IS STEPHEN BANNON THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND THE POSSIBLE SUCCESS OF TRUMP?

…Bannon always looks like he just got out of bed.

 

That statement about, “deconstruction of the administrative state” is classic Bannon.

 

One of the most active political endeavors today of the followers of today’s politics is to understand what Stephen Bannon said in his Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) appearance.  The facts are that Bannon is a very close adviser to the current president, and some of the president’s latest statements are starting to sound like something Bannon would say.

 

As an example, Trump’s comments against the “fake press” or “fake media”, they are directly in line with Bannon’s when he had also commented that: “So many media naysayers were dead wrong on the chaos of the campaign, just like they were dead wrong on the chaos of the transition, they are absolutely dead wrong about what’s going on today because we have a team that’s just grinding it through on [what] President Donald Trump promised the American people.”

 

But at the CPAC event, Bannon and the president’s Chief of Staff, Reince Priebus, they both showed up together to quell any rumors that they weren't getting along.  And what has everybody wondering is what Bannon meant when he said at CPAC that President Trump’s plans for the economy would require the “deconstruction of the administrative state”.  This was apparently Bannon’s idea of the framework for how Trump will approach the nation’s tax reform, regulatory reform and American trade in general. 

 

When those people that have been following Bannon for years were questioned about what they thought Bannon meant by that statement, their answers were very interesting.  One reporter that has known Bannon for years said, “Yes, that statement about, “deconstruction of the administrative state is classic Bannon”.  But what was more interesting was when the reporters were asked, “Well, if Trump and Bannon are successful in this “state destruction”, what do Bannon and Trump expect to replace the status quo with, if it is destroyed?”

 

Other than saying that the status quo and the fake media were “enemies of the people”, Bannon apparently has no other answers.  The reporter’s being questioned said that at no time has Bannon every commented as to what he would replace the “administrative state” with.….?  They basically said that Bannon has never gone beyond the destroying of the “state”, but nothing for filling the vacuum it would cause.  He apparently just hasn’t gone that far.

 

One writer said that Bannon reminded them of the Nick Nolte’s character, Four Leaf Tayback, in the 2008 movie “Tropic Thunder.”   This actual Hollywood movie is a bizarre satirical comedy directed and starring Ben Stiller.  The premise of “Tropic Thunder,” the movie is that Tayback has written a Vietnam War book and then he acts as a consultant for the movie production.  Even though you are never sure whether Tayback ever makes any real sense, (kinda like Bannon & Trump) the whole production turns into a sur-real farce.  But at the end of the day, “Tropic Thunder”, both the movie in real life and the movie-within-a-movie, they were both very successful. 

 

The question now is, will Bannon become the driving force in the success of the Trump administration? Of course, nobody knows the answer…but if they are successful in the “deconstruction of the administrative state”, I would suspect that Bannon will take the credit…..but what then?

 

So, what exactly is Bannon’s big plan? That seems to be one of the more frequently asked questions in Washington today. Bannon has been totally aloof and dismissive of the media in Washington, and this is something the media in the capital always finds irresistible.

 

Bannon is said to be the intellectual force behind Trump.....so what does he really think? He has not shed any light on any of the answers to those questions asked at CPAC. But you can bet that embassies, foreign ministries, trade associations, corporate offices, the media and the usual list of experts and lobbyists will put Bannon’s every utterance under their microscopes.  This will be done in a serious attempt to figure out what it all means.

 

Now, Bannon is not a stupid man, and he probably knows that all of this is going on, and he is having lots of fun with it.

 

We are all just going to have to stay tuned for more from the “Bannon and Trump Team”. Will it become a “Masterpiece Production” that is in the process of it all coming together, or will this movie production become a royal flop?

 

Right now, I believe part of Bannon’s plan is to just keep everyone a little confused and off-balance, and he’s a real expert at doing that.

 

As I said….just stay tuned!

 

Copyright G.Ater  2017