The Ironic Cherry Reads about Steve Bannon...

...so you don't have to

The Devil's Bargain: Steve Bannon,

Donald Trump, and the Storming

of the Presidency

by Joshua Green

Reading Devil's Bargain was a dirty job.  In light of what has happened, how our worst fears have come true, the details of the meeting of these two evil minds -- one stupidly evil and the other brilliantly so -- was like reading about Hitler and World War II if it had had a different ending.  So many people hurt, with more devastation to come.

But it is also important information.  We need to understand just who these people are and how this fouling of American democracy was allowed to happen in order to fight it.  Because 2018 is here.

Steve Bannon may look like something the cat dragged in, but this is part of his look, a cultivated don't-give-a-damn appearance.  He reminds me of a mirror-image Antonin Scalia, in that both came from immigrant backgrounds and were raised in strict Catholic families, with strong education in classics and history.  Where Scalia's father was a professor in romance languages and made education a priority, Bannon grew up in a blue collar family and neighborhood; he was scrappy and a fighter, taking on the rich prep school kids.  Scalia clung to law-and-order by virtue of a right-wing philosophy and the pursuit of law.  Bannon went right-wing into the Virginia Military Institute, followed by of all things a degree at Harvard Business School and a career at Goldman Sachs, followed by of all things Hollywood and the movie industry, using his Goldman Sach education to invest and take over failing businesses.  Through all their pursuits, both worked their asses off, determined never to quit, to work their way to the top.

Scalia's path took him towards the most extreme radical Catholic beliefs, Bannon's education nurtured his political paranoia, hardening nationalist philosophies that he had held since his youth.  Business speculation and internet coincided when Bannon's interests discovered the gaming universe -- and the realization that more than money, there were networks of gamers and message-board inhabitants looking for a challenge... and a way to blow up the status quo.

There is a huge web of denizens of the "alt-right," those who have been motivated by their paranoia to network, some with great success.  Breitbart would naturally lead to Bannon, which would inevitably lead to Trump.

At this point, we all know way too much about Donald Trump.  A man of privilege, who like Bannon, set his sights high.  He  is not intelligent, but his insecurity has given him a fine-honed instinct for who has power that he can use, and who can be bullied and manipulated.  Trump always seeking to be the news, Bannon knowing how to get that done.  Both enjoying the heady feeling of controlling the message, and both seeking yet greater power.

The similarities aren't as interesting as the differences.  Bannon fought his way up, had to prove himself at every turn.  Trump was handed his fortune and his career.  Bannon had to be smart to make it where Trump only had to be a con artist.  To be a con artist Trump had to be front and center; Bannon grew his power in the shadows.  A perfect fit.

If anyone believes that letting Bannon go was Trump's idea, and that Bannon and Trump are no longer a thing, they have truly underestimated Bannon's power over Trump.  The White House may have a lot of ears, but there are still lots of terrifying lines of communication open to a president who doesn't give a shit about the national security he bleated about on the campaign trail.  We know Trump can't keep his tiny fingers off Twitter, neither can he stay off the phone.  He needs constant reassurance, and that is what has made him vulnerable.  But Bannon is the real go-to guy when Trump needs that reassurance, and Bannon isn't going to let those calls leak.

And Bannon's goal continues to be to blow up civilization, to bring about chaos while claiming anarchy is libertarianism.  With Trump as his mouthpiece, no doubt he has spent hours gleefully rubbing his hands together, as the rest of the country runs headfirst into each other trying to make sense out of what could be impending apocalypse.  Steve Bannon is not going to allow Trump to stray too far from his influence, and Donald Trump needs Bannon's conviction to continue to batter the nation in order to remain king.

The grown-ups in the room may continue to work to contain Trump's madness and narcissism, but Steve Bannon is the one the angry toddler goes to for fun and games when the grown-ups aren't around.