In the Times, David Brooks goes to speak to Steve Bannon before he goes to do his stretch:
I should emphasize that I wasn’t trying to debate Bannon or rebut his beliefs; I wanted to understand how he sees the current moment. I wanted to understand the global populist surge from the inside.
But why though? Bannon is a conman, a fraud. Ned Resnikoff wrote this brilliant piece for The Baffler way back in 2017 explaining the con - I can do no better. How is he taking up media space seven years later?
Bannon is not “smart”, not “intellectual” - he is just another phony on the right. His program is called “The War Room”, and he describes it thus:
I’m not a journalist. I’m not in the media. This is a military headquarters for a populist revolt.
He is describing a podcast. His studio is no more a “war room” than where my kids used to play with their Lego and Hot Wheels. To call it a “military headquarters” is ludicrous. He is comically self-inflated. His listeners might think he is saying something profound with “The elites have lost their faith in their countries. They’ve lost faith in the Westphalian system, the nation-state,” but that is just part of the schtick.
There are only two legitimate ways to deal with Bannon: to ignore him, or to laugh at him. I don’t know what Brooks was thinking here.
I leave the last word to that astute observer of risible fascists, Bertie Wooster:
The trouble with you, Spode, is that just because you have succeeded in inducing a handful of half-wits to disfigure the London scene by going about in black shorts, you think you're someone. You hear them shouting "Heil, Spode!" and you imagine it is the Voice of the People. That is where you make your bloomer. What the Voice of the People is saying is: “Look at that frightful ass Spode swanking about in footer bags! Did you ever in your puff see such a perfect perisher?”
What you write is true. If only Bannon were just a laughable figure.
But, I fear that, with Trump's dictatorship looming, David Brooks' interview of Bannon is worth reading. Like it or not, Bannon has a large following. He will likely remain outside the official Trump dictatorship, but will wield influence (until the inevitable day when he falls out of favor yet again).
To take just one point from the interview, I think Bannon is wrong that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will resign when Trump is elected. But, I do think that Trump and his economic team will demand that Powell resign and will search for any means to force him out.
I am not a lawyer, but I have a hazy notion that the President has broad scope to invoke the Insurrection Act, and then has nearly unlimited powers under that Act.
I may be getting too carried away in the aftermath of the debate debacle.
I regret the how many ever minutes spent reading Brooks' interview of Bannon.
There is this gem:
"not one more penny in Ukraine" but "We want to see an elimination of the Chinese Communist Party."