Devil's Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency

I couldn't resist reading another book that explores how Trump succeeded in the 2016 election. This book focuses on Steve Bannon, his career before politics, and his personal philosophy about government and much else. Written by Joshua Green, a reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek, this is an excellent exposé of how Bannon and others influenced Trump, his campaign, and the early days of the administration.It's horrifying to think that such a large percentage of the U.S. population could be so easily manipulated by these creeps. But the toxic combination of white supremacists, racists, misogynists, and pseudo-Christians just ate up what was served by Trump, Bannon, and others. The thought that the 35-40 % of Americans who support Trump are holding the rest of us hostage to this craziness is just maddening. Republicans who are doing nothing to rein him in will not be looked kindly on by history. I'm looking forward to the day when the truth comes out and they are shown for the racist kleptocrats that they are.Devil's Bargain is well-written and reads like a novel; however, it's also well-researched. Anyone who wants a fuller picture of how we got where we are should read this book.

Devil's Bargain is a fascinating book written by Bloomberg journalist Joshua Green. It details the short-lived partnership between Donald Trump and Steve Bannon. Green interviewed Bannon at length and he takes you inside the Trump campaign. Green argues that Bannon, who first met Trump in 2011, offered the future president two services without which Trump could never have won the 2016 election: “a fully formed, internally coherent worldview…about trade and foreign threats,” and an “infrastructure of conservative organizations” that had spent years attacking and hating Hillary Clinton.Bannon has a habit of taking credit for everything that went right on the Trump campaign. Green makes a persuasive case: that Trump “seemed to recognize” that it was “Bannon alone” who could get Trump elected. The book argues that Trump's win is largely due to Bannon and Trump became a vessel for Bannon’s nationalist ideas. The book is gossipy and very readable and helps explain how Trump managed to get elected.The book is good on the campaign, but it also explains Bannon's long-term objectives and his political ideas. The central character of the book is Bannon and it provides a brief biography. Bannon grew up in a working class, Irish-Catholic family in Virginia. He joined the Navy, got a master’s degree from Georgetown. He went to Harvard Business School and then to Goldman Sachs. He specialized in media and made deals between movie studios and TV companies and then became a film producer. Having acquired wealth, Bannon began focusing on politics. Before meeting Trump, Bannon had advised Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann.Bannon became the chairman of Breitbart News. Bannon described his ideology to Mother Jones as "nationalist" and claimed that Breitbart News was the "platform for the alt-right". The alt-right has been demonized by the liberal intelligentsia. The New York Times described it “as a loosely organized group of mostly young men who believe in white supremacy; oppose immigration, feminism, and multiculturalism; and delight in harassing Jews, Muslims, and other vulnerable groups by spewing shocking insults on social media.” The alt-right is often described as neo-Nazi by the left because they view them as racists. Bannon is adamant that populism and fascism ‘are not even related’. On economic policy, he may be right. In the 1930s Hitler's regime was closer to the totalitarian rule of Stalin than it was to the laissez-faire capitalism of Herbert Hoover. Hitler rejected the market economy, embraced socialist policies and government intervention. Like the communists, he also believed in world domination.Breitbart News helped Trump dispatch his Republican competitors. Bannon became Trump’s campaign manager in August 2016 at the behest of the Mercer family, which funds right-wing causes (including Breitbart). Bannon took a leave from Breitbart while working for Trump. The book claims that Bannon was the architect of Trump’s populist campaign message. Green believes that Trump was never really a nationalist, but instead, was an opportunist who wanted to get elected and Bannon's ideas seemed to be popular.Bannon views himself as a political philosopher. He has read a lot of history and can quote Plutarch. His political views often shock the political establishment. He does not believe in virtue signaling or political correctness. He believes in a coming great-powers clash with an axis of the ancient Turkish, Persian and Chinese civilizations. According to Michael Wolff, Bannon told former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes that "China is where Nazi Germany was in 1929 to 1930.” Bannon believes “we’re at economic war with China” and only one will be a global hegemon in 25 or 30 years. He views China as an existential threat and argues that the US is losing the economic war. He has also predicted a military conflict in the South China Seas within 5-10 years.Bannon is critical of Wall Street. He believes that by 2008 Wall Street firms had become "highly leveraged hedge funds" and they had "wrecked the economy." He believes in capitalism and does not believe that taxpayers should bail out Wall Street. Strangely, Bannon suggests that liberal/left wing ideas have corrupted Wall Street. He believes in protectionism and has criticized Wall Street for promoting free trade and helping to outsource American jobs.According to Green, Bannon is worried about globalization. He believes that the rise of populist movements in the U.S., Europe, and Japan represents a return to tradition. Bannon believes you have to control: the border, the currency, the military, and national identity. People are finally coming to realize that, and politicians will have to follow.Bannon believes the EU and Angela Merkel plan to abolish the nation-state and create a world without borders. German nationalism caused a lot of problems in the 20th century, so Merkel's fears are understandable. However, Bannon views the EU and Merkel as twin threats. Bannon fears the EU is trying to eliminate national culture through immigration. Bannon has often spoken favorably about European populist movements that want to preserve the nation-state and he has supported nationalist movements in Europe. Helping to get Trump elected has given him credibility with European populists. The left-wing London Guardian has described Bannon as an evil genius.Bannon has a habit of biting the hand that feeds him. He often makes controversial statements that upset even his allies. Bannon seems to have fallen out of favor with Trump and the Mercers. The Wall Street Journal believes that Trump feels “betrayed” depicting Bannon as a self-promoter who inflated his importance in the president’s election victory. Rebekah Mercer has said that Bannon, “took Breitbart in the wrong direction.” However, Bannon has not gone away and he is turning his attention to Europe where populism is on the rise. He appears to be trying to cobble together an international front of far-right and neo-fascist political parties. Many of his ideas seem to resonate with ordinary people because their views are often ignored by the elites. The establishment in Europe is starting to view Bannon as a potential threat to stability. Some conservative commentators in London believe that Bannon is a racist who has crossed the line into fascism. We are waiting to see what Bannon does next.

A strong, well written story about the background, inspiration and behind the scene actions of Steve Bannon that contributed a lot to the presidential victory of Trump. I learned a lot of new details and was reminded of others. The book is just right. Not too slim on details while not being too tedious.The book gives you a clear sense of the power of behind the scenes money and propaganda to influence who rules the USA and the world. You learn once more that very little of politics is a means towards betterment of lives of people. Rather it is a grand game to be won no matter what. Maybe we can be awakened by the book and work towards more noble and honest goals. An important point the book illustrates is how the recent economics of news delivery has promoted sensationalism and led to the demise of old school investigative reporting and analysis of facts that are truly relevant news. The author, Joshua Green, provides detailed accounts of how Steven Bannon and rich people financing his efforts have cleverly taken advantage of this change in information delivery to win big. It is unfortunate that their motives and winnings benefit them and almost nobody else. A lot like Trump wanting to win a health care victory even though he has no interest in what the actual details are. Win, win, win. Tell people whatever you think will get them excited. Promote anything into a big story using the power of the Internet.The book does also indicate how stupid and ineffective the mainstream Democratic party was. I can admire Bannon's cleverness and hard work. What a story. What a waste of human cleverness and hard work. And that's the way it is in the year 2017.A good related book to read is Dark Money by Jane Mayer. For a positive story read Al Franken, Giant of the Senate.

I was looking for a book that explains what I consider Steve Bannon's insane nihilist views. I can't say this book gave it to me but it does provide some good background on his life experience. Smart, scrappy, and decidedly blue collar, he scratched and clawed his way to wealth and power and did it his own way. The Navy, Goldman Sachs, his own businesses, Brietbart and finally the White House. He has really built a resume. Now he thinks he can make a better world by tearing the whole thing down? Or is he just a talented guy who can't get past the massive chip on his shoulder and is making us all endure his lifelong tantrum? I still don't have that answer but this book is worth reading if you are as perplexed by Bannon as I am. Can't say I learned much about Trump, don't care to waste many words on him and neither does Joshua Green. More chapters need to be written on this crazy piece of history.

Ok

Boring. Don't bother. They're not worth it and should be ashamed of themselves-

Great book. Though if you have followed the news attentively, and its hard not to, some of it is already known.It does dig deeper in to the understanding of how the Alt-Right was able to gain such an influence and swell so much this last election using technology and sinister promotional methods.I hope moderate republicans and democrats read this book and do what banner did for trump.

La obra te atrapa desde la primera página. Trump no sería presidente sin la ayuda de Steve Bannon. Muy recomendable.

Fundiert, neutral, erschreckend. Eine informierte Analyse der Ursachen des Trump-Sieges und der Wege, die dahin führten. Ein Muss für jeden Politiker, Journalisten und Wahlkämpfer auch in Deutschland.