# What's the evidence that Bannon is a white supremacist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 30, 2017, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-evidence-that-bannon-is-a-white-supremacist/778571 "2017-01-30T07:00:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-evidence-that-bannon-is-a-white-supremacist/778571/1 "2017-01-30T07:00:56Z")
I’m strongly liberal and anti-Trump, and I really hate Breitbart news and Steve Bannon. But as far as I can tell, there’s a lot clearer evidence that he’s unscrupulous, power-hungry, some kind of crazy anarchist who wants to burn the whole system down, and the biggest troll in the history of the internet; than that he’s a white supremacist. And it bugs me when my fellow liberals constantly take something for granted that I’m not confident is true. So… prove “us” right. Where’s the actual evidence that Bannon is a white supremacist, white nationalist, racist, or anti-semite? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-evidence-that-bannon-is-a-white-supremacist/778571/2 "2017-01-30T07:11:24Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > I’m strongly liberal and anti-Trump, and I really hate Breitbart news and Steve Bannon. But as far as I can tell, there’s a lot clearer evidence that he’s unscrupulous, power-hungry, some kind of crazy anarchist who wants to burn the whole system down, and the biggest troll in the history of the internet; than that he’s a white supremacist. And it bugs me when my fellow liberals constantly take something for granted that I’m not confident is true. > > So… prove “us” right. Where’s the actual evidence that Bannon is a white supremacist, white nationalist, racist, or anti-semite? AFAICT the evidence that Bannon’s own personal views are white-supremacist or anti-semitic is sparse and fuzzy, like his beard. The accusations have been based mostly on his management of Breitbart, which definitely promotes white-supremacist, anti-semitic, racist, xenophobic, you-name-it anti-democratic views. Personally, I call Bannon a “white supremacism promoter” rather than a “white supremacist”. I don’t know or care what he personally believes, but he’s made it very clear what ideas he’s interested in fostering in public discourse. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-evidence-that-bannon-is-a-white-supremacist/778571/3 "2017-01-30T07:20:05Z")
Bannon famously told a journalist for Mother Jones that he wanted Breitbart News to be the platform of the alt-right. The alt-right is undeniably a white nationalist movement that uses some of the ugliest stereotypes and language to describe non whites; when called out on it, they invariably say they’re just joking. Bannon as a promoter of the alt-right sure seems like a white nationalist, why else would he want to promote them? If he’s not, he sure picked a strange way to show it. [Here’s Why It’s Fair—and Necessary—to Call Trump’s Chief Strategist a White Nationalist Champion – Mother Jones](http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/11/why-its-fair-and-necessary-call-trumps-chief-strategist-stephen-bannon-white-nationalist) ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-evidence-that-bannon-is-a-white-supremacist/778571/4 "2017-01-30T07:23:50Z")
What exactly is wrong with being a " white nationalist"? He **is** white as far as I can tell. As opposed to “white supremacist”? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-evidence-that-bannon-is-a-white-supremacist/778571/5 "2017-01-30T07:26:21Z")
Given that one of his main writers is a gay Jew, I think it’s reasonable to say that his stated mission of being anti-PC is accurate. That just doesn’t leave much room to argue for anti-semitism and intolerance. Liberal readers simply aren’t able to catch the sarcasm or to think rationally about what is actually being said. He may well be a horrible human being, but saying negative things about certain minorities doesn’t always make one a racist. All humans are fallible and “culture” isn’t _de facto_ a good and laudable thing. Though not very many are able to accept that there is such a distinction. And certainly someone who is actively going out of their way to bring up such topics and sensationalize them is going to gather a lot of racists to his feet. Personally, I would worry more that he’s a journalist than that he’s a racist or a troll. In what way does a journalism background make you a good and reasonable choice to lead national security? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-evidence-that-bannon-is-a-white-supremacist/778571/6 "2017-01-30T07:26:29Z")
Huh, what’s wrong with wanting to establish the United States as a nation populated exclusively by whites? What a strange question. I guess at the minimum, there are lots and lots of non-whites living in the US who have just as much right to be there as Bannon and Spencer. Does that help? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-evidence-that-bannon-is-a-white-supremacist/778571/7 "2017-01-30T07:29:59Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Given that one of his main writers is a gay Jew, I think it’s reasonable to say that his stated mission of being anti-PC is accurate. Liberal readers simply aren’t able to catch the sarcasm or to think rationally about what is actually being said. > > He may well be a horrible human being, but saying negative things about certain minorities doesn’t always make one a racist. All humans are fallible and “culture” isn’t _de facto_ a good and laudable thing. Though not very many are able to accept that there is such a distinction. And certainly someone who is actively going out of their way to bring up such topics and sensationalize them is going to gather a lot of racists to his feet. > > Personally, I would worry more that he’s a journalist than that he’s a racist or a troll. In what way does a journalism background make you a good and reasonable choice to lead national security? Again, from my link: > [@](#): > > What does Spencer, the intellectual guru of the movement, advocate? He is quite explicit: an all-white United States. This is not a secret. In a recent interview with Mother Jones, Spencer explained his belief that America’s white population is endangered, due to multiculturalism and immigration, and he advocated “a renewed Roman Empire,” a dictatorship where only white people could be citizens. “You cannot view another white person as your enemy,” he remarked. His goal is a white ethnostate… if you can read that and not see it as a white supremacist movement, all the debating in the world isn’t going to help. ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-evidence-that-bannon-is-a-white-supremacist/778571/8 "2017-01-30T07:30:34Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > I’m strongly liberal and anti-Trump, and I really hate Breitbart news and Steve Bannon. But as far as I can tell, there’s a lot clearer evidence that he’s unscrupulous, power-hungry, some kind of crazy anarchist who wants to burn the whole system down, and the biggest troll in the history of the internet; than that he’s a white supremacist. And it bugs me when my fellow liberals constantly take something for granted that I’m not confident is true. > > So… prove “us” right. Where’s the actual evidence that Bannon is a white supremacist, white nationalist, racist, or anti-semite? It depends on if you agree that “a war of northern aggression” is PC talk for supporting racism. Blaming president Lincoln for the confederacies defection when they often called out their fears around protecting slavery as a primary reason they left is a good indicator. Sorry you will have to sit through it to find the reference, I can’t sit through his speech again. But he has also bragged that Breitbart News is “the platform for the alt-right,” He describes Islam as “a political ideology” and Sharia law as “like Nazism, fascism, and communism.” Add in his victim blaming of minorities etc… If he is not racist he has been willing to strategically encourage people’s hate as a way of inciting them to action. The fact that he is willing to brands him with that label or indicates that he is possibly a sociopath. But it is pretty simple, if you sell hate, make your living off hate, people will assume that you hate. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-evidence-that-bannon-is-a-white-supremacist/778571/9 "2017-01-30T07:31:05Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > What exactly is wrong with being a " white nationalist"? He **is** white as far as I can tell. As opposed to “white supremacist”? True. Maybe they’ll come up with a solution for how to get rid of all those non-white people. It might take a few iterations, but I’m sure there’s a Final Solution… ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-evidence-that-bannon-is-a-white-supremacist/778571/10 "2017-01-30T07:36:15Z")
So; White nationalism is going to always lead to: genocide of Non white people? It’s s bit of a stretch. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-evidence-that-bannon-is-a-white-supremacist/778571/11 "2017-01-30T07:38:40Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Again, from my link: if you can read that and not see it as a white supremacist movement, all the debating in the world isn’t going to help. I’m not amazingly desirous of defending the alt-right, but I will note that declaring Meryl Streep the intellectual leader of Liberals does not make this the truth, that Jefferson and Hamilton were both leaders of ‘American’ political thought, against British, and that there’s money to be made by finding an untapped market and filling it. I don’t know enough about any of this to make anything like a dependable and conclusive answer. But an hour’s worth of Googling made me pretty hesitant to endorse the view that Bannon should properly be labeled a racist. That’s not an endorsement of him, nor the choices he would make in regards to minorities. It’s just saying that it does not seem to be that simple and I think that line of thought will make it easier to get yourself dismissed as an idiot if you try to attack him through that path. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-evidence-that-bannon-is-a-white-supremacist/778571/12 "2017-01-30T07:39:50Z")
[https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/27/us/politics/steve-bannon-white-house.html?smid=tw-share&\_r=0](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/27/us/politics/steve-bannon-white-house.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0) > [@](#): > > “Not one criminal charge has ever been brought to any bank executive associated with the 2008 crisis,” Mr. Bannon fumed. “And in fact, it gets worse. No bonuses and none of their equity was taken.” > > But if his scathing economic analysis sometimes seemed to dabble in Marxism, on other subjects, including race and religion, he made no concessions to political sensitivities. After Mr. Bannon met Mr. Breitbart at the 2004 screening of “In the Face of Evil,” the two men hit it off, bonding over their similar views and a common irreverent streak. > > Ms. Jones, the film colleague, said that in their years working together, Mr. Bannon occasionally talked about the genetic superiority of some people and once mused about the desirability of limiting the vote to property owners. > > “I said, ‘That would exclude a lot of African-Americans,’” Ms. Jones recalled. “He said, ‘Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.’ I said, ‘But what about Wendy?’” referring to Mr. Bannon’s executive assistant. “He said, ‘She’s different. She’s family.’” Hey, maybe he got better now [sarcasm], but as **Kimstu** noted I agree that what the actions and the kind of reporting shows that Bannon panders a lot to xenophobes, bigots and racists. So much so that whereas he is a panderer or a racist it looks more to be a distinction with not much of a difference. And then we got his latest “work” he has been pointed as the one that added the rejection of even green card holders in the latest Trump executive order. > **[Steve Bannon's longtime suspicion of successful immigrants is the key to this...](https://www.vox.com/2017/1/29/14429984/trump-immigration-order-steve-bannon)** > > Trump’s targeting green card holders makes more sense when you know Bannon’s views. > [@](#): > > Steve Bannon’s longtime suspicion of successful immigrants is the key to this weekend’s chaos > [@](#): > > In November 2015, Steve Bannon interviewed Donald Trump for a Breitbart radio program. One particular part of their exchange was resurfaced and made the rounds late last year, but deserves more attention in the wake of this executive order. > > The exchange (which begins around the 17 minute mark here) starts with Trump riffing about how top foreign-born Ivy league graduates should be allowed to stay in America where they can be “job creators.” But then Bannon spoke up to disagree, and he did so in a very revealing way: > > ``` > TRUMP: We have to keep our talented people in this country. > > BANNON: Um— > > TRUMP: I think you agree with that. Do you agree with that? > > BANNON: Well I got a tougher — you know, when two thirds or three quarters of the CEOs in Silicon Valley are from South Asia or from Asia, I think — on, my point is, a country’s more like, [inaudible], a country’s more than an economy. We’re a civic society. > > ``` > > Bannon’s “statistic” that over two-thirds of Silicon Valley CEOs are Asian-born isn’t even close to being true, since only a small minority are. But the bigger takeaway is that Bannon was disturbed enough by this mistaken idea to bring it up. He was evidently trying to choose his words carefully, but he made it crystal clear that he was disturbed by the (fictional) idea of all these Asian-born CEOs running around in America. > > Once you keep those views in mind, the method behind the “madness” of the Trump administration’s treatment of green card holders becomes clear. Most Republicans generally profess to love legal immigration. They say they are only concerned with the illegal variety (and Trump himself has said the same). > > But some of the people around Trump, like Bannon, top White House policy aide Stephen Miller, and attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions, go much further. They want to privilege native-born Americans over even the most entrepreneurial and industrious (and legal) immigrants. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-evidence-that-bannon-is-a-white-supremacist/778571/13 "2017-01-30T07:46:30Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > So; White nationalism is going to always lead to: genocide of Non white people? It’s s bit of a stretch. It doesn’t have to lead to genocide to be objectionable. “Not quite so bad as Hitler” isn’t much of a sales pitch, is it? The problem with being a “white nationalist” is that “white” isn’t really a nation, is it? So this looks a lot like an attempt to define a nation - in this case, the American nation - as white, thereby excluding, marginalising and alienating non-whites. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-evidence-that-bannon-is-a-white-supremacist/778571/14 "2017-01-30T07:54:43Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I’m not amazingly desirous of defending the alt-right, but I will note that declaring Meryl Streep the intellectual leader of Liberals does not make this the truth, that Jefferson and Hamilton were both leaders of ‘American’ political thought, against British, and that there’s money to be made by finding an untapped market and filling it. > > I don’t know enough about any of this to make anything like a dependable and conclusive answer. But an hour’s worth of Googling made me pretty hesitant to endorse the view that Bannon should properly be labeled a racist. That’s not an endorsement of him, nor the choices he would make in regards to minorities. It’s just saying that it does not seem to be that simple and I think that line of thought will make it easier to get yourself dismissed as an idiot if you try to attack him through that path. I think it’s clear that the alt-right is a racist organization, would you agree? And I would argue that wanting to build a platform for a racist organization to spread its message is probably not something that a non-racist would work towards. I think any distinction between Bannon as a racist versus Bannon as a racist enabler is meaningless, the results are exactly the same. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-evidence-that-bannon-is-a-white-supremacist/778571/15 "2017-01-30T08:09:10Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > It doesn’t have to lead to genocide to be objectionable. “Not quite so bad as Hitler” isn’t much of a sales pitch, is it? > > The problem with being a “white nationalist” is that “white” isn’t really a nation, is it? So this looks a lot like an attempt to define a nation - in this case, the American nation - as white, thereby excluding, marginalising and alienating non-whites. A nation is always a manufactured construct. Serbs and Croats have little differences, did not stop the wars in the 1990’s. Black Americans share language, religion and culture with white Americans, yet are differentiated. In your own homeland, you have ethnically identical peoples fighting long wars over different views of nationhood and identity. In a foreigners perspective, Whites in the US absolutely seem to be and be thought of as a distinct entity from others. I don’t see white nationalism on its own being objectionable. Policies and ideologies that it’s adherents put out? Certainly can be objectionable. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-evidence-that-bannon-is-a-white-supremacist/778571/16 "2017-01-30T08:18:27Z")
In their divorce proceedings, Bannon’s second wife said that he didn’t want their kids to go to a particular school because there were too many Jews there. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-evidence-that-bannon-is-a-white-supremacist/778571/17 "2017-01-30T08:57:48Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > A nation is always a manufactured construct. Serbs and Croats have little differences, did not stop the wars in the 1990’s. Black Americans share language, religion and culture with white Americans, yet are differentiated. In your own homeland, you have ethnically identical peoples fighting long wars over different views of nationhood and identity. > > In a foreigners perspective, Whites in the US absolutely seem to be and be thought of as a distinct entity from others. I don’t see white nationalism on its own being objectionable. Policies and ideologies that it’s adherents put out? Certainly can be objectionable. Serbs and Croats generally agree on at least one thing; they are two nations, not a single Serbo-Croat nation. Similarly the two communities in Ireland do identify one another as distinct communities. Americans, by contrast, are generally pretty strong on the view that the US is one nation, and that a black American is just as much an American as a white American. White nationalists reject that view. While you may not find that stance objectionable, many will. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-evidence-that-bannon-is-a-white-supremacist/778571/18 "2017-01-30T09:21:47Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Again, from my link: “You cannot view another white person as your enemy,” he remarked. An opinion backed by the many thousands of years of peaceful co-existence enjoyed by western European nations. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-evidence-that-bannon-is-a-white-supremacist/778571/19 "2017-01-30T09:24:07Z")
It was Jefferson and Adams, not Jefferson and Hamilton. The latter pair were famous political enemies, but Hamilton’s philosophy was all Adamsian. As many if not most of the premises of the Republicans are today. (Yes, I know there was bad blood between Jefferson and Adams as well, but the pitched political battles were mostly with Hamilton.) ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-evidence-that-bannon-is-a-white-supremacist/778571/20 "2017-01-30T09:25:12Z")
> [@Apollyon](#): > > An opinion backed by the many thousands of years of peaceful co-existence enjoyed by western European nations. :rolleyes: Nazis tend not to focus on the details of their thinking. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-evidence-that-bannon-is-a-white-supremacist/778571.md?page=2)