I always thought the alt-rightists were still living in the 1930s. Here’s Yahoo.com:
“Like [Andrew] Jackson’s populism, we’re going to build an entirely new political movement,” he [Bannon] says. “It’s everything related to jobs. The conservatives are going to go crazy. I’m the guy pushing a trillion-dollar infrastructure plan. With negative interest rates throughout the world, it’s the greatest opportunity to rebuild everything. Ship yards, iron works, get them all jacked up. We’re just going to throw it up against the wall and see if it sticks. It will be as exciting as the 1930s, greater than the Reagan revolution – conservatives, plus populists, in an economic nationalist movement.”
During the 1930s, the US engaged in some of the most counterproductive economic policy in all of American history. The unemployment rate averaged about 20%. And speaking of the 1930s, does Huey Long remind you of anyone? (With luck, Bannon will be kept out of economic policy.)
And here’s the new CIA chief:
With his name circulating as a candidate for the Central Intelligence Agency post, Mr Pompeo took to Twitter on Thursday to promise action on the Iran deal. “I look forward to rolling back this disastrous deal with the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism.”
Wonderful, let’s tear up a nuclear deal that’s actually working.
When some Republican presidential candidates criticised the use of excessive surveillance, Mr Pompeo accused them of being “just as weak as Democrats”. He added in an essay in the National Review: “Less intelligence capacity equals less safety.”
When some Republican presidential candidates criticised the use of excessive surveillance, Mr Pompeo accused them of being “just as weak as Democrats”. He added in an essay in the National Review: “Less intelligence capacity equals less safety.”
That last line is worthy of George Orwell.
And no anti-Muslim bigotry in the Trump administration:
After the 2013 Boston marathon bombing, Mr Pompeo accused Islamic leaders in the US of being “complicit” in terrorist acts by not speaking out more.
“Silence has made these Islamic leaders across America potentially complicit in these [terrorist] acts and more importantly still, in those that may well follow,” he said.
Add in that wild and crazy General Flynn, and it’s hard to tell whether Trump is trying to put together an administration, or casting a sequel to Dr. Strangelove:
Mr Flynn was fired from the DIA, the intelligence agency that serves the military, over questions about his ability to lead a big organisation, which raises doubts about how he will manage the national security council. But he was also criticised internally for interpretations that did not align with the views of the analysts who worked for him — leading some people to mock him for propelling “Flynn facts”.
The former official said it was matters like these that made Mr Flynn attractive to Mr Trump, who has also been criticised for egregious lies during the campaign. “That is why Trump likes him. They are similar because they like the big dramatic statement, but when they are confronted with the facts, they kind of say ‘oh really that’s unfortunate’,” said the former official.
And the President that just a few days ago told us that he was going to represent everyone in America, has chosen an Attorney General who was denied a judgeship a while back for a long string of racist and/or borderline racist comments. (Yes, not every example here is racist, but some are.)
And for those commenters who doubted that Steve Bannon was a racist, check out what he thinks of people like my wife:
In a conversation that actually makes Trump sound reasonable, he tells Bannon that he’s concerned about foreign Ivy League students, highly skilled and otherwise capable of working for or starting their own tech companies, graduating and then returning to their home countries. “When someone is going to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Penn, Stanford, all the greats” and then graduate, “we throw them out of the country, and they can’t get back in,” he said. “We have to be careful of that, Steve. You know, we have to keep our talented people in this country.” To which Bannon replied: “Um.” Trump tried to get Bannon to agree with him, but to no avail. Instead, Bannon suggested there were already too many Asian tech C.E.O.s. in Silicon Valley. “When two-thirds or three-quarters of the C.E.O.s in Silicon Valley are from South Asia or from Asia, I think . . . ” Bannon said, trailing off. “A country is more than an economy. We’re a civic society.”
Is there a bright side to any of this? I guess you could say that the fascists are no longer blaming everything on the Jews. Asians and Muslims are the new scapegoats. (Of course Bannon’s facts are totally wrong, not even close, but when did facts ever matter to Trumpistas?)
As for all you economic conservatives who held your nose and voted for Trump, I hope you are happy now. No more Obama “abusing the Constitution”. Now we have a CIA chief who thinks even his fellow Republicans are a bunch of pansies. You made your deal with the devil, now you’ll have to live with the results.
And as for the commenters who told me Trump was the “dovish candidate” . . . I’d hate to see your idea of a hawk.