Bannon, Trump, and Backing Down.

President Donald Trump is not likely to back down from proceeding with his reforms. He is not likely to let the opposition voices, as loud and hostile as they might be, deter him from his task.

The opposition is getting more hostile. Having failed at the ballot box many are gathering as mobs and some are resorting to bullying and beatings like Hitler’s Brownshirts. The Storm Detachment is taking its mass chaos to airports, city streets and public squares:

All of this is done, of course, in the name of the constitutional right to assemble, organize and “have their voices heard.”

Bannon’s Background

Steve Bannon is a “Senior Counselor” to President Trump.  He is also now a “Principal” on the National Security Council’s Principals Committee.  By mainstream media accounts the former so-called hate-mongering Breitbart boss is a psychotic looney-tune now dangerously close to the pinnacle of power.

Assuming Wikipedia is accurate, it is not difficult to see how Bannon has Trump’s attention in light of his background: a graduate of Virginia Tech with B.A. in urban planning, master’s degree from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, M.B.A from Harvard Business School, officer in U.S. Navy for seven years, including service as a Surface Warfare Officer on the destroyer USS Paul F. Foster in the Pacific Fleet and as a special assistant to the Chief of Naval Operations at the Pentagon.

But wait. There’s more.

After time in the military he worked at Goldman Sachs as an investment banker on mergers and acquisitions. In 1990, with colleagues from Goldman, he formed Bannon & Co., a boutique investment bank specializing in media.  While there he negotiated the sale of Castle Rock Entertainment to Ted Turner and, as payment, accepted a financial stake in 5 TV shows.  One of them was Seinfeld.  Need we say more?  His company was bought by Société Générale, S.A., one of the largest multinational banks in Europe.

With Trump’s appointment of Bannon to the Principals’ Committee of the NSC, the media is crying foul; Obama never appointed his Senior Counsellor David Axelrod to it!  A President is not supposed to appoint a political advisor to such a post!  But comparing Axelrod to Bannon, it’s easy to see the difference between the two. Again, from Wikipedia.  Axelrod had a short stint (1981-1984) as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune.  He covered city hall.  From 1984 on it was all political campaigns and elections. His 2015 memoir was titled My Forty Years in Politics.  He styled himself a “specialist in urban politics” with The Economist noting that he specializes in “packaging black candidates for white voters.” Axelrod is no Bannon. Obama was right not to appoint him to the Principals’ Committee.

Disagree with Bannon one might.  But he’s no light-weight nut case and it’s not difficult to see why Trump values his counsel.

Expecting Opposition

Here is Steve Bannon speaking in 2011.  He discusses the magnitude of the problems, particularly the economic ones. He discusses the likely opposition ahead.

The problems have only gotten worse since Bannon’s speech in 2011. The crisis of illegal immigration from Central America, the Middle East and Europe, with the increased threat of terrorists attacks have only compounded the situation since 2014.  The opposition has gotten, and will likely get in the days ahead, only louder and more hostile.

Bannon was not planning on backing down in 2011. He was planning on pushing ahead directly in the face of the expected opposition.  He’s likely not surprised at the violence of the mobs.  Last night Trump fired the Acting Attorney General who publicly opposed his recent order restricting travel from various countries in the Middle East.  If he had asked Bannon for counsel – not that Trump needed it on this one – it was, no doubt, tell her “Your fired!”

There is a lot of road a head and many difficult decisions to be made. On the economic side alone, the issue of the debt ceiling comes up again in March.  Bannon is aware of the problem in that area.  We will be seeing what the Trump administration proposes on that and on many fronts.  Trump himself is not one to back down. With Bannon in his corner, the odds are that they will keep at it and keep pushing ahead.