nature boy
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http://prospect.org/article/steve-bannon-unrepentant
You might think from recent press accounts that Steve Bannon is on the ropes and therefore behaving prudently. In the aftermath of events in Charlottesville, he is widely blamed for his bosss continuing indulgence of white supremacists. Allies of National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster hold Bannon responsible for a campaign by Breitbart News, which Bannon once led, to vilify the security chief. Trumps defense of Bannon, at his Tuesday press conference, was tepid.
But Bannon was in high spirits when he phoned me Tuesday afternoon to discuss the politics of taking a harder line with China, and minced no words describing his efforts to neutralize his rivals at the Departments of Defense, State, and Treasury. Theyre wetting themselves, he said, proceeding to detail how he would oust some of his opponents at State and Defense.
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In Kim, Trump has met his match, I wrote. The risk of two arrogant fools blundering into a nuclear exchange is more serious than at any time since October 1962. Maybe Bannon wanted to scream at me?
I told the assistant that I was on vacation, but I would be happy to speak by phone. Bannon promptly called.
Far from dressing me down for comparing Trump to Kim, he began, Its a great honor to finally track you down. Ive followed your writing for years and I think you and I are in same boat when it comes to China. You absolutely nailed it.
Were at economic war with China, he added. Its in all their literature. Theyre not shy about saying what theyre doing. One of us is going to be a hegemon in 25 or 30 years and its gonna be them if we go down this path. On Korea, theyre just tapping us along. Its just a sideshow.
Bannon said he might consider a deal in which China got North Korea to freeze its nuclear buildup with verifiable inspections and the United States removed its troops from the peninsula, but such a deal seemed remote. Given that China is not likely to do much more on North Korea, and that the logic of mutually assured destruction was its own source of restraint, Bannon saw no reason not to proceed with tough trade sanctions against China.
Contrary to Trumps threat of fire and fury, Bannon said: Theres no military solution [to North Koreas nuclear threats], forget it. Until somebody solves the part of the equation that shows me that ten million people in Seoul dont die in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons, I dont know what youre talking about, theres no military solution here, they got us. Bannon went on to describe his battle inside the administration to take a harder line on China trade, and not to fall into a trap of wishful thinking in which complaints against Chinas trade practices now had to take a backseat to the hope that China, as honest broker, would help restrain Kim.
To me, Bannon said, the economic war with China is everything. And we have to be maniacally focused on that. If we continue to lose it, we're five years away, I think, ten years at the most, of hitting an inflection point from which we'll never be able to recover.
Bannons plan of attack includes: a complaint under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act against Chinese coercion of technology transfers from American corporations doing business there, and follow-up complaints against steel and aluminum dumping. Were going to run the tables on these guys. Weve come to the conclusion that theyre in an economic war and theyre crushing us.
But what about his internal adversaries, at the departments of State and Defense, who think the United States can enlist Beijings aid on the North Korean standoff, and at Treasury and the National Economic Council who dont want to mess with the trading system?
Oh, theyre wetting themselves, he said, explaining that the Section 301 complaint, which was put on hold when the war of threats with North Korea broke out, was shelved only temporarily, and will be revived in three weeks. As for other cabinet departments, Bannon has big plans to marginalize their influence.
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I asked Bannon about the connection between his program of economic nationalism and the ugly white nationalism epitomized by the racist violence in Charlottesville and Trumps reluctance to condemn it. Bannon, after all, was the architect of the strategy of using Breitbart to heat up white nationalism and then rely on the radical right as Trumps base.
He dismissed the far right as irrelevant and sidestepped his own role in cultivating it: Ethno-nationalismit's losers. It's a fringe element. I think the media plays it up too much, and we gotta help crush it, you know, uh, help crush it more.
These guys are a collection of clowns, he added.
From his lips to Trumps ear.
The Democrats, he said, the longer they talk about identity politics, I got em. I want them to talk about racism every day. If the left is focused on race and identity, and we go with economic nationalism, we can crush the Democrats.
I had never before spoken with Bannon. I came away from the conversation with a sense both of his savvy and his recklessness. The waters around him are rising, but he is going about his business of infighting, and attempting to cultivate improbable outside allies, to promote his China strategy. His enemies will do what they do.
RIP