# Steve Bannon: I see the hat, but are there any cattle? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 16, 2017, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-i-see-the-hat-but-are-there-any-cattle/799083 "2017-10-16T21:43:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Okrahoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90db22/32.png) [@Okrahoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Okrahoma)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2017, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-i-see-the-hat-but-are-there-any-cattle/799083/41 "2017-10-17T17:30:48Z")
Bannon is a disruptor. I like disruptors. Our political system needs disruptors badly. IMHO, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2017, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-i-see-the-hat-but-are-there-any-cattle/799083/42 "2017-10-17T17:33:34Z")
Are you of the opinion that all disruption is good? That seems to be a very dangerous mindset. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2017, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-i-see-the-hat-but-are-there-any-cattle/799083/43 "2017-10-17T17:40:49Z")
> [@](#): > > All politicians do this. Did you forget about Obama’s “Lie of the Year”? Trump’s mind, and imagination, are not limited by the dull boundaries of truth! He is the Pornucopia, the Whore of Plenty, unfacts and not-truths tumble from his mouth like an avalanche of horseshit. By comparison, he is an aging Shanghai waterfront hooker, with more STD’s then fingers and toes, some of which have no names, while Obama is no better than he should be. And which will you take home to meet Mother? Well, either one, really, pretty much the same, right? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2017, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-i-see-the-hat-but-are-there-any-cattle/799083/44 "2017-10-17T17:45:05Z")
> [@Okrahoma](#): > > Bannon is a disruptor. So is a flu pandemic. Rootin’ for one of those too? ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2017, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-i-see-the-hat-but-are-there-any-cattle/799083/45 "2017-10-17T19:23:40Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > So is a flu pandemic. Rootin’ for one of those too? The belief that a system-wide collapse will benefit one’s side is not exclusive to the political right (“heighten the contradictions”) or even to the not-so-bright (“chaos is a ladder”), but I regard leaping to that conclusion without a lot of soul-searching as a reliable sign that someone has serious holes in their approach to ethics. I mean, most of us can come up with situations where we might regard “collateral damage” and the like as a necessary evil, but I would hope that most of us would also not choose our courses of action based on \*maximizing damage to the system, and including collateral damage toward that total. \*That’s why I’m not an anarchist, mostly. ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2017, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-i-see-the-hat-but-are-there-any-cattle/799083/46 "2017-10-17T19:32:56Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Personally, I just see him as a big talker and not much else. The proof will be in the pudding – I think it’s too soon to tell whether his approach will continue to work. It’s similar to the postmodern/post-factual approach Putin et al have taken in Russia, and so far it’s worked well there. In other words, he offers a lot more hat than cattle, but maybe a gigantic hat made of bigotry and reaction is enough to make up for the cattle deficit. In the near term, anyway? (Note: it is entirely possible that Bannon is full of shit about his brilliance and that some factors totally apart from his strategy project his side to victory. I know there was a warning earlier about Hitler comparisons – I’m not comparing their ideologies, to be clear. But Hitler’s a classic example of someone who won power, despite failing to win at conventional democratic politics, through a series of bad actions by others: [Hitler's Thirty Days to Power - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler%27s_Thirty_Days_to_Power)) ---
**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:** [October 17, 2017, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-i-see-the-hat-but-are-there-any-cattle/799083/47 "2017-10-17T20:08:09Z")
> [@Okrahoma](#): > > Bannon is a disruptor. I like disruptors. Our political system needs disruptors badly. IMHO, of course. You know who else was a disruptor of the political system?..: Bernie Sanders. You like him? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2017, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-i-see-the-hat-but-are-there-any-cattle/799083/48 "2017-10-17T20:10:26Z")
Global nuclear war would be the biggest disruptor of all! ---
**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:** [October 17, 2017, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-i-see-the-hat-but-are-there-any-cattle/799083/49 "2017-10-17T20:17:24Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Global nuclear war would be the biggest disruptor of all! #ArmageddonStrong ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2017, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-i-see-the-hat-but-are-there-any-cattle/799083/50 "2017-10-17T20:36:11Z")
The humans that rise up after the Great Globalist Disaster will be the rugged individualists who had the sense to amass and hoard stockpiles of Jim Bakker’s survivalist supplies. Then the monkeys begin to scrounge metal to make weapons… ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2017, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-i-see-the-hat-but-are-there-any-cattle/799083/51 "2017-10-17T21:24:58Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Bannon is a loud mouthed schnook that crawls out of an empty whisky bottle every morning, spouts ill articulated rhetoric, then drains another bottle before crawling back in it. Pock-faced Bannon, beltin’ back Tanqueray Turned into the Schnook (Ain’t he rosace-ays?) ---
**Author:** ![Okrahoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90db22/32.png) [@Okrahoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Okrahoma)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2017, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-i-see-the-hat-but-are-there-any-cattle/799083/52 "2017-10-18T00:52:36Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > You know who else was a disruptor of the political system?..: Bernie Sanders. > > You like him? As a disruptor? Very much so. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2017, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-i-see-the-hat-but-are-there-any-cattle/799083/53 "2017-10-18T14:00:04Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > You know who else was a disruptor of the political system?..: Bernie Sanders. I will probably regret asking this, but… in what way is Bernie a disrupter? Bannon wants to destroy the system of governance that we have and kick out the Republican leaders in Congress. Not seeing Bernie trying to do something similar. ---
**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:** [October 18, 2017, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-i-see-the-hat-but-are-there-any-cattle/799083/54 "2017-10-18T14:13:44Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I will probably regret asking this, but… in what way is Bernie a disrupter? Bannon wants to destroy the system of governance that we have and kick out the Republican leaders in Congress. Not seeing Bernie trying to do something similar. eh… mostly I was going for the joke, “You know who else was…” I suppose by a not too big a stretch of imagination Bernie was a disruptor in the sense that he was technically an independent - some would call a “socialist” - running on a Dem ticket and giving a legacy democrat a run for her money. That’s all I got. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2017, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-i-see-the-hat-but-are-there-any-cattle/799083/55 "2017-10-18T14:36:41Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > … Bannon wants to destroy the system of governance that we have … Somehow I missed this somewhere along the way. He wants to what now? ---
**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:** [October 18, 2017, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-i-see-the-hat-but-are-there-any-cattle/799083/56 "2017-10-18T14:42:07Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Somehow I missed this somewhere along the way. He wants to what now? Really, H-D…? > [@Bannon in his own words](#): > > I’m a Leninist. Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that’s my goal too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment. [Source.](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steve_Bannon) ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2017, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-i-see-the-hat-but-are-there-any-cattle/799083/57 "2017-10-18T14:46:03Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Really, H-D…? > > [Source.](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steve_Bannon) There is not much evidence to support that claimed quote: [Did Steve Bannon Describe Himself as a 'Leninist' Who Wants to Destroy the State? | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/bannon-leninist-destroy-state/) ---
**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:** [October 18, 2017, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-i-see-the-hat-but-are-there-any-cattle/799083/58 "2017-10-18T14:54:02Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > There is not much evidence to support that claimed quote: [Did Steve Bannon Describe Himself as a 'Leninist' Who Wants to Destroy the State? | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/bannon-leninist-destroy-state/) Fair enough. Did you read the entire Snopes article you quoted? ---
**Author:** ![Okrahoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90db22/32.png) [@Okrahoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Okrahoma)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2017, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-i-see-the-hat-but-are-there-any-cattle/799083/59 "2017-10-18T14:58:37Z")
LOL. Bannon was really referring to Lennon. He was misheard. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2017, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-i-see-the-hat-but-are-there-any-cattle/799083/60 "2017-10-18T15:03:18Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Fair enough. Did you read the entire Snopes article you quoted? Yes. I get that he doesn’t like the “Republican establishment” (or bureaucracy or media) at all, but wanting to reduce the size and scope of government is quite a bit different than wanting to “destroy the system of governance that we have”, which, in my mind at least, denotes something like repealing the Constitution or cancelling elections. I believe Bannon wants the former, not the latter. Perhaps **John Mace** would like to clarify what he meant by the quote. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-i-see-the-hat-but-are-there-any-cattle/799083.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-i-see-the-hat-but-are-there-any-cattle/799083.md?page=4)