Bannon Dismisses ‘Alt-Right’ As ‘Losers’ In Off-The-Script Interview
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Following Anthony Scaramucci’s accidental interviewonversation with the New Yorker, one might think Trump administration staffers would have set rules of engagement with reporters. But Steve Bannon sounded off to the American Prospect without asking to go off the record.
In the most surprising twist from the interview, Bannon appeared to distance himself from the “alt-right,” which he bragged about creating a platform for while the head of Breitbart News.
“Ethno-nationalism — it’s losers. It’s a fringe element,” he said. “I think the media plays it up too much.”
He also discussed his plans to stack the State Department with allies, replacing traditional diplomatic types with “hawks.” Bannon, coming off the November victory, mocked the Democrats and their embrace of “identity politics.” “The Democrats,” he said, “the longer they talk about identity politics, I got ’em. I want them to talk about racism every day. If the left is focused on race and identity, and we go with economic nationalism, we can crush the Democrats.”
The story crashed the site of the American Prospect, a small politics and policy magazine based in the Washington, D.C. Read a cached version here.
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
