Tag: Steve Bannon

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Trump Elevates Steve Bannon To National Security Council

Steve Bannon

This would have made bigger headlines yesterday were it not for the protests at airports over President Trump’s executive order on immigration.

This is a big deal.

From Business Insider:

President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum Saturday that removed the nation’s top military and intelligence advisers as regular attendees of the National Security Council’s Principals Committee, the interagency forum that deals with policy issues affecting national security.

The executive measure established Trump’s chief strategist Steve Bannon as a regular attendee, whereas the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of National Intelligence will be allowed to participate only “where issues pertaining to their responsibilities and expertise are to be discussed.”

“The appointment of Mr. Bannon is something which is a radical departure from any National Security Council in history,” Republican Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday.

“The one person who is indispensable would be the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in my view,” McCain added. “So it’s of concern, this ‘reorganization.'”

John Bellinger, an adjunct senior fellow in International and National Security Law at the Council on Foreign Relations and former legal adviser to the National Security Council, wrote on Saturday that the change is “unusual.”

“In the Bush administration, Karl Rove would not attend NSC meetings,” Bellinger said. “According to former Chief of Staff Josh Bolten, President Bush did not want to appear, especially to the military, to insert domestic politics into national security decision-making.”

With his permanent seat at the NSC meetings, Bannon has been elevated above the director of the CIA, Mike Pompeo, who was not offered an open invitation.

Remember that Steve Bannon has no experience in national security. He ran a white nationalist propaganda website until six months ago.

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White House Strategist Steve Bannon: The Press Should “Keep Its Mouth Shut”

Steve Bannon

In a rare interview with mainstream media, White House chief strategist Steve Bannon lashed out at press outlets saying they should “keep its mouth shut.”

From the New York Times:

“The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while,” Mr. Bannon said during a telephone call.

“I want you to quote this,” Mr. Bannon added. “The media here is the opposition party. They don’t understand this country. They still do not understand why Donald Trump is the president of the United States.”

The scathing assessment — delivered by one of Mr. Trump’s most trusted and influential advisers, in the first days of his presidency — comes at a moment of high tension between the news media and the administration, with skirmishes over the size of Mr. Trump’s inaugural crowd and the president’s false claims that millions of illegal votes by undocumented immigrants swayed the popular vote against him.

Mr. Bannon, who rarely grants interviews to journalists outside of Breitbart News, the provocative right-wing website he ran until last August, was echoing comments by Mr. Trump this weekend, when the president said he was in “a running war” with the media and called journalists “among the most dishonest people on earth.”

“The elite media got it dead wrong, 100 percent dead wrong,” Mr. Bannon said of the election, calling it “a humiliating defeat that they will never wash away, that will always be there.”

“The mainstream media has not fired or terminated anyone associated with following our campaign,” Mr. Bannon said. “Look at the Twitter feeds of those people: they were outright activists of the Clinton campaign.” (He did not name specific reporters or editors.)

“That’s why you have no power,” Mr. Bannon added. “You were humiliated.”

The NY Times added that during the phone call/interview, Bannon jokingly referred to himself as “Darth Vader,” and Trump voters as “the working class hobbits and deplorables.”

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Trump Wants Investigation Into “Those Registered To Vote In Two States” Like His Senior Adviser Steve Bannon

As I reported yesterday, President Trump has continued to cling to his “alternative facts” that he believes he actually won the popular vote in the presidential election.

Trump contends that had it not been for 3-5 million “illegal” votes, he would have been the victor in the popular vote race.

Experts who study voting patterns, and especially the issue of fraud, say there is a better chance of being bitten by a shark who won the lottery than for millions to have voted fraudulently.

Personally, I say if the election was THAT far off, then perhaps we should have a do over?

Today, Trump has announced he wants a “major investigation” in voter fraud.  And I say good.

Trump notes he particularly wants those folks who are registered in two states to vote to be looked at.

Turns out he should turn to the guy standing right next to him as it’s been confirmed that White House  senior adviser Steve Bannon is one of those people.

From the Sarasota Herald-Tribune:

One of the most powerful men in America happens to be a resident of Sarasota County. We think. His name is Stephen K. Bannon, the scruffy-faced senior adviser to our new president. Maybe you’ve heard of him. But has anyone actually seen him?

In particular, has anyone ever seen him at 3108 Casey Key Road, though probably not asking neighbor Stephen King to borrow a cup of sugar, considering King once wrote on Twitter: “My newest horror story. Once upon a time there was a man named Donald Trump and he ran for president.”

Anyway, this is where Bannon lives, or is supposed to live, still, according to the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections office. It’s the address listed on his voter registration form, effective Aug. 25.

There is only problem: Bannon is also registered to vote in New York City, listing a home address on West 40th Street, and according to a spokesman for the New York State Board of Elections, he voted there in November by absentee ballot.

At a press conference today, White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters that the investigation may focus on “bigger” states like New York or California. Yes, those would be ones that Trump lost by huge margins.

So, if I understand correctly, Trump believes that Democrats somehow got 3-5 million people to vote illegally – all for Clinton – in states she was going to win anyway. But forgot to get them to vote in swing states.

Of course, that makes perfect sense.

Watch below as voting expert Brian Schaffner explain to CNN how Trump is twisting his research:

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White Nationalist Website Breitbart Running Popularity Contest For Secretary Of State

From the white supremacist website Breitbart:

President-Elect Donald Trump has not yet announced his pick for Secretary of State, though the press has speculated on several prospective candidates. You, the Breitbart reader, were instrumental in Trump’s election victory and the continuing rise of America’s nationalist-populist movement. We want to know who you would prefer to serve as the country’s chief diplomat.

This is the website that newly-appointed White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon ran for years.

Trust and believe, Team Trump is watching this.

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News Round-Up: November 21, 2016

Soccer star Christiano Ronaldo

Some news stories you may have missed:

• Hunky soccer star Christiano Ronaldo, called a faggot during a recent match, delivers awesome comeback: “A faggot, yes. But a rich one.”

• Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean called Donald Trump’s newly named Chief Strategist, Steve Bannon of Breitbart fame, a “Nazi.” If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck…

• North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory is laying the groundwork to have his state legislature hand him re-election.

• Melania Trump and son Barron will not be moving into the White House any time soon, choosing to stay in NYC for Barron’s private school. This could mean an added $1 million/day for NYPD – or rather, for the American taxpayer.

• Donald Trump summoned several news executives and leading news anchors from CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and more to Trump Tower for an off-the-record meeting. Still no press conference since becoming President-elect.

• Dear Evan Hansen, the critically acclaimed off-Broadway musical about an achingly lonely, high school misfit, opens on Broadway to strong box office numbers.

The cast of Dear Even Hansen
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Nancy Pelosi On Steve Bannon: A White Supremacist In The White House

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi issued this statement via press release:

“After winning the presidency but losing the popular vote, President-elect Trump must try to bring Americans together – not continue to fan the flames of division and bigotry.

“Bringing Steve Bannon into the White House is an alarming signal that President-elect Trump remains committed to the hateful and divisive vision that defined his campaign. There must be no sugarcoating the reality that a white nationalist has been named chief strategist for the Trump Administration.

“Democrats are committed to finding common ground for hard-working families. But we will stand our ground and strongly oppose attempts by this Administration to scapegoat and persecute Americans because of who they are, how they worship, or who they love.”

On the other side of politics, former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke said of Bannon joining Trump’s team, “I think that’s excellent.”

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Team Trump: It’s Divisive To Point Out Our Senior Counselor Is A White Supremacist

Yesterday, the Trump transition team announced that Steve Bannon, of the “alt-right” website Breitbart will serve in the Trump administration as senior counselor and chief West Wing strategist.

The Bannon appointment raised many eyebrows in that Breibart is considered the “far right fringe” of conservative politics, and the website generally posts inflammatory white supremacist theories and worse.

Donald Trump communications director told CNN’s New Day host Chris Cuomo that pointing out Steve Bannon’s headlines and stories by white supremacists on his Breitbart website is “divisive.”

From Raw Story:

Miller attempted to parrot the new message from the Trump transition, claiming that he’s beyond attacking Mexicans, Muslims, women and all of the other groups targeted during the election. Instead, they want to move forward and bring the country together. “New Day” host Chris Cuomo couldn’t understand how that was possible with Bannon as Trump’s right-hand man.

Miller was bothered Cuomo would bring up something so divisive. “Again, I think that your focus on trying to divide people…”

Cuomo cut him off, “Not fair, Jason. Not fair. You put Bannon in position. Not me. I don’t put out the headlines on Breitbart. He does. He is seen as the architect of a very effective strategy that Donald Trump used during the election, which you guys now say needs to be left behind. But you’re bringing the architect of it with you. That’s not on me.”

And I predict that Donald Trump will “be under audit” by the IRS for at least the next four years, and thus unable to release his taxes. Ever.

Just saying…

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Ben Shapiro Trashes Donald Trump As “Turd Tornado”

Right-wing journalist Ben Shapiro described his former boss at Breitbart News, Steve Bannon, as a “turd tornado” upon hearing the news that Donald Trump had hired Bannon to head up his beleaguered presidential campaign.

Via Raw Story:

Shapiro, who left Breitbart after the website took a pro-Trump turn earlier this year, accused Bannon of turning “Breitbart into Trump Pravda for his own personal gain.”

“Steve is basically going to tell Trump to be more militant, to double down, to be more focused,” Shapiro explained to CNN’s Brianna Keilar on Wednesday. “It does demonstrate the Republican or Trump-media complex that Bannon has helped to create in direct contravention to what Andrew Breitbart once called the Democrat-media complex.”

“As you probably know, I think Donald Trump is a turd tornado, but I also know that he has no capacity whatsoever to control himself and be the sort of staid politician that so many people want him to be,” he continued. “So, telling him to double down is not necessarily terrible strategy. If he’s going to go down, he’s going to go down being Trump.”

“A what tornado?” Keilar asked.

“A turd tornado,” Shapiro repeated.

“What is that?” Keilar pressed, immediately wishing she hadn’t.

“Well, it’s like a Sharknado, except with poop,” Shapiro revealed.

“Okay, that’s not quite what I expected,” the CNN host admitted.