# Steve Bannon and "the fourth turning" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 9, 2017, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-and-the-fourth-turning/779397 "2017-02-09T16:24:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-and-the-fourth-turning/779397/1 "2017-02-09T16:24:01Z")
[Story.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/steve-bannon-apocalypse_us_5898f02ee4b040613138a951?) This would seem to verify that this festering pustule on humanity’s ass is indeed batshit crazy. Good thing he has the ear of the guy who pushes buttons. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-and-the-fourth-turning/779397/2 "2017-02-09T16:24:52Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > [Story.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/steve-bannon-apocalypse_us_5898f02ee4b040613138a951?) This would seem to verify that this festering pustule on humanity’s ass is indeed batshit crazy. Good thing he has the ear of the guy who pushes buttons. We already knew about this guy, he sure as hell never tried to hide it. He WANTS a world war. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-and-the-fourth-turning/779397/3 "2017-02-09T16:33:21Z")
Yeah, that headline popped up on my phone’s notifications from HP, and shocked the shit out of me. “Normalization” is just a word in a dictionary, which is a book, which is as obsolete under the new order as it was in Max Headroom. "“t’s non-volatile memory storage device. Very rare. Everyone should have one.” ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-and-the-fourth-turning/779397/4 "2017-02-09T20:45:53Z")
I’ve read both Strauss and Howe books and Bannon’s interpretation of them is about as accurate as the interpretation of _Helter Skelter_ by Charles Manson. As for the reliability of their predictive prowess, the did postulate something they called the “Great Devaluation” which seemed uncomfortably like the “Great Recession” of the late oughts/early teens. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-and-the-fourth-turning/779397/5 "2017-02-09T23:34:33Z")
I thought the war on terrorism was the war the 4th generation was going to fight. Personally I always hoped that the fourth turning was a reference to pro-social millennials who take on things like climate change, unaffordable health care, plutocracy, income inequality, etc. Their voting patterns seem to match this. If Bannon things millennials are going to fight for his white nationalist cause, he has no idea what millennials are actually like. ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-and-the-fourth-turning/779397/6 "2017-02-10T00:46:20Z")
This motherfucker is such a cartoon villain, he may as well be “Banondorf the Prince of Darkness, bane of Hyrule” ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-and-the-fourth-turning/779397/7 "2017-02-10T01:00:37Z")
> [@Trancephalic](#): > > This motherfucker is such a cartoon villain, he may as well be “Banondorf the Prince of Darkness, bane of Hyrule” And decked out in an outfit that makes the nippled Batsuit from _Batman and Robin_ look about as homoerotic as a burlap sack. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-and-the-fourth-turning/779397/8 "2017-02-10T01:23:53Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > And decked out in an outfit that makes the nippled Batsuit from _Batman and Robin_ look about as homoerotic as a burlap sack. … with a codpiece. A HUUUGGEE codpiece. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-and-the-fourth-turning/779397/9 "2017-02-10T01:59:18Z")
The ones who anticipate the Apocalypse are the ones who are going to make sure we’ll cause it. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-and-the-fourth-turning/779397/10 "2017-02-10T02:29:00Z")
So, how come the Vietnam War and the Counterculture movement aren’t a Turning? How come World War One and the Great Influenza and women getting the vote aren’t a Turning? Hah? Who decides these things anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-and-the-fourth-turning/779397/11 "2017-02-10T02:56:49Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > … with a codpiece. A HUUUGGEE codpiece. President Bannon’s story is perhaps best suited to the comic book medium: [“So! They laugh at my boner, will they?! I’LL SHOW THEM!”](http://www.cbr.com/i-love-ya-but-youre-strange-the-great-batmanjoker-boner-war-of-1951/) ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-and-the-fourth-turning/779397/12 "2017-02-10T03:56:22Z")
Clearly predating the use of the term “boner” as slang for an erection. ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-and-the-fourth-turning/779397/13 "2017-02-10T04:12:27Z")
I wonder sometimes if people a hundred years from now will be asking themselves “If you had a time machine and could go back in time to stop Bannon would you?” ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-and-the-fourth-turning/779397/14 "2017-02-10T05:13:53Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > The ones who anticipate the Apocalypse are the ones who are going to make sure we’ll cause it. Yes. Otherwise stated as “If there’s a gun on the mantle in the first act it needs to be fired by the third” And we are overrun with amateur playwrights with bogey fixations. (Maybe this is the source of those second amendment anxieties) ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-and-the-fourth-turning/779397/15 "2017-02-10T07:44:35Z")
Odd the parallels with classical Marxism, that persistent belief that history (or History) has principles, fundamentals, imperatives that can predict its path. Or how fascism is sometimes described as a political ideology when in truth its more a nationalist derangement. Kind of thing that led Italy to believe it had some sort of militaristic destiny, but couldn’t find anyone weak enough to pick on. Italy went nuts, and it was a comic opera with gore and horror. America goes nuts, the next great turning will be the cockroaches and the rats vying for global domination. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-and-the-fourth-turning/779397/16 "2017-02-10T12:21:46Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Kind of thing that led Italy to believe it had some sort of militaristic destiny, but couldn’t find anyone weak enough to pick on. As my “War & Society” teacher would quip, the military prowess of Italy has yet to be demonstrated. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-and-the-fourth-turning/779397/17 "2017-02-10T15:36:08Z")
My “great turning” is my stomach at the thought of Bannon anywhere in the White House except as a visitor on the public tour. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-and-the-fourth-turning/779397/18 "2017-02-10T16:33:49Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Clearly predating the use of the term “boner” as slang for an erection. It was from 1951, about a decade before that meaning for “boner” shows up in the written record. That said, the constant repetition of the word makes me suspect that that meaning was percolating through the language sufficiently to make it a stealth joke but far enough under the radar for the writer to get away with it. Getting back to the topic at hand, Rosie O’Donnell has expressed interest in playing Herr Bannon on SNL, which should get some amusing reactions from the Short-Fingered Vulgarian (especially if they use the almost inescapable “Bannon is the real boss” theme). ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-and-the-fourth-turning/779397/19 "2017-02-10T17:36:12Z")
So Bannon thinks a lotus will blossom in Trump’s bellybutton and bring the Kali Yuga to a close? Far out, man. > [@E-DUB](#): > > I’ve read both Strauss and Howe books and Bannon’s interpretation of them is about as accurate as the interpretation of _Helter Skelter_ by Charles Manson. What do you think he got wrong? I’ve heard the four cycles idea before but don’t know the details. It always sounded like something from fantasy fiction to me. > [@Trancephalic](#): > > This motherfucker is such a cartoon villain, he may as well be “Banondorf the Prince of Darkness, bane of Hyrule” I’ve also heard the one where the K in Stephen K. Bannon stands for [Kefka](http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Kefka_Palazzo). It works since Bannon’s nose is red and that Kefka is a clown, or how Kefka was a secondary character who ended up being the main villain who just wanted to burn everything down. I’ve also seen the cabinet appointments compared to Captain Planet villains, except Dr. Blight believed in science. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-and-the-fourth-turning/779397/20 "2017-02-10T18:16:57Z")
Bannon’s nose is red because he’s an alcoholic. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-and-the-fourth-turning/779397.md?page=2)