By Hanna Grissel
Since Stephen Bannon joined Donald Trump’s campaign, his influence has been stuck on the back of Trump like a — leach. This isn’t to say Trump and Bannon are much different. In many ways they’re alike; their figures seem to gleam in the eyes of alt-righters, they’re both able to walk circles around facts while making their own alternative facts, and from what I heard, they bonded over their love of Mein Kampf.
As Kellyanne Conway put it, the two have something of a “mind-meld” between them. As strong as their connection might be, their intentions do seem to vary. If we’re being honest, Bannon has shown himself to be quite community — driven, in comparison with Trump. He wants to be a leader of course — he spent years running Breibart and positioning himself as such. However, he wants to be a leader that sticks to his promises and cares for his people.
He’ll do whatever it takes to push their shared agenda while he’s pulling the strings behind the scenes. And if that isn’t the sign of a true leader, then I’m not sure what is. Some people have called his movement “white nationalist” and even brought forth evidence that Neo-Nazis support it, but Bannon cleared that up.
He said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal,” I’m an economic nationalist. I am an America first guy. … I’ve never been a supporter of ethno-nationalism.”
Bannon, like any great leader, wants to make sure that his supporters feel comfortable. In the day and age of political correctness, alt-right supporters are being called out for being, say, Islamophobic. And I think we can all attest to the fact that being told how a majority of others consider your ideology can be painful. Almost immediately, a call-out could ignite a victim complex and maybe even cause shame to grow inside.
Which is why daddy Bannon relies on his alternative facts, to help alt-righters feel comfortable being themselves. This altruism is the thing Trump is missing, and luckily, Bannon sees this fault clearly.
He and Trump know how important pushing what some may call a “white nationalist agenda” is. However, Trump tends to forget about the importance of the populace’s support. Really, keeping Trump compassionate is the reason that Bannon needs to be as powerful in the White House as he’s becoming.
The first step of Bannon’s rise to power happened over the weekend with his unprecedented appointment to the National Security Council. Foreign Policy recently reported, “Even before he was given a formal seat on the National Security Council’s ‘principals committee’ this weekend by President Trump, Bannon was calling the shots and doing so with little to no input from the National Security Council staff, according to an intelligence official who asked not to be named out of fear of retribution.”
I can’t imagine the Trump administration would retaliate for sharing how helpful Bannon has been for Trump. Regardless, having the man who once told the Hollywood Reporter in an interview, “Dick Cheney. Darth Vader. Satan. That’s power,” making militaristic decisions for the nation shows again how much he cares, this time about our safety.
With Trump’s recent fatigue causing him to hang up on Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnball, we should see Bannon’s oozing into every aspect of decision making as another form of altruism on his part. And luckily, because Bannon’s position isn’t up for Senate approval, he can continue his work unstinted for the rest of the Trump’s presidency.