October 15, 2021 • 25 mins
RUSH: The Steve Bannon interview… I’ve been getting emails all day from people who want my take on this, so I’m gonna go ahead and get into this now. I got to tell you again up front, I don’t know the guy. I haven’t even…
He’s been in a room twice when I have been with the president, but I’ve never been formally introduced even, and I’ve never spoken directly to him. So none of this is, to me, based on any personal knowledge I have of Bannon or the arrangement that Trump and Bannon have. All I can do is speculate hire, which I’ll be happy to do. Now, the reason that Washington’s in a tizzy today is because Bannon called Robert Kuttner at The American Prospect for an exclusive interview. This would be like Reagan calling Pravda.
Unreal, of all the people Bannon could call, he calls Kuttner at The American Prospect. He calls somebody that hates Trump as much as anybody hates Trump, and it was not off the record. He wanted it known. Whatever was in this interview, Bannon wants out there, and it’s out there. I watched Karl Rove react to it today and he was beside himself. He just could not believe any of this. He couldn’t believe any aspect of it, thought it was the craziest, strangest, oddest, dumbest thing he’s ever seen from any administration.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Steve Bannon interview. I've been getting emails all day
from people who want my take on this, so I'm
gonna go ahead and get into this now. I gotta
tell you again up front, I don't know the guy
I've I've I haven't even. He's been in a room
twice when I have been with the President, but I've
never been formally introduced even and I've never spoken directly
(00:22):
to him. So none of this is to me based
on any personal knowledge I have of Bannon or the
arrangement that Trump and bannont have. All I can do
is speculate here, which I'll be happy to do. Now.
The reason, uh that Washington's in a tissy day is
(00:43):
because Bannon called Robert Kuttner at the American Prospect. This
is for exclusive interview. This would be like Reagan calling Pravda.
I mean, there's unreal of all the people Bannon could call.
He calls Kuttner at the American Prospect. He calls somebody
that hates Trump as much as anybody hates Trump. And
(01:08):
it was not off the record. He wanted whatever is
in his interview. Bannon wants out there, and it's out there.
I watched Karl Rove react to it today and he
was beside himself. He just could not believe any of this.
He couldn't believe any any aspect of it. I thought
it was the craziest, strangest, oddest, dumbest thing he's ever
(01:29):
seen from any administration. I'm not going to share me
the whole thing I have. I've paired this down to
its their essence. Bannon was in high spirits when he
phoned me Tuesday afternoon. This is Kuttner, this is the leftist,
anti trumpist. Bannon was in high spirits when he found
(01:51):
me Tuesday afternoon to talk politics about taking a harder
line with China. Me. He means no words. Describing his
efforts to neutralize his rivals at the Department of Defense,
Department of State, and Treasury, Bannon said, we are at
(02:12):
economic war with China. It's an all their literature. They're
not shy about saying what they're doing. One of us
is going to be a Hedgeman in twenty five or
thirty years, and it's going to be them if we
go down this path on Korea. They're just tapping us along.
It's just a side show. Hedgemin dominant Hegamin means the
(02:36):
big winner in this context. So Bannon is saying everything
going on out there that you see with Korea, it's
a side show. It's not really what's important. What's important
is our economic war with China, and if we're not careful,
we're gonna lose it. This is a slap at Trump,
(02:57):
and it's being seen as a slap at Trump because
of additional comments that Mannon made on North Korea. Kuttner
wrote the following Bannon said he might consider a deal
in which China got North Korea to freeze its nuclear
build up with verifiable inspections and the United States removed
(03:19):
its troops from the peninsula south of the DMZ. But
such a deal seemed remote, given that China is not
likely to do much more on North Korea than the
over they are, and that the logic of mutually assured
destruction was its own source of restraint. Bannon saw no
reason not to proceed with tough trade sanctions against China.
(03:43):
What struck me about this is the way Kutner wrote this.
Bannon said he might He's not talking about Trump, talking
about himself. Bannon said, I might consider a deal which
China got North Korea to freeze its nuclear build up,
(04:05):
and then he went further on North Korea. You know,
Trump has been out there promising fire and fury, and
Trump has been really launching at Kim Jong un, and
he's been making it clear that if Kim Jong un
launches at Guam or does anything, that there's going to
be hell fire to pay. And Bannon undercut all of
(04:25):
that in this interview. Contrary to Trump's threat of fire
and fury, Bannon said, there's no military solution in North Korea.
Forget it until somebody solves the part of the equation
that shows me that ten million people in Soul do
not die in the first thirty minutes from conventional weapons.
(04:46):
I don't know what you're talking about. There's no military
solution here. They got it, okay. So once again Bannon
portrays himself as the architect of thinking and policy on Korea,
not Trump. Just as Bannon said he might consider a
deal in which China gan. So Bannon is conveying here
that he is the decision maker and strategist on these
(05:11):
foreign policy subjects are questions, and that Trump is just
along for the ride. I think there's a reason for this.
You want to take in a minute here, but uh,
this is a there's no question Bannon here in this
interview just through Trump's North Korea policy under the bus,
(05:34):
because what Trump has been talking in terms of tough
talk with Kim Jong un is in fact a military
response by US if Kim Jong un starts something, if
he launches it hits Guam or any other American target.
Trump has made it clear that it might be the
last thing Kim Jong un never does. And Bannon just
(05:55):
threw that under the bus, na, na, na. He said,
there's no military solution. Forget it. I don't know what
you're talking about. No military solution at all here. They
got us on that meaning we're paralyzed, we can't we
can't stop the North Koreans. And Bannon then goes on
to say they're not even the problem. North Korea is
not what it's about. Mannon that. To me, the economic
(06:18):
war with China is everything, and we have to be
maniacally focused on that. If we continue to lose it,
and we're five years away, ten years of the most
of hitting an inflection point from which we will never
be able to recover. Bannon's plan of attack includes a
complaint under section three oh one of the nineteen seventy
(06:39):
four Trade Act against Chinese coercion of technology transfers from
American corporations doing business there, and follow up complaints against
steel and aluminum dumping. We're gonna run the tables on
these guys. We've come to the conclusion that they are
in an economic war and they're crushing us, and we
have to stop it. Now. Try Ump has alluded throughout
(07:04):
the campaign and even in his days as president, he
has alluded to the nefarious tactics and activities of the
Shi cons So on this, Bannon seems consistent with Trump. Now,
this complaint undersection three oh one of the nineteen seventy
(07:24):
four Trade Act against Chinese coercion of technology transfers from
American corporation doing visits. What that means Apple assembles iPhones
and iPads and home pods and any number of gadgets
(07:44):
in China, and therefore Chinese manufacturing companies are aware they
are exposed to Apple technology, they are exposed to Apple secrets,
and the nineties sevento Trade Act prevents a host nation
(08:09):
like China from coercing tech secrets trade secrets from say
a company like Apple in order for Apple to continue
to be allowed to do business there, and ban is
talking about filing a complaint that the chi coms are
violating this, that they're actually engaged in theft of intellectual
(08:32):
and technological property, and saying that this can't stand in
and they're way ahead of us on this, and if
we don't get our acting gear in ten years tops
the chi coms are gonna beat as that it's over
in North Korea's a side show. It doesn't matter, it's irrelevant.
And then he was asked, what about all the people
(08:53):
who don't like you, Steve, State Department, Defense Department. Oh,
they're wedding themselves. Bannon said, they're peeing in their pants.
I'm changing out people at East Asian Defense. I'm getting
Hawks in there. I'm getting Susan Thornton out at State
(09:17):
not Trump. Bannon is supposedly clearing out all the Obama
in beds in there. He's getting rid of Susan Thornton,
She's the acting head of East Asian and Pacific Affairs
in the State Department. I'm getting rid of these people
that are thwarting their thwarting our agenda. They're wedding themselves.
(09:38):
I don't care. Cutner says, can Bannon really win that
internal fight? Bannon said, that's a fight I fight here
every day, and we're still fighting. There's Treasury, the National
Economic Council chair Gary Cohn, Goldman Sax lobbying. I'm fighting
against these people every day. Now. I find it interesting
(10:02):
that the lead headline at Drudge right now, this is
hours after this interview was published, and this is key
with Bannon saying here, yeah, I fight these guys inside
this administration every day. Treasury, the Economic Council chairman Gary Khne,
he's Goldman Sachs lobbyists. I'm fighting him every day. The
(10:22):
lead story at Drudge right now, Gary khne resignation would
crash markets, stocks fall. Okay, so somebody is responding to
Bannon's claim here that he's doing everything he can to
get rid of Gary Khne, and that would mean get
rid of Dina Powell, and that would mean get rid
(10:43):
of the influence of Jared and Ivanka. He's doing everything
he can to get rid of that in order to
save this administration of people trying to sabotage it. Well,
those people have responded because this is let me click
on the link. Let me see what it is. Yea,
CNBC has got the story. A Gary Cohen resignation would
crash the markets, would sink the stock market. Now Rode
(11:11):
was saying, I can't believe this. I can't believe that
Trump has anybody on his staff that would do this.
I can't believe that Trump doesn't get rid of this
guy yesterday. I can't believe that Trump would be afraid
to get rid of this guy. What kind of a
functioning White House staff is there if the president is
afraid of an aide and the reason for the fear
(11:34):
I'll explain here in just a moment. Final point, Kuttner says,
I I asked Bannon about the connection between his program
of economic nationalism and the ugly white nationalism epitomized by
the racist violence in Charlottesville and Trump's reluctance to condemn it. Bannon,
(11:57):
after all, it was the architect of the strategicy of
using bright Bart News to heat up white nationalism and
then rely on the radical right as Trump's base. That
is b s and that is exactly the point I
made in the previous hour, trying to characterize what you
saw in Charlotte as the Trump base, and it's not
big enough to be the Trump basis, not even close.
(12:18):
They're trying to portray you in this audience who voted
for Trump as no different from those lunatics that you
saw protesting the white supremacist of the Nazis and the
Clan in Charlottesville, and Kuttner is doing it here in
this question to Bannon. Bannon's answer to this was to
dismiss the far right as irrelevant. He sidestepped his own
(12:42):
role in cultivating it. He said, f known nationalism, it's losers,
It's a fringe element. I think the media plays it
up too much. We gotta help crush it and help
crush it more. These guys are a collection of clowns,
is what he has said about the clan and the
Nazis and the white supremacist collection of clowns and rove
(13:08):
is up. The collection of clowns. Is that the best
you can do there? Worse than a collection of clowns.
People laugh at clowns. What do you mean that a
collection of clowns? That's horrible, that's rotten. Is that the
worst you can say about them? People are having that
kind of reaction. But then Bannon said this, and this
is one of the top three things in this interview
that's got Washington going. The Democrats, Bannon said, the longer
(13:33):
they talk about identity politics, I got them. I want
them talking about race every day. If the left is
focused on race and identity and we go with economic nationalism,
we will crush the Democrats. We'll wipe the floor with him.
(13:53):
The Bannon's claiming he loves the media focus on this stuff.
He loves the Democrats running around acting offended and outraged.
Identity politics, race, that's the greatest distraction we could have
foisted on them. Ever, let him keep talking about that,
and we are gonna steam roller them with massive economic improvements.
(14:15):
Once again, The overall flavor of the interview is that
Trump is not president Bannon is that Mannon is doing
all these things. Trump's taking advice and doing it. I
want this, I'm doing this. You give me that and
I'll take that. Yes, I'm glad the media is doing that. Hell, yes,
I don't care North Korea. That's a side show. China,
that's the real enemy. That's what I'm focused on. I'm
(14:35):
doing everything i can to get rid of Gary Khane
and the Golden Sacks Nash. So why do this? Why
do it? And that's that's what all the intrigue in
Washington is really all about. And I will weigh in
on that myself. There's some possibilities here, but to understand
the possibilities you have to have been privy to some
(14:58):
of the scuttle But let's go around which, of course,
as a powerful influential member of the media, I am
aware of the scuttle butt, which makes my analysis informed. Okay,
one of the possibilities with Bannon and doing it. By
the way, Bannon has now spoken again to the UK
Daily Mail saying, hey, this was good today, this interview
(15:19):
with Kutner because it took all the focus off Trump
today and to put the focus on me. It took
the focus away from Trump, and that was good. I
did a service, and to the extent that it took
focus off Trump, it did. But it's by no means
going to change anything in that regard. The media is
not going to forget about Trump, is the point. So
(15:41):
the scuttle butt is, folks, for the past month that
Bannon has been on the outs and that he was
just a NAT's eyelash away from being fired. But Trump
is reluctant to fire him because of what Bannon knows
(16:02):
and would rather keep Bannon inside the tent and maybe
isolate him rather than fire him and have Bannon go
out there and start launching on Trump because there's a
there's a fear. I think this is misguided, that there's
a fear that Bannon could talk Trump's voters out of
(16:22):
supporting it. Let me ask you, if Bannon leaves the
White Disease, resigns here, is fired and then starts this
goes back to bright Barterard goes on TV and radio
every night, starts down talking Trump. Is he gonna convince
you to abandon Trump? As we won't. But apparently there's
people inside the White House who think that Bannon has
that power that nobody else only Trump and Bannon could
(16:45):
actually destroy the Trump connection with his basse. The other
possibility here is related to the first, that that Bannon
goes out and does this because he's heard and knows
that Kelly doesn't like it. Man Trump's mad at him
and wants him gone, And so this could could be
almost an example, Okay, you fire me, look at what
(17:08):
you're in for this is just a taste of what
I'm gonna do to you. There's all kinds of intrigue
going on here, uh with this, and this is what
Karl Rove was. Carl Roves, it cannot believe that there's
a presidential administration where an AID has this kind of
the of power, the ability to be such a damn distraction.
(17:30):
Now there's another theory about man. I guess the third one,
and that is that Bannon doesn't want to resign, he
wants to get fired. Uh. And this theory again requires
a belief that Trump's base actually loves Bannon more than Trump,
and that Trump's base likes Bannon, likes Trump because of Bannon.
(17:54):
That folks would I tell you, there's no doubt me.
There are people, there are people all over Washington, d C.
Who think that Steve Bannon made Trump, that Trump didn't
having to do with it, and they think that Trump
uh has words put in his mouth by Bannon. This
this is why when when Trump had his press conference
(18:15):
yesterday or whatever it was, and start answering questions about
mannon He's he reminds people that Bannon didn't come on
until after he'd won the nomination for all intents and purposes,
Trump makes it. He tries to make it clear that
Bannon had nothing to do with him winning the nomination,
that he hired Bannon to be CEO of the presidential campaign. Uh,
(18:38):
and he goes to great pains. Look, I've known Bannon
a while, but he didn't come on board here. He
wasn't here at the beginning. He did anything you do,
it is the beginning. So there there's something going on
internally here. Now there have there has been a book
that came out a couple of months after Trump's inauguration.
The subject of the book was how Bannon was the
architect of Trump's presidency and supposedly Trump steamed over that,
(19:03):
which I totally understand by the way, I completely I
would understand if if that's true. I also have been
told long before Trump even ran for president, and if
you work for Trump, you sign a non disparagement agreement
kind of like an n d A, a non disclosure
(19:25):
and you promise that you will not disparage Trump after
you leave his employee. And you sign that and there's
a you're agreeing. It's like a ten million dollar penalty,
potential lawsuit. I don't know if if those things survived
with White House staff basically having them. Uh, they don't
(19:47):
stop people from talking in most cases, but they can
they can be helpful in DA's non disparagement agreements. But
the important thing about about all of these theories is
that they are all predicated on the fact that Bannon
can destroy Trump, because, in the media's eyes, Bannon made
(20:09):
Trump the Trump is too dumb to have made himself.
Trump is is too rough around the edges. Trump is
not a deep enough thinker, and he's not nearly a
brilliant strategist. Trump couldn't have gotten himself elected. That's what
they all think. Bannon did that, and so they are.
(20:33):
They are the people inside the belt where you're captivated
by this. They really believe that Trump will not fire
Bannon because Trump knows that Bannon can destroy him, because
they think that all it has to happen is for
Bannon to go on TV and tell Trump's voters that
(20:55):
Trump's a phony and Trump's this, and that Trump's voters
will a band of him. Inside the belt Way analysts
actually believe that Trump's voters are more loyal and more
devoted and more appreciative of Bannon than they are Trump.
Do not doubt me on this. If you don't understand that,
(21:17):
you won't understand these theories as you read them. That
Bannon is the creator of populism, for example, that Bannon
is the creator of trump nationalism, That Bannon is the
guy who created the alt right, who is the Trump's
is Trump's base? All of that is just total b s.
It was mainstream Americans that signed up and voted for
(21:40):
Donald Trump, mainstream Americans all over the country. There aren't
enough of these rag tag wackos to elect anybody president.
The alt right, which nobody ever heard of, by the way,
until Trump came along. I never heard of you ever
heard of the alt right? Sturdily last year? Let's what
I mean. Do you hear five years ago you ever
(22:01):
heard of the alt right? I'll tell you what I heard.
That there was, there's there's always been on the internet,
the alt discussion groups. I forget that, uh total the
name of them, the the alt It's been a whack
of fringe of the Internet, and somehow alt right ends
(22:21):
up being created and they credit Mannon with that. So
inside the belt Way, the Washington establishment, Trump is he
really is a buffoon, folks, and that's why they can't
believe in one. And they really think that Bannon could
destroy him, and they think that Trump knows it, and
so that's why they will tell you that Trump is
(22:44):
very reluctant to let him go because Trump knows that
Bannon could blow up his his coalition. And I think
it's so much bs I can't tell you, but this
is what they think. And I'm just sharing this with
you because you're gonna be hearing and reading about all this,
and you're gonna hear all these theories about what Bannon
(23:04):
is doing and why is doing it, why Trump doesn't
fire him, or why Trump will fire him, or why
Bannon won't just quit. I'm telling you to understand the theories,
you have to you have to understand that the people
talking about it, I think that bannons the Sengali and
that Trump is an empty vessel wandering around every day
(23:26):
doing what Bannon said. And that's how I got elected.
Neither crypts of confusion, I was not saying it. An
n d A is a non disparagement agreement. I was
talking non disparaged in agreement, and an n d A.
Trump does both. He has non disparagement agreements with some
of his employees under penalty of ten million dollar fine.
You are not allowed to disparage Trump while or after
(23:49):
you work for him. Non disclosure agreements a totally different thing.
You're not allowed to discuss or disclose anything you saw
or witnessed or heard when you work for somebody or
when you're in their employee. I'm telling I've heard that
Trump has non disparagement agreements in his in his private business.
I don't know that it's carried over to the White
House STAFFAA that they have, and I'll bet Bannon has one,
(24:11):
and I've bet a lot of people in there, dudes.
And uh, look, I need to say this this one
more time, because every time that I explained it to
the staff here, they can't believe. I am telling you, folks,
there are what you would consider to be mainstream conservative
blogs and websites who literally believe that Steve Bannon is
(24:37):
what got Trump elected and that Steve Bannon, if fired,
could destroy Trump. There are people who think that Trump's
base was created by Bannon. They are all right right
nationalists and so forth, and that if Bannon ever turned
(24:58):
on Trump, that every abody that voted for Trump would
abandoned Trump, if bannoned, if bannoned leaves, and I think
that's just so much b s. I can't tell you,
and so did the staff in here who voted for Trump.
But I'm telling you that people inside the Bellway and
what you would think her mainstream publication literally believe that,
(25:20):
just like many of them literally believed that Russia colluded
with Trump, no matter the evidence that they think it happened.
There is so much visceral hatred, dislike, disappointment in Trump
being president that these views are far more widespread than
you would believe. I would venture to say that most
(25:42):
Trump voters had never heard of Steve Bannon even when
he was named chief strategist. But that's not what they think.
The Steve Bannon interview. I've been getting emails all day
from people who want my take on this, so I'm
gonna go ahead and get into this now. I gotta
tell you again up front, I don't know the guy
I've I've I haven't even. He's been in a room
twice when I have been with the President, but I've
never been formally introduced even and I've never spoken directly
(00:22):
to him. So none of this is to me based
on any personal knowledge I have of Bannon or the
arrangement that Trump and bannont have. All I can do
is speculate here, which I'll be happy to do. Now.
The reason, uh that Washington's in a tissy day is
(00:43):
because Bannon called Robert Kuttner at the American Prospect. This
is for exclusive interview. This would be like Reagan calling Pravda.
I mean, there's unreal of all the people Bannon could call.
He calls Kuttner at the American Prospect. He calls somebody
that hates Trump as much as anybody hates Trump. And
(01:08):
it was not off the record. He wanted whatever is
in his interview. Bannon wants out there, and it's out there.
I watched Karl Rove react to it today and he
was beside himself. He just could not believe any of this.
He couldn't believe any any aspect of it. I thought
it was the craziest, strangest, oddest, dumbest thing he's ever
(01:29):
seen from any administration. I'm not going to share me
the whole thing I have. I've paired this down to
its their essence. Bannon was in high spirits when he
phoned me Tuesday afternoon. This is Kuttner, this is the leftist,
anti trumpist. Bannon was in high spirits when he found
(01:51):
me Tuesday afternoon to talk politics about taking a harder
line with China. Me. He means no words. Describing his
efforts to neutralize his rivals at the Department of Defense,
Department of State, and Treasury, Bannon said, we are at
(02:12):
economic war with China. It's an all their literature. They're
not shy about saying what they're doing. One of us
is going to be a Hedgeman in twenty five or
thirty years, and it's going to be them if we
go down this path on Korea. They're just tapping us along.
It's just a side show. Hedgemin dominant Hegamin means the
(02:36):
big winner in this context. So Bannon is saying everything
going on out there that you see with Korea, it's
a side show. It's not really what's important. What's important
is our economic war with China, and if we're not careful,
we're gonna lose it. This is a slap at Trump,
(02:57):
and it's being seen as a slap at Trump because
of additional comments that Mannon made on North Korea. Kuttner
wrote the following Bannon said he might consider a deal
in which China got North Korea to freeze its nuclear
build up with verifiable inspections and the United States removed
(03:19):
its troops from the peninsula south of the DMZ. But
such a deal seemed remote, given that China is not
likely to do much more on North Korea than the
over they are, and that the logic of mutually assured
destruction was its own source of restraint. Bannon saw no
reason not to proceed with tough trade sanctions against China.
(03:43):
What struck me about this is the way Kutner wrote this.
Bannon said he might He's not talking about Trump, talking
about himself. Bannon said, I might consider a deal which
China got North Korea to freeze its nuclear build up,
(04:05):
and then he went further on North Korea. You know,
Trump has been out there promising fire and fury, and
Trump has been really launching at Kim Jong un, and
he's been making it clear that if Kim Jong un
launches at Guam or does anything, that there's going to
be hell fire to pay. And Bannon undercut all of
(04:25):
that in this interview. Contrary to Trump's threat of fire
and fury, Bannon said, there's no military solution in North Korea.
Forget it until somebody solves the part of the equation
that shows me that ten million people in Soul do
not die in the first thirty minutes from conventional weapons.
(04:46):
I don't know what you're talking about. There's no military
solution here. They got it, okay. So once again Bannon
portrays himself as the architect of thinking and policy on Korea,
not Trump. Just as Bannon said he might consider a
deal in which China gan. So Bannon is conveying here
that he is the decision maker and strategist on these
(05:11):
foreign policy subjects are questions, and that Trump is just
along for the ride. I think there's a reason for this.
You want to take in a minute here, but uh,
this is a there's no question Bannon here in this
interview just through Trump's North Korea policy under the bus,
(05:34):
because what Trump has been talking in terms of tough
talk with Kim Jong un is in fact a military
response by US if Kim Jong un starts something, if
he launches it hits Guam or any other American target.
Trump has made it clear that it might be the
last thing Kim Jong un never does. And Bannon just
(05:55):
threw that under the bus, na, na, na. He said,
there's no military solution. Forget it. I don't know what
you're talking about. No military solution at all here. They
got us on that meaning we're paralyzed, we can't we
can't stop the North Koreans. And Bannon then goes on
to say they're not even the problem. North Korea is
not what it's about. Mannon that. To me, the economic
(06:18):
war with China is everything, and we have to be
maniacally focused on that. If we continue to lose it,
and we're five years away, ten years of the most
of hitting an inflection point from which we will never
be able to recover. Bannon's plan of attack includes a
complaint under section three oh one of the nineteen seventy
(06:39):
four Trade Act against Chinese coercion of technology transfers from
American corporations doing business there, and follow up complaints against
steel and aluminum dumping. We're gonna run the tables on
these guys. We've come to the conclusion that they are
in an economic war and they're crushing us, and we
have to stop it. Now. Try Ump has alluded throughout
(07:04):
the campaign and even in his days as president, he
has alluded to the nefarious tactics and activities of the
Shi cons So on this, Bannon seems consistent with Trump. Now,
this complaint undersection three oh one of the nineteen seventy
(07:24):
four Trade Act against Chinese coercion of technology transfers from
American corporation doing visits. What that means Apple assembles iPhones
and iPads and home pods and any number of gadgets
(07:44):
in China, and therefore Chinese manufacturing companies are aware they
are exposed to Apple technology, they are exposed to Apple secrets,
and the nineties sevento Trade Act prevents a host nation
(08:09):
like China from coercing tech secrets trade secrets from say
a company like Apple in order for Apple to continue
to be allowed to do business there, and ban is
talking about filing a complaint that the chi coms are
violating this, that they're actually engaged in theft of intellectual
(08:32):
and technological property, and saying that this can't stand in
and they're way ahead of us on this, and if
we don't get our acting gear in ten years tops
the chi coms are gonna beat as that it's over
in North Korea's a side show. It doesn't matter, it's irrelevant.
And then he was asked, what about all the people
(08:53):
who don't like you, Steve, State Department, Defense Department. Oh,
they're wedding themselves. Bannon said, they're peeing in their pants.
I'm changing out people at East Asian Defense. I'm getting
Hawks in there. I'm getting Susan Thornton out at State
(09:17):
not Trump. Bannon is supposedly clearing out all the Obama
in beds in there. He's getting rid of Susan Thornton,
She's the acting head of East Asian and Pacific Affairs
in the State Department. I'm getting rid of these people
that are thwarting their thwarting our agenda. They're wedding themselves.
(09:38):
I don't care. Cutner says, can Bannon really win that
internal fight? Bannon said, that's a fight I fight here
every day, and we're still fighting. There's Treasury, the National
Economic Council chair Gary Cohn, Goldman Sax lobbying. I'm fighting
against these people every day. Now. I find it interesting
(10:02):
that the lead headline at Drudge right now, this is
hours after this interview was published, and this is key
with Bannon saying here, yeah, I fight these guys inside
this administration every day. Treasury, the Economic Council chairman Gary Khne,
he's Goldman Sachs lobbyists. I'm fighting him every day. The
(10:22):
lead story at Drudge right now, Gary khne resignation would
crash markets, stocks fall. Okay, so somebody is responding to
Bannon's claim here that he's doing everything he can to
get rid of Gary Khne, and that would mean get
rid of Dina Powell, and that would mean get rid
(10:43):
of the influence of Jared and Ivanka. He's doing everything
he can to get rid of that in order to
save this administration of people trying to sabotage it. Well,
those people have responded because this is let me click
on the link. Let me see what it is. Yea,
CNBC has got the story. A Gary Cohen resignation would
crash the markets, would sink the stock market. Now Rode
(11:11):
was saying, I can't believe this. I can't believe that
Trump has anybody on his staff that would do this.
I can't believe that Trump doesn't get rid of this
guy yesterday. I can't believe that Trump would be afraid
to get rid of this guy. What kind of a
functioning White House staff is there if the president is
afraid of an aide and the reason for the fear
(11:34):
I'll explain here in just a moment. Final point, Kuttner says,
I I asked Bannon about the connection between his program
of economic nationalism and the ugly white nationalism epitomized by
the racist violence in Charlottesville and Trump's reluctance to condemn it. Bannon,
(11:57):
after all, it was the architect of the strategicy of
using bright Bart News to heat up white nationalism and
then rely on the radical right as Trump's base. That
is b s and that is exactly the point I
made in the previous hour, trying to characterize what you
saw in Charlotte as the Trump base, and it's not
big enough to be the Trump basis, not even close.
(12:18):
They're trying to portray you in this audience who voted
for Trump as no different from those lunatics that you
saw protesting the white supremacist of the Nazis and the
Clan in Charlottesville, and Kuttner is doing it here in
this question to Bannon. Bannon's answer to this was to
dismiss the far right as irrelevant. He sidestepped his own
(12:42):
role in cultivating it. He said, f known nationalism, it's losers,
It's a fringe element. I think the media plays it
up too much. We gotta help crush it and help
crush it more. These guys are a collection of clowns,
is what he has said about the clan and the
Nazis and the white supremacist collection of clowns and rove
(13:08):
is up. The collection of clowns. Is that the best
you can do there? Worse than a collection of clowns.
People laugh at clowns. What do you mean that a
collection of clowns? That's horrible, that's rotten. Is that the
worst you can say about them? People are having that
kind of reaction. But then Bannon said this, and this
is one of the top three things in this interview
that's got Washington going. The Democrats, Bannon said, the longer
(13:33):
they talk about identity politics, I got them. I want
them talking about race every day. If the left is
focused on race and identity and we go with economic nationalism,
we will crush the Democrats. We'll wipe the floor with him.
(13:53):
The Bannon's claiming he loves the media focus on this stuff.
He loves the Democrats running around acting offended and outraged.
Identity politics, race, that's the greatest distraction we could have
foisted on them. Ever, let him keep talking about that,
and we are gonna steam roller them with massive economic improvements.
(14:15):
Once again, The overall flavor of the interview is that
Trump is not president Bannon is that Mannon is doing
all these things. Trump's taking advice and doing it. I
want this, I'm doing this. You give me that and
I'll take that. Yes, I'm glad the media is doing that. Hell, yes,
I don't care North Korea. That's a side show. China,
that's the real enemy. That's what I'm focused on. I'm
(14:35):
doing everything i can to get rid of Gary Khane
and the Golden Sacks Nash. So why do this? Why
do it? And that's that's what all the intrigue in
Washington is really all about. And I will weigh in
on that myself. There's some possibilities here, but to understand
the possibilities you have to have been privy to some
(14:58):
of the scuttle But let's go around which, of course,
as a powerful influential member of the media, I am
aware of the scuttle butt, which makes my analysis informed. Okay,
one of the possibilities with Bannon and doing it. By
the way, Bannon has now spoken again to the UK
Daily Mail saying, hey, this was good today, this interview
(15:19):
with Kutner because it took all the focus off Trump
today and to put the focus on me. It took
the focus away from Trump, and that was good. I
did a service, and to the extent that it took
focus off Trump, it did. But it's by no means
going to change anything in that regard. The media is
not going to forget about Trump, is the point. So
(15:41):
the scuttle butt is, folks, for the past month that
Bannon has been on the outs and that he was
just a NAT's eyelash away from being fired. But Trump
is reluctant to fire him because of what Bannon knows
(16:02):
and would rather keep Bannon inside the tent and maybe
isolate him rather than fire him and have Bannon go
out there and start launching on Trump because there's a
there's a fear. I think this is misguided, that there's
a fear that Bannon could talk Trump's voters out of
(16:22):
supporting it. Let me ask you, if Bannon leaves the
White Disease, resigns here, is fired and then starts this
goes back to bright Barterard goes on TV and radio
every night, starts down talking Trump. Is he gonna convince
you to abandon Trump? As we won't. But apparently there's
people inside the White House who think that Bannon has
that power that nobody else only Trump and Bannon could
(16:45):
actually destroy the Trump connection with his basse. The other
possibility here is related to the first, that that Bannon
goes out and does this because he's heard and knows
that Kelly doesn't like it. Man Trump's mad at him
and wants him gone, And so this could could be
almost an example, Okay, you fire me, look at what
(17:08):
you're in for this is just a taste of what
I'm gonna do to you. There's all kinds of intrigue
going on here, uh with this, and this is what
Karl Rove was. Carl Roves, it cannot believe that there's
a presidential administration where an AID has this kind of
the of power, the ability to be such a damn distraction.
(17:30):
Now there's another theory about man. I guess the third one,
and that is that Bannon doesn't want to resign, he
wants to get fired. Uh. And this theory again requires
a belief that Trump's base actually loves Bannon more than Trump,
and that Trump's base likes Bannon, likes Trump because of Bannon.
(17:54):
That folks would I tell you, there's no doubt me.
There are people, there are people all over Washington, d C.
Who think that Steve Bannon made Trump, that Trump didn't
having to do with it, and they think that Trump
uh has words put in his mouth by Bannon. This
this is why when when Trump had his press conference
(18:15):
yesterday or whatever it was, and start answering questions about
mannon He's he reminds people that Bannon didn't come on
until after he'd won the nomination for all intents and purposes,
Trump makes it. He tries to make it clear that
Bannon had nothing to do with him winning the nomination,
that he hired Bannon to be CEO of the presidential campaign. Uh,
(18:38):
and he goes to great pains. Look, I've known Bannon
a while, but he didn't come on board here. He
wasn't here at the beginning. He did anything you do,
it is the beginning. So there there's something going on
internally here. Now there have there has been a book
that came out a couple of months after Trump's inauguration.
The subject of the book was how Bannon was the
architect of Trump's presidency and supposedly Trump steamed over that,
(19:03):
which I totally understand by the way, I completely I
would understand if if that's true. I also have been
told long before Trump even ran for president, and if
you work for Trump, you sign a non disparagement agreement
kind of like an n d A, a non disclosure
(19:25):
and you promise that you will not disparage Trump after
you leave his employee. And you sign that and there's
a you're agreeing. It's like a ten million dollar penalty,
potential lawsuit. I don't know if if those things survived
with White House staff basically having them. Uh, they don't
(19:47):
stop people from talking in most cases, but they can
they can be helpful in DA's non disparagement agreements. But
the important thing about about all of these theories is
that they are all predicated on the fact that Bannon
can destroy Trump, because, in the media's eyes, Bannon made
(20:09):
Trump the Trump is too dumb to have made himself.
Trump is is too rough around the edges. Trump is
not a deep enough thinker, and he's not nearly a
brilliant strategist. Trump couldn't have gotten himself elected. That's what
they all think. Bannon did that, and so they are.
(20:33):
They are the people inside the belt where you're captivated
by this. They really believe that Trump will not fire
Bannon because Trump knows that Bannon can destroy him, because
they think that all it has to happen is for
Bannon to go on TV and tell Trump's voters that
(20:55):
Trump's a phony and Trump's this, and that Trump's voters
will a band of him. Inside the belt Way analysts
actually believe that Trump's voters are more loyal and more
devoted and more appreciative of Bannon than they are Trump.
Do not doubt me on this. If you don't understand that,
(21:17):
you won't understand these theories as you read them. That
Bannon is the creator of populism, for example, that Bannon
is the creator of trump nationalism, That Bannon is the
guy who created the alt right, who is the Trump's
is Trump's base? All of that is just total b s.
It was mainstream Americans that signed up and voted for
(21:40):
Donald Trump, mainstream Americans all over the country. There aren't
enough of these rag tag wackos to elect anybody president.
The alt right, which nobody ever heard of, by the way,
until Trump came along. I never heard of you ever
heard of the alt right? Sturdily last year? Let's what
I mean. Do you hear five years ago you ever
(22:01):
heard of the alt right? I'll tell you what I heard.
That there was, there's there's always been on the internet,
the alt discussion groups. I forget that, uh total the
name of them, the the alt It's been a whack
of fringe of the Internet, and somehow alt right ends
(22:21):
up being created and they credit Mannon with that. So
inside the belt Way, the Washington establishment, Trump is he
really is a buffoon, folks, and that's why they can't
believe in one. And they really think that Bannon could
destroy him, and they think that Trump knows it, and
so that's why they will tell you that Trump is
(22:44):
very reluctant to let him go because Trump knows that
Bannon could blow up his his coalition. And I think
it's so much bs I can't tell you, but this
is what they think. And I'm just sharing this with
you because you're gonna be hearing and reading about all this,
and you're gonna hear all these theories about what Bannon
(23:04):
is doing and why is doing it, why Trump doesn't
fire him, or why Trump will fire him, or why
Bannon won't just quit. I'm telling you to understand the theories,
you have to you have to understand that the people
talking about it, I think that bannons the Sengali and
that Trump is an empty vessel wandering around every day
(23:26):
doing what Bannon said. And that's how I got elected.
Neither crypts of confusion, I was not saying it. An
n d A is a non disparagement agreement. I was
talking non disparaged in agreement, and an n d A.
Trump does both. He has non disparagement agreements with some
of his employees under penalty of ten million dollar fine.
You are not allowed to disparage Trump while or after
(23:49):
you work for him. Non disclosure agreements a totally different thing.
You're not allowed to discuss or disclose anything you saw
or witnessed or heard when you work for somebody or
when you're in their employee. I'm telling I've heard that
Trump has non disparagement agreements in his in his private business.
I don't know that it's carried over to the White
House STAFFAA that they have, and I'll bet Bannon has one,
(24:11):
and I've bet a lot of people in there, dudes.
And uh, look, I need to say this this one
more time, because every time that I explained it to
the staff here, they can't believe. I am telling you, folks,
there are what you would consider to be mainstream conservative
blogs and websites who literally believe that Steve Bannon is
(24:37):
what got Trump elected and that Steve Bannon, if fired,
could destroy Trump. There are people who think that Trump's
base was created by Bannon. They are all right right
nationalists and so forth, and that if Bannon ever turned
(24:58):
on Trump, that every abody that voted for Trump would
abandoned Trump, if bannoned, if bannoned leaves, and I think
that's just so much b s. I can't tell you,
and so did the staff in here who voted for Trump.
But I'm telling you that people inside the Bellway and
what you would think her mainstream publication literally believe that,
(25:20):
just like many of them literally believed that Russia colluded
with Trump, no matter the evidence that they think it happened.
There is so much visceral hatred, dislike, disappointment in Trump
being president that these views are far more widespread than
you would believe. I would venture to say that most
(25:42):
Trump voters had never heard of Steve Bannon even when
he was named chief strategist. But that's not what they think.
Rush Limbaugh - Timeless Wisdom News
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