4 ms·

Uh, Trump invited Steve Bannon into his cabinet. They did not part ways because of Bannon's extreme white nationalist views...

oh_sigh 8y ago
You would need to show that Trump invited Bannon into the White House because of his white nationalist views, and not because of his abilities in other areas. Which I don't think you can do. Also, if Steve Bannon is a white nationalist, it seems weird that Trump would support him, considering that presumably makes him want to get rid of parts of Trump's own family(Ivanka/Jared and their kids).
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  White nationalists and other racists making exceptions for select useful (to their cause) members of targeted groups when in power is nothing new.
tathougies 8y ago
Steve Bannon is best described as a civic nationalist. Although, I think he has questionable choice in allies.
drak0n1c 8y ago
Steve Bannon was a close friend of Andrew Breitbart (who was Jewish and famously anti-racist), and was hired by Breitbart to be Editor. Bannon greatly expanded the Brietbart Israel office and managed a number of non-whites such as Raheem Kassam, Ben Shapiro, and others, placing them in leading positions. While I do think Andrew wouldn't approve of what Bannon has done recently (and many of his old colleagues do not), there is no evidence his views have ever gone into "extreme white nationalist" territory.
- burkaman 8y ago
  > When asked if he agreed, Bannon responded: “When two-thirds or three-quarters of the CEOs in Silicon Valley are from South Asia or from Asia, I think . . . ” he didn’t finish his sentence. “A country is more than an economy. We’re a civic society.” - https://www.theverge.com/2016/11/16/13653490/steve-bannon-trump-presidency-chief-strategist-breitbart-tech-visa https://www.theverge.com/2016/11/16/13653490/steve-bannon-tr... > “We’re the platform for the alt-right" - https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/08/stephen-bannon-donald-trump-alt-right-breitbart-news/ https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/08/stephen-bannon-... What is the alt-right? Let's see how Breitbart describes itself: http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2016/03/29/an-establishment-conservatives-guide-to-the-alt-right/ http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2016/03/29/an-establishment-co... > There are many things that separate the alternative right from old-school racist skinheads (to whom they are often idiotically compared), but one thing stands out above all else: intelligence. Skinheads, by and large, are low-information, low-IQ thugs driven by the thrill of violence and tribal hatred. The alternative right are a much smarter group of people — which perhaps suggests why the Left hates them so much. They’re dangerously bright. > Natural conservatives can broadly be described as the group that the intellectuals above were writing for. They are mostly white, mostly male middle-American radicals, who are unapologetically embracing a new identity politics that prioritises the interests of their own demographic. > The conservative instinct, as described by Haidt, includes a preference for homogeneity over diversity, for stability over change, and for hierarchy and order over radical egalitarianism. Their instinctive wariness of the foreign and the unfamiliar is an instinct that we all share – an evolutionary safeguard against excessive, potentially perilous curiosity – but natural conservatives feel it with more intensity. They instinctively prefer familiar societies, familiar norms, and familiar institutions. > For natural conservatives, culture, not economic efficiency, is the paramount value. More specifically, they value the greatest cultural expressions of their tribe. > Halting, or drastically slowing, immigration is a major priority for the alt-right. While eschewing bigotry on a personal level, the movement is frightened by the prospect of demographic displacement represented by immigration. > You’ll often encounter doomsday rhetoric in alt-right online communities: that’s because many of them instinctively feel that once large enough and ethnically distinct enough groups are brought together, they will inevitably come to blows. In short, they doubt that full “integration” is ever possible. If it is, it won’t be successful in the “kumbaya” sense. Border walls are a much safer option. > The alt-right’s intellectuals would also argue that culture is inseparable from race. The alt-right believe that some degree of separation between peoples is necessary for a culture to be preserved. > In response to concerns from white voters that they’re going to go extinct, the response of the Establishment — the conservative Establishment — has been to openly welcome that extinction. It’s true that Donald Trump would not be possible without the oppressive hectoring of the progressive Left, but the entire media is to blame for the environment in which this new movement has emerged. > The really interesting members of the alt-right though, and the most numerous, are the natural conservatives. They are perhaps psychologically inclined to be unsettled by threats to western culture from mass immigration and maybe by non-straight relationships. Yet, unlike the 1488ers, the presence of such doesn’t send them into fits of rage. They want to build their homogeneous communities, sure — but they don’t want to commit any pogroms along the way. Indeed, they would prefer non-violent solutions. This is, by definition, white nationalism. If Breitbart is the platform of the alt-right, and this is the alt-right, then Breitbart is a white nationalist news source, and Bannon is proud of it.

oh_sigh 8y ago

You would need to show that Trump invited Bannon into the White House because of his white nationalist views, and not because of his abilities in other areas. Which I don't think you can do. Also, if Steve Bannon is a white nationalist, it seems weird that Trump would support him, considering that presumably makes him want to get rid of parts of Trump's own family(Ivanka/Jared and their kids).

dragonwriter 8y ago
White nationalists and other racists making exceptions for select useful (to their cause) members of targeted groups when in power is nothing new.

tathougies 8y ago

Steve Bannon is best described as a civic nationalist. Although, I think he has questionable choice in allies.

drak0n1c 8y ago

Steve Bannon was a close friend of Andrew Breitbart (who was Jewish and famously anti-racist), and was hired by Breitbart to be Editor. Bannon greatly expanded the Brietbart Israel office and managed a number of non-whites such as Raheem Kassam, Ben Shapiro, and others, placing them in leading positions. While I do think Andrew wouldn't approve of what Bannon has done recently (and many of his old colleagues do not), there is no evidence his views have ever gone into "extreme white nationalist" territory.

burkaman 8y ago
> When asked if he agreed, Bannon responded: “When two-thirds or three-quarters of the CEOs in Silicon Valley are from South Asia or from Asia, I think . . . ” he didn’t finish his sentence. “A country is more than an economy. We’re a civic society.” - https://www.theverge.com/2016/11/16/13653490/steve-bannon-trump-presidency-chief-strategist-breitbart-tech-visa https://www.theverge.com/2016/11/16/13653490/steve-bannon-tr... > “We’re the platform for the alt-right" - https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/08/stephen-bannon-donald-trump-alt-right-breitbart-news/ https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/08/stephen-bannon-... What is the alt-right? Let's see how Breitbart describes itself: http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2016/03/29/an-establishment-conservatives-guide-to-the-alt-right/ http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2016/03/29/an-establishment-co... > There are many things that separate the alternative right from old-school racist skinheads (to whom they are often idiotically compared), but one thing stands out above all else: intelligence. Skinheads, by and large, are low-information, low-IQ thugs driven by the thrill of violence and tribal hatred. The alternative right are a much smarter group of people — which perhaps suggests why the Left hates them so much. They’re dangerously bright. > Natural conservatives can broadly be described as the group that the intellectuals above were writing for. They are mostly white, mostly male middle-American radicals, who are unapologetically embracing a new identity politics that prioritises the interests of their own demographic. > The conservative instinct, as described by Haidt, includes a preference for homogeneity over diversity, for stability over change, and for hierarchy and order over radical egalitarianism. Their instinctive wariness of the foreign and the unfamiliar is an instinct that we all share – an evolutionary safeguard against excessive, potentially perilous curiosity – but natural conservatives feel it with more intensity. They instinctively prefer familiar societies, familiar norms, and familiar institutions. > For natural conservatives, culture, not economic efficiency, is the paramount value. More specifically, they value the greatest cultural expressions of their tribe. > Halting, or drastically slowing, immigration is a major priority for the alt-right. While eschewing bigotry on a personal level, the movement is frightened by the prospect of demographic displacement represented by immigration. > You’ll often encounter doomsday rhetoric in alt-right online communities: that’s because many of them instinctively feel that once large enough and ethnically distinct enough groups are brought together, they will inevitably come to blows. In short, they doubt that full “integration” is ever possible. If it is, it won’t be successful in the “kumbaya” sense. Border walls are a much safer option. > The alt-right’s intellectuals would also argue that culture is inseparable from race. The alt-right believe that some degree of separation between peoples is necessary for a culture to be preserved. > In response to concerns from white voters that they’re going to go extinct, the response of the Establishment — the conservative Establishment — has been to openly welcome that extinction. It’s true that Donald Trump would not be possible without the oppressive hectoring of the progressive Left, but the entire media is to blame for the environment in which this new movement has emerged. > The really interesting members of the alt-right though, and the most numerous, are the natural conservatives. They are perhaps psychologically inclined to be unsettled by threats to western culture from mass immigration and maybe by non-straight relationships. Yet, unlike the 1488ers, the presence of such doesn’t send them into fits of rage. They want to build their homogeneous communities, sure — but they don’t want to commit any pogroms along the way. Indeed, they would prefer non-violent solutions. This is, by definition, white nationalism. If Breitbart is the platform of the alt-right, and this is the alt-right, then Breitbart is a white nationalist news source, and Bannon is proud of it.