I've been studying Bannon and I think I understand a bit of why he seems so crazy to most people: He's gone Nuclear

I've been studying Bannon and I think I understand a bit of why he seems so crazy to most people: He's gone Nuclear

Prior to 9/11, he was described by friends as a moderate, politically center-right. He had always loved the idea of strong men but they were reasonable and rational figures who did what was needed. He would discuss eastern philosophy on the level of western and was considered a smart and open-minded guy.

As a bit of history, the 90s were a golden age for the US. We had won the Cold War, beating down the only perceived threat to democracy and freedom in the world and it was believed we were entering a period of permanent peace. The US had a military several times stronger than the runners up combined, strong enough to beat down any minor incursions left. Our consumerism was spreading to every corner of the world and was thought to not only unite the world in harmony but also in helping fight disease and starvation (i.e.: "No two countries with McDonald's go to war")

With 9/11 (as well as the 2007 recession), that vision was shattered. Our security was destroyed by a force far weaker and less organized than us in an attack on two symbols of our most prized institutions: our economy and our military.

After the debacle in Iraq and Iran, the country shifted politically in response to this new reality. The DNC Left pretended nothing was wrong, that we were still secure and that only minutae within our country needed to be addressed. The Right (in general) turtled up with rifles out, perceiving a threat everywhere ad absurdum.

Bannon, who was once simply moderate-conservative, went hardline and perceived this attack to be a part of the crusades from centuries prior. He saw our financial institutions fail yet survive and became disillusioned with the corporatism of our country.

I believe most of what Bannon does now he does in feeling that it is necessary, that everything need be sacrificed that can to return to that vision of the world prior to 9/11. His dislike of not just Muslims but all immigration, legal and illegal, stems from an attempt to return to a state where our higher-education institutions are backed by the promise of jobs. His sheer hatred of crony capitalism is his response to the apparent rigging of the economy by the financial institutions that survived unethical and overtly-destructive practices.

The only question is whether his actions will truly return us to that time? Will they do so sustainably? Can Bannon 'attain the green light' so to say?

>The Establishment and Muslims sent us to hell but we're going even deeper
>Make them give back our past

bump, I'm curious to get Sup Forums's take on this interpretation of events

bump

why they appoint so many former goldman sachs employees tho?

Well Bannon used to work at Sachs so I imagine they were his recommendation or at least vetted by him.

I think he feels he can trust them.

That, or they might've just been GOP picks to help shill for Wall Street

I don't get how that fits if one of his key tenants is anti crony capitalism.

It looks like you're right about immigration though. And we will see about foreign policy. If your hypothesis is right, do you expect more wars?

Bannon is like the final iteration of Sup Forums user 30-40 years from now

buuump

On how the Sachs employees fit in with the anti-crony capitalism:
I think it depends on the situations I listed.
If Bannon trusts these guys, ,he thinks they're like him: Ethical corporatists with a healthy dose of nationalism. He thinks they'll do right by the country.

If the GOP put them in, Bannon is probably pretty pissed about it. The two big issues I personally have with the Trump administration are its over-simplistic understanding of issues (that presents the incorrect simple solutions) and the incompetence. Part of the incompetence arises from the factional infighting for Trump's favor.
I do expect more wars, Bannon himself specifically believes we're going to go to War with China in the South China Sea.
I don't know the man that well so I'll post his own words:
>“We’re going to war in the South China Sea in five to 10 years,” he said in March 2016. “There’s no doubt about that. They’re taking their sandbars and making basically stationary aircraft carriers and putting missiles on those. They come here to the United States in front of our face – and you understand how important face is – and say it’s an ancient territorial sea.”

I think he believes that China, as its become an economic super power, is becoming like a new USSR: scooping up territories and building momentum militarily and economically.
I would say that that's a partially correct assessment but this is about Bannon and his influence. Yes, I believe that he's going to push to engage China in a Cold War in the South China Sea. He sees China as an enemy in an economic war right now, as he sees Islam as our main military enemy right now.

He's not entirely incorrect on either but the lack of nuance in the conclusions is what concerns me about his Gatsby-induced determination.

He's Kazuhira Miller from MGS, post Peace-Walker

I hope we don't have to fight a war over there. I think China can be beaten entirely economically, if they can get that border tax through. They're on the verge of demographic collapse; just keep america strong and we will be fine.

but Trump is talking about building the military back up so it looks like you might be right.

>Tyranny
Ayy, I really like that game. The fact that your choices in the character creation conquest part matter makes replaying it cool.

I mean the big issue is that Bannon is paranoid about the state of the world and America's place.

Which is good, 'only the paranoid survive' as they say.

But Bannon is conspiratorial. I'm not the biggest fan of Muslims but his targeting of Green Card Holders and Visa Holders, people we've already vetted (and we have the best vetting system possible in this world short of not letting people in at all) is part of his feeling that only absolutes will correct what ails America.

Extremes already exist but most are nuanced, even on the corrupt end of things in politics.

Simple solutions are good but they need to be applied with considering the nuances of the situation. I don't think Bannon cares about those nuances, or he considers them negligible.

I mean, we're not Europe. We don't let in millions without background checks or prepared care-situations (makeshift work and accommodations). Most of the refugees coming in now aren't from Syria at all, they're from Africa who have been in the vetting bureaucracy for years. The Syrians are the rich and educated who we have clear documentation for and can trace their associations to potential threats easily (hence, we know they likely have none).

The biggest issue we have with Muslims is an assimilation issue, given that the practice was shirked by both parties in favor of different, less functional extremes. If we wanted to protect our borders from Radical Islam, we'd be waging a propaganda war against them, trying to make Muslim Americans and temp-residents more loyal to the US than to their God.

But Bannon doesn't see it like that. He saw 9/11 as a continuation of the Muslim invasions preceding the Crusades, as the modus operandi of Islam: to spread and make all other peoples of the world submit to their faith.

We ought to be infecting Islamic countries from within with a mix of light military intervention and heavy duty consumerism, adjust the strategy from the 90s that gained us that peace

Well and not to mention it's basically Sup Forums - the game (inspired lightly by Hellsing too).
>One faction is legit Nazis, ready to BTFO the southern hordes and replace their crude culture with based Northern one
>Other faction is AnCap Darwinistic society that lets the best of the best rise to the top, no gibs. You take and protect what you want.
>All presided by a based judge who gives no shits for feels, you'll know justice whether it helps you or not

[spoilers] not to mention meme-magic is an in-lore game mechanic [/spoiler]

yeah that all makes sense to me.

I'm actually excited to see a little more simplistic straight forward thinking in our economic system. Stuff like not bailing out failed companies during the next crisis would benefit the US in the long term by clearing out dead wood and allowing us to rebuild naturally.

But I definitely understand that carries more risk than establishment thinking in the short term, especially wrt foreign policy. Honestly the US is self sufficient, lets have some me time.

Well and it's all predicated on Bannon's trauma I think. He's smart, but smart people aren't without the possibility for being emotionally compromised.

A technocratic solution is essential. A simple solution that is also FLEXIBLE is the key. I fear that Bannon might pursue many methods that seem simple and right but, altogether, they create issues of their own over time through their interaction with each other, like an overly simple computer program that builds into errors past the first permutations.

An end to Crony Capitalism is a good thing, no doubt, but there are times when the government's investments in the economy can pay off in the long term. The Interstate Highway system, our military and space programs, and many other larger projects are situations where the government essentially interferes in the economy by choosing which company gets tax dollars.

My theory is that Bannon is thinking bigger then rinkydink sporadic terrorist attacks. He wants to deport and build the wall, and threaten over the South China Sea, ultimately because open borders and multiculturalism conflict with the idea of rallying around a nation-state as the ultimate arbiter of laws, values and authority. The issue is that over the past thirty years, America has become economically integrated with China and Mexico completely. China's manufacturing economy simply the other part of America's financing, consumer and retailing economy. Mexico has a streaming undercaste of bottom-tier service labor coming in and sending back remittances. This situation also ties America's foreign policy hands down, because when factoring in options, one must account for the sensibilities and priorities of the nations that are inextricably entwined with you now. Trump raising hostilities with both of them is the strongest sign of Bannon's hand - by making them feel threatened, it will push them to withdraw their economic entanglements with the United States and force the three countries to develop independent economies.

Needless to say, normies have, thanks to the media, no idea about ideology or philosophy so Bannon is like an incomprehensible force of nature to them who is bad because he is a 'white supremacist' and is a white supremacist because is bad. Whatever it is he's working towards, I have little doubt that he's going to succeed.

>but the lack of nuance in the conclusions is what concerns me


Bannon has a raging war boner and he needs to realize it's not a game of Risk.
He makes my skin crawl.

I hope the cia takes him out.

>Needless to say, normies have, thanks to the media, no idea about ideology or philosophy so Bannon is like an incomprehensible force of nature to them who is bad because he is a 'white supremacist' and is a white supremacist because is bad. Whatever it is he's working towards, I have little doubt that he's going to succeed.

In terms of policy, I agree he'll probably get more done than the other factions but I wager that the GOP and Priebus still hold some considerable sway over Trump and will try to look out for their donors still.

Like if Bannon had his way, I wager he'd take Big Pharma to town for how they abuse Americans with their price hiking. But Trump backed down from that stance, arguably after Big Pharma reps and the GOP asked him to with the same "muh R&D costs" excuse.

I don't necessarily agree with you about multi-culturalism and open borders but I agree that Bannon's intelligence, his sheer level of competence on his own will enable him to be the Shadow Leader in the new administration as the Jews were in the prior ones.

My only concern is that his solutions won't work, that America will decline in power given that he's essentially abandoning the tenets that made us strong in the 90s. They needed adjustment in my opinion, to suit the rise of new competitors, but not outright abandonment.

I think the DNC Left, GOP Right, Alt Left and Alt Right are all looking at the issues only partially, picking and choosing evidence or issues that suit their own narratives. All have partial truths but fill in the blank spots with dismissing shrugs or (((common sense))) fabrications.

I don't. I wager, if he emotionally resolved his trauma and became more concise on the situation, he would be one of the great architects of not just America as a Nation State but a return to America as a cultural nation-builder.

He's easily one of the great minds of the day, just twisted by arguably the defining event of the 21st century thus far.