Steve Bannon Bio - Media and Political Careers

Steve Bannon Bio - Media and Political Careers Steve Bannon is an American political strategist and  the primary architect of Donald Trumps successful campaign for president in 2016. He is  a former executive  at the controversial  Breitbart News Network, which he once described as a  platform for the alt-right,  a loosely connected group of young, disaffected Republicans and white nationalists  who rose to prominence on Trumps coattails.   Bannon is one of the most polarizing figures in modern American politics and has been accused of allowing Breitbart and the Trump administration to bring racist and anti-Semitic views into the mainstream. Bannon essentially has established himself as the chief curator for the alt right. Under his stewardship, Breitbart has emerged as the leading source for the extreme views of a vocal minority who peddle bigotry and promote hate, states the Anti-Defamation League, which works to defend Jewish people and stop anti-Semitism. Breitbart, however, has dismissed the alt-right, calling it a fringe element and a bunch  of losers. â€Å"These guys are a collection of clowns,† he said in 2017. Bannon has described himself as a strong American nationalist. Executive at Breitbart News Bannon took over Breitbart News when its founder, Andrew Breitbart, died in 2012. He routinely promoted stories designed to alarm readers about illegal immigration and Shariah Law. â€Å"We’re the  platform for the alt-right,† Bannon told a reporter for Mother Jones in 2016. Bannon left Breitbart and worked for Trump for a year; he returned to Breitbart in August 2017 and served as the news networks executive chairman until January 2018. He resigned after igniting a firestorm with the Trump family by calling   Donald Trump Jr. â€Å"treasonous† and â€Å"unpatriotic† for meeting   with a Russian lawyer who claimed to have dirt on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election campaign. Strategist in Donald Trumps 2016 Presidential Campaign Bannon was brought on as the chief executive officer of Trumps presidential campaign.in a major shakeup just months before the 2016 election. He left his job at Breitbart News but  was believed to have used website popular with alt-right as a way of inciting its extreme-right audience and rallying them behind the Trump campaign. â€Å"If you look at Stephen Bannon and what they’ve built at Breitbart, it’s win at all cost, and I really think that makes people on the left very afraid because they are willing to say and do things that others in the mainstream media wouldn’t do,† former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said at the time. Top Adviser in Donald Trump White House Bannon is largely responsible for Trumps resistance to compromise on immigration issues such as the proposed wall along the United States border with Mexico. Bannon believed compromise would not help the president gain ground with detractors, and only soften his support among Trumps base. Bannon felt the only way Trump could expand his support among Americans was to hold onto his rigid ideological beliefs. Bannons chief policy concern was what he called the United States economic war with China and a belief that, as he put it, globalists gutted the American working class and created a middle class in Asia. Bannon, in perhaps the clearest statements on his anti-globalist crusade,  told The American Prospects Robert Kuttner: â€Å"We’re at economic war with China. It’s in all their literature. They’re not shy about saying what they’re doing. One of us is going to be a hegemon in 25 or 30 years and it’s gonna be them if we go down this path. On Korea, they’re just tapping us along. It’s just a sideshow. ... To me, the economic war with China is everything. And we have to be maniacally focused on that. If we continue to lose it, were five years away, I think, ten years at the most, of hitting an inflection  point from which well never be able to recover. ...  We’ve come to the conclusion that they’re in an economic war and they’re crushing us.† Bannon is also quoted as saying about his agenda: Like Andrew Jacksons populism, were going to build an entirely new political movement. Its everything related to jobs. The conservatives are going to go crazy. Im the guy pushing a trillion-dollar infrastructure plan. With negative interest rates throughout the world, its the greatest opportunity to rebuild everything. Ship yards, iron works, get them all jacked up. Were 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. Bannon was forced out of the job in August 2017 following Trumps botched response to a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that turned violent, killing one counter protester. The president was widely criticized for his response, in which he claimed both sides were to blame for violence. Bannon had also made disparaging remarks about some members of the Trump White House to journalists, which hastened his exit. Bannons exit, however, also came amid reports that he had clashed with Jared Kushner, Trumps son-in-law and senior White House adviser, as well as other key members of the presidents leadership team. Banking Career Perhaps the least known aspect of Bannons career is the time he spent in banking. Bannon began his Wall Street career in 1985 in mergers and acquisitions with Goldman Sachs and was promoted to Vice President about three years later. Bannon told the Chicago Tribune in a March 2017 profile that his first three years at Goldman Sachs was to respond to a boom in hostile takeovers. Goldman Sachs took the side of companies under attack from corporate raiders and leveraged buyout firms. Bannon had to come up with strategies to protect companies from unwanted suitors. He broke with the mega-firm in 1990 to launch his own  investment bank,  Bannon Co., which invested primarily in movies and other intellectual property. Military Career Bannon served seven years in the U.S. Navy, enlisting in the Reserve in 1976 and leaving in 1983 as an officer. He served two deployments at sea and then served three years at the Pentagon working on Navy budgets. His fellow officers saw him as something of an investment  sensei, according  to a Washington Post profile of Bannons military service. Bannon was known to scour The Wall Street Journal for investments and often advised his fellow shipmates, the newspaper reported.   Filmmaker Bannon is listed as being the producer of 18 ideologically driven documentaries. They are: The Last 600 Meters, about the two biggest battles of the Iraq war, in Najaf and Fallujah   Torchbearer, about Duck Dynasty star  Phil RobertsonClinton Cash, an expose on the Clinton FoundationRickover: The Birth of Nuclear Power, a profile of  Admiral Hyman G. RickoverSweetwater, a drama about a blood triangle on the rugged plains of the New Mexico TerritoryDistrict of Corruption, about government secrecy in Washington, D.C.The Hope the ChangeThe Undefeated, a profile of Sarah PalinBattle for America, a political documentary about Constitutional conservativesFire from the Heartland, a documentary about women conservativesGeneration Zero, about the economic crisis of 2008The Steam Experiment, thriller about global warming and the mediaTradition Never Graduates: A Season Inside Notre Dame FootballBorder War: The Battle Over Illegal ImmigrationCochise County USA: Cries from the Border, a documentary about illegal immigrationIn the Face of Evil: Reagans War in Word and DeedTitus, a historical thriller The Indian Runner, a drama about a Vietnam veteran featuring Sean Penn Controversies One of the biggest controversies to erupt in the Trump presidency was his use of an executive order  in January 2017 to authorize Bannon  to serve on the National Security Councils principals committee. The committee is made up of the secretaries of the departments of State and Defense, the director of Central Intelligence, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the chief of staff to the president and the national security adviser.   The appointment of Bannon, a political strategist, to a panel responsible for ensuring national security caught many Washington insiders by surprise. â€Å"The last place you want to put somebody who worries about politics is in a room where they’re talking about national security,† former Defense Secretary and CIA Director Leon E. Panetta told  The New York Times. Bannon was removed from the National Security Council in April 2017, less than three months later. The controversy that led to Bannon estrangement from the Trumps, though, was his accusation that Donald Trump Jrs meeting with a Russian lawyer was treasonous.   â€Å"The three senior guys in the campaign thought it was a good idea to meet with a foreign government inside Trump Tower in the conference room on the 25th floor – with no lawyers. They didn’t have any lawyers, Bannon is quoted as saying.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Even if you thought that this was not treasonous, or unpatriotic, or bad [expletive], and I happen to think it’s all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately.† Bannon made the remarks to journalist  Michael Wolff, who published them in the 2018 blockbuster book  Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White  House. Breitbart was largely silent on Bannons departure; it issued a prepared statement from CEO  Larry Solov stating: â€Å"Steve is a valued part of our legacy, and we will always be grateful for his contributions, and what he has helped us to accomplish.† Bannon later apologized for his remarks about the president and his son. â€Å"Donald Trump, Jr. is both a patriot and a good man. He has been relentless in his advocacy for his father and the agenda that has helped turn our country around. My support is also unwavering for the president and his agenda - as I have shown daily in my national radio broadcasts, on the pages of Breitbart News and in speeches and appearances from Tokyo and Hong Kong to Arizona and Alabama,† Bannon said in January 2018. Education Heres a quick look at Bannons educational background. Class of 1972 at Benedictine High School, a Roman Catholic military school in Richmond, Virginia.Bachelors degree in urban affairs in 1976 from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, where he was elected Student Government Association president in 1975.Masters degree  in national security studies from  Georgetown Universitys School of Foreign Service in 1983.Master degree in business administration from Harvard University in 1985. Personal Life Bannons full name is Stephan Kevin Bannon. He was born in 1953 in Richmond, Virginia. Bannon has married and divorced three times. He has three grown daughters. Quotes About Steve Bannon It is almost impossible not to hold an opinion on Bannons political views, his role in the Trump White House or even his appearance. Heres a look at what some prominent figures have said about Bannon.   On his appearance: Bannon was unlike most other strategists who worked in the top echelons of politics. He was known for his unkempt appearance, often showing up for work at the White House unshaven and wearing informal attire unlike his peers, who wore suits. Bannon gleefully threw off the strictures of the working stiff and adopted a singular personal style: rumpled oxfords layered over multiple polo shirts, ratty cargo shorts, and flip-flops - a sartorial middle finger to the whole wide world, wrote journalist Joshua Green in his 2017 book about Bannon, Devils Bargain. Trump political adviser  Roger Stone once said:  Steve needs to be introduced to soap and water.   On his agenda in the White House: Anthony Scaramucci, hired as Trumps communications director and fired a few days later, accused Bannon in a profanity-laden rant of trying to forward his own self-interests on the presidents coattails.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"I’m not trying to build my own brand off the [expletive] strength of the president, Scaramucci said, suggesting Bannon was. On his work ethic:  Ã¢â‚¬Å"A lot of intellectuals sit back and write columns and let other people do the work. Steve is a believer in doing both,† said David Bossie, president of the conservative group Citizens United. On his character: â€Å"He is a vindictive, nasty figure, infamous for verbally abusing supposed friends and threatening enemies. He will attempt to ruin anyone who impedes his unending ambition, and he will use anyone bigger than he is – for example, Donald Trump – to get where he wants to go,† said Ben Shapiro, a former editor at Breitbart. Controversial Quotes From Bannon On apathy and getting people engaged politically: â€Å"Fear is a good thing. Fear is going to lead you to take action.† On racism in the alt-right movement: â€Å"Are there racist people involved in the alt-right? Absolutely. Look, are there some people that are white nationalists that are attracted to some of the philosophies of the alt-right? Maybe. Are there some people that are anti-Semitic that are attracted? Maybe. Right? Maybe some people are attracted to the alt-right that are homophobes, right? But that’s just like, there are certain elements of the progressive left and the hard left that attract certain elements.† On upending the Republican Party:  Ã¢â‚¬Å"We don’t believe there is a functional conservative party in this country and we certainly don’t think the Republican Party is that. It’s going to be an insurgent, center-right populist movement that is virulently anti-establishment, and it’s going to continue to hammer this city, both the progressive left and the institutional Republican Party.†