The Fourth Turning

“Bannon: Always the Rebel” is a book by Keith Koffler, a writer working for the conservative publisher Regnery. The book is promoted by Stephen Bannon's website Breitbart News, and is strongly pro-Bannon and pro-Trump. I think this may be the closest we get to an officially approved biography of Bannon. While the book is propaganda, I admit that it's interesting, even somewhat entertaining. It's also extremely well written and easy to read (I read all of it in just two days).

Steve Bannon, who is an Irish-American by birth, fits the ethnic stereotype almost to a tee: an aggressive, hard-drinking, working class Catholic with a Messiah complex. He reminds me of William Irwin Thompson, another intellectually pugnacious Irishman, but with very different philosophical ideas! If you believe in astrology, I suppose you could argue that Bannon is the quintessential Scorpio-Sagittarius combination – a free-wheeling revolutionary with limitless dark energy. And yes, he was born at the cusp of those two star signs…

Bannon turns out to be both a political activist, a long-term strategist and something of a philosopher. His favorite writers include Thucydides, Edward Gibbon and Strauss-Howe. He also reads René Guénon and seems familiar with the Traditionalist milieu. Above all, Bannon is a man of faith. Thomas à Kempis, the Brothers of the Common Life and the Jesuits are his foremost spiritual role models. Bannon's political strategy is to a large extent informed by “The Fourth Turning”, the book by William Strauss and Neil Howe which predicted a major crisis in the United States about a decade before it actually happened. The Fourth Turning is a quasi-apocalyptic turning point during which the future character of America will be decided – and that turning is *now*.

It was interesting to note that Bannon was originally a liberal Democrat, but of the old school variety that promoted the economic interests of the middle class and the workingman, while also being strongly patriotic. While opposed to the Vietnam War, Bannon had little sympathy for the wilder strands of radical-liberalism and leftism. Around 1979-80, he transitioned from liberal Democrat to “Reagan Democrat” and then to populist conservative. Bannon admired Ronald Reagan, both for his aggressive defense of the West against Communism, and for his populism. It seems Bannon's strategy has always revolved around a kind of “colorblind” middle class/working class orientation, and he strongly believes that populism is the way of the future – either in a leftist form (as represented by Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders) or in a rightist form (represented by himself and perhaps Donald Trump). Opposition to mass immigration, free trade and Islamism are integral parts of Bannon's “America First” outlook. Bannon tried to intervene already in the 2012 presidential elections, by making a documentary eulogizing Tea Party leader Sarah Palin, but in the end, Palin decided not to run and Obama was reelected anyway. Bannon's second chance came in 2016 with Donald Trump…

I'm not sure if Bannon is always coherent. He opposes free trade in favor of the so-called American System (associated with Hamilton, Clay and Lincoln), while simultaneously admiring "nationalist" Indian prime minister Modi (who is really a globalist), working with the Tea Party (who were libertarians in economic matters) and call for “the dismantling of the administrative state” (how will the American System be regulated without it?). Perhaps he simply has a broad tent approach. Breitbart News, founded by Andrew Breitbart and taken over by Bannon after Breitbart's death, has often functioned as an ecumenical right-wing outfit, with contributions from both interventionists, isolationists, Trumpkins, Cruzbots and even the libertarian troll extraordinaire Milo. At one point, Bannon called Breitbart News “a platform for the alt-right”, and the commentary section has been something of a White supremacist haven. The irenic approach didn't always work. Several moderates, including Ben Shapiro, resigned from Breitbart during the 2016 election campaign, charging that the news site had become little more than “Trump's Pravda”.

The book contains fascinating, and sometimes slightly bizarre, episodes from Bannon's private life and career. Thus, it turns out that he became a millionaire by correctly divining the future greatness of “Seinfeld”, accepting a stake in the production company owning the rights to what was at the time only a modestly successful comic show. (A one-liner from Jerry Seinfeld himself might have been interesting at this point!) Bannon further claims to have cured his alcohol habits, bordering on alcoholism, by following the spiritual exercises of Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit Order. Bannon is also said to own so many books, that he has bought several extra houses just to have space for them all. On *that* point, I sense a certain similarity with a based Amazon reviewer nicknamed Ashtar Command…

“Bannon: Always the Rebel” does have one crucial weakness. It says very little about Bannon's stint in the West Wing of the White House, and even less about why he resigned his position as presidential advisor. Perhaps the Honey Badger isn't quite ready to come clean on these points yet. Instead, the author constantly emphasizes how good Bannon's relationship was with Trump, how Bannon admired Trump's aggressive and domineering style (very similar to his own), and how much the two men supposedly accomplished while in office. Koffler claims that Trump really is a sincere born-again populist and the real deal, which – to be blunt – is obviously not true, Trump being an opportunist in the process of changing colors from Bannonite to business-as-usual (although I admit the old fox might still have a few surprises for us). The book ends very abruptly with Bannon simply resigning his position, returning to “the Breitbart Embassy” in Washington and imbibing a mysterious green substance to lose weight and prepare for the next round of fighting…

That being said, I nevertheless give this work five stars. Although I can't say I *like* Steve Bannon (I'm more of a left-wing populist and no Irishman), he doesn't look like the Darth Vaderesque figure he is supposed to be according to liberal demonology. In fact, he comes across as a perfectly sincere reformer who clearly understands more than the average politician or pundit in Washington DC. It's obvious that he knows what he's doing. Sure, he is out for now, but he (and Trump) did manage to hijack the GOP and the WH with a populist platform, showing that it actually *can* be done. In that sense, Stephen Bannon has already made history. In fact, I'm willing to bet that he will eventually be considered more important than William Irwin Thompson…or Jerry Seinfeld.

The Fourth Turning has arrived.

Originally posted November 16, 2017. Clearly, we all overestimated the genius of Steve Bannon...