not noting that the Democrats Roosevelt wanted to push out were segregationists and the people who could vote in the South were not going to let them be replaced.
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Parallels? You're comparing one man who was a sitting president and acknowledged leader of his party with another man who is trying to will himself into the leadership of one of the splinters of a fractured party he's not really a part of anyway.
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Mr. Bannon is an anarchist not a Republican. Anyone he recruits to his team will have to be as misguided as he is. In any case his direction is wrong and people will
sicken of his erraticism. Extremists never last but they do cause a lot of havoc and disorder---something Americans as a whole really have never bought into. Even the fact that he is physically repugnant with a WC Fields nose (a drinker?) will lose him fans and in American the leader's looks count.
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really? NYT is comparing FDR to Bannon? How insulting to FDR
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Bannon is no FDR. Nor is Trump. Hinting at any meaningful contrast to the contrary is confusing and conflating reality with fantasy. Felix Frankfurter famously noted that FDR "had a second rate mind but a first rate temperament. Bannon and Trump have third rate minds and fourth rate temperaments.
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Is Bannon a "conservative" or a wanna-be Robespierre? The Bannon followers should try to remember how Robespierre ended.
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I've switched my idle daydreams of such an ending from the top to Bannon. He's the true threat to everything this country has built and stood for. The former is just a sick puppet in the hands of a truly sociopathic puppeteer.
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Receiving assurances from Trump is like receiving a kiss from Judas.
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Maybe he should find a good tailor
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President Trump won the Republican primary precisely because the standard Republicans are so out of touch with the voter. Instead of caring for voters, they represented the monied elite.
When Disney of Florida replaced 250 American IT workers with Indians with H1-B Visas, Rubio took money from Disney and is part of the "Gang of Eight" in the Senate which is trying to triple the number of H1-B Visas as well as receiving funding from Disney.
Trump denounced Disney's move, Rubio supported it.
If you speak with voters, they don't want the number of H1-B visas increased which results in depressed wage growth.
They also don't want amnesty for illegal aliens. House Majority Leader (2nd most powerful person in The House) Eric Cantor lost to a political unknown in the primaries precisely because he backed amnesty.
Bannon appears to be backing candidates that represent the will of the voter instead of being tools for the monied elite who want to depress wages by importing cheap labor (global labor arbitrage).
In FDR's day, Democrats supported the workers. Today, neither Democrats nor Republicans support workers. Only President Trump has supported workers.
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President Trump has supported workers. -- "Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman!"
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Prove it... like taking away all deductions ?
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@Bill Nichols, @gc
> "President Trump has supported workers. -- "Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman!""
> "Prove it... "
You *did* read the comment I wrote? Trump is against H1-B Visa abuse. He came out against Disney in Florida when they replaced 250 American IT workers with imported Indian IT workers on H1-B Visa. Trump has come out against the unfair NAFTA agreement that sent many American jobs to Mexico. During the campaign he criticized Carrier for sending American job in Indiana to Mexico. As President he pressured Carrier to save about half the jobs they were going to export (Carrier's parent, United Technologies, does a lot of business with the Defense Dept.).
Instead of asking for evidence of Trump supporting workers, please read my original comment and it is very clear that Trump supports workers.
Trump's base adores him. He is the Teflon president we thought Reagan was. The perfect president for a reality show world with the perfect stalking horse.
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Roosevelt at least looked somewhat normal. Bannon not only sounds scary, he looks scary as well. If I saw him in a dark alley, I would run the other way.
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We need more Bannons to wake many RINOs from slumber.
FDR relied on congress members of his party to explain his agenda to voters. Whereas Mr. Trump connects to them directly. He does not rely on middle man solely.
Right, Mr. Trump connects with falsehoods, fantasies, and racists rants and nonsensical policy ideas with NO chance of implementation. Groovy.
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Banning is not even close in terms of stature and public service, to name but a few. Please stop this- your are normalizing these thugs. Exercise some thoughtful discretion- serve the public.
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"Banning" is Bannon misspelled?
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Bannon represents a clear and present danger to the democracy of the United States. It's hard to see what his real agenda is beyond destruction of everything we hold dear. Wiping out the institutions of government to start with a clean slate may seem like a cool idea to all those who have been drinking the Fox Kool-aid to hate any and all government but chaos and possible civil war would be the most likely result if history is any guide. He and his destructive agenda needs to be vigorously opposed by everyone.
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Well said. After Bannon burns the house to the ground. what comes next? We're already witnessing the results of anger substituting for policy. Faux populist Bannon, with his pockets stuffed with Mercer cash, should be shown the exit.
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Mary. Yes Bannon is dangerous but he and his ugly few are few and we are many. There is every likely he will implode, red nose and all.
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Take no chances. Because they take no prisoners.
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This is an interesting comparison and it may shed some insight into what may happen. But if Bannon's actions hurt anything, it will be the GOP establishment. Trump's base will hold.
Trump isn't Roosevelt by any means. Comparing the two in any way is a horrific insult to the legacy of of FDR. I won't go there.
But Trump has something that FDR did not. Trump's base will hold because he sold them a dream.
The Trump supporters have been left behind. They have no hope. They feel that they have no future. Trump sold them the dream of a new future. He has not and cannot deliver that dream. No one can. He promised them that which will never happen. Those millions of low skilled factory jobs are gone forever. No tax cut, no trade deals, no tariffs will ever bring them back.
The small towns that those plants are in are dying. They are hollowing out. But Trump told them he will fill them back up. He's got their backs.
So far, nothing has happened of any consequence. Nothing will happen next year or the year after, or ten years from now. I think those that bought into the dream can't let go of it. So long as they have Trump, the dream of a rebirth remains.
Trump's support is based in maintaining that dream. When all you have is a dream, you just can't let go. His people overlook and reject all of his failings and transgressions because that would kill their dream. FDR dealt with hard cold reality and succeeded. Trump goes to rallies.
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Thanks, Bruce -- I won't go their either. FDR had a genuine populism. Bannon and unfortunately Trump have a populism to bring back the past which is, thankfullly, gone forever. In that past there was slavery and later JimCrowism -- racially selective. Today America is and must remain racially inclusive. Trump's thinly veiled racism promise has indeed emboldened both the Klan and while supremacy types, and is trying hard to lower the genuine American spirit so that Putin types, and the third world and even some Americans can "whistfully lean" toward some form of autocracy or bully-ism. That aspiration puts America LAST! Racists and Putin-types are main beneficiaries of Trump's nonsense "policy" world.
I've never been in a Trump tower, nor have I seen an "Apprentice." Was he this way in real estate and in reality TV?? just wondering.
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Trump's poor base is being tossed into the fire like the frog in boiling water but the wealthy base is applauding him. He can win again without his poor base because of gerrymandering but if he looses the money ball he is gone... one can only hope they will turn on him... I've given up on the republican congress to defend our country against this tyrant
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"When all you have is a dream, you just can't let go."
This sentence makes me think of a relative of mine, and by extension, Trump's base as discussed in the post.
My relative quit high school in the tenth grade. Thereafter (he's in his late fifties now) he was never able to secure steady employment or an income on which he could afford to live.
Enter the State Lottery. He is hooked. He will adjust his daily schedule in whatever way he can to ensure that he makes it to the nearest place that sells lottery tickets. He never misses a day. And he has never won more than a few dollars, enough to buy the next round of "hope." He has neither the education nor the employment skills to eek out a decent living.
All he has is a dream (winning the lottery). And to this day, he is absolutely certain his ship will come in.
4
Great historical perspective. The difference is that FDR really was a Democrat, through and through. Bannon isn't really a Republican. He's a fringe nationalist/populist/libertarian type that got mainstreamed because of another non-Republican pop star Donald Trump. So frankly, we true Reagan Republicans don't really care what the libertarian Breitbart fringe has to say. Bannon already got dumped from the White House, and it's time for the GOP to aggressively kick him to the curb too. Yes, he does attract some voters by appealing to fear, angst and nativism, but the GOP is better off without those voters anyway. It's time to return to our optimistic and forward-looking "morning in America" Reagan roots, which are the diametric opposite of the Bannon/Trump "mourning over America" whine.
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I’m a Democrat but I want the establishment Republicans to come out ahead of this self-described leader. Bannon and Trump are two of the most despicable human beings I know of and they are doing immense harm to both the Republican Party and our country. Even though I don’t agree much of the time with Republicans, this country is better off with two thriving political parties. We need to return to sanity.
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i like bannon's ideas. they certainly deserve to be part of the larger debate in this country. i hope he does the "kicking." i think republican mainstream is worthless. i'm sure i'm not completely alone on that one.
tbs - How exactly do chaos and destruction count as ideas?
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