BTRTN: Loose Bannon... Watch Fox Get "Primaried" by Breitbart

[reggieandlee]

Born to Run the Numbers speculates on Steve Bannon's plans for Breitbart:

http://www.borntorunthenumbers.com/2017/08/loose-bannon-watch-fox-get-primaried-by.html

Excerpt: "Perhaps Bannon’s brief and unsuccessful tenure in the White House and Ailes’ demise may have made Bannon realize that what he really wants to be is the next Ailes: the kingmaker who controls the Republican Party by functioning as the conduit to and from its ever-more animated bedrock conservative base.

In Trump, Bannon had the perfect vessel: a powerful demagogue who had an intuitive sense for populist rage, bigotry, and fear… but who lacked an organized, coherent philosophy through which he could turn voter support into actionable legislative programs. Bannon disciplined Trump into core campaign themes: economic nationalism, military isolationism, and unrelenting savage attacks on Hilary Clinton’s trustworthiness. Trump’s campaign had been in shambles when Bannon arrived, and Bannon has every reason to believe that he was the reason that Trump won.

Like Ailes before him, Bannon sees the opportunity to institutionalize this role as “kingmaker” by controlling the media that connects with the base. This means building Breitbart News as rapidly as possible, and challenging the pre-eminence of Fox News as the voice of the right. If that’s indeed the goal, here are five things one might can expect from Bannon in the very near future..."

[tgards79]

1. Just what we need...

..another point of view along the political spectrum with its own channel.

[Hortensis]

2. A wider rift among Republicans is exactly what we need.

Bannon is far more extreme than Aisles ever was, or Rupert Murdoch is. He could probably manage to serve up his democracy-burning agenda with well-greased lies, but it is a very different agenda from Fox's.

[reggieandlee]

3. Ailes or Bannon... who is more extreme?

Interesting point that you make, although I think that part of the answer lies in historical relativism. Ailes was extreme relative to the television news market as it existed when Fox News was founded -- every bit as mush as Bannon may appear now. Ailes became all the more so when the network enjoyed success. They are both extremely competitive and both extremely driven to succeed. And yes, Bannon's agenda is different than Fox. Bannon is purely based on ideology, where Fox is simply a functional propaganda arm for the Republican party and its personalities.

[Hortensis]

4. Agree. Congressional Republicans are far more extreme now

than ever in American history. Also far more extreme than the average Republican, driven by the ability of big money to outweigh the interests of plain old people. This is all studied and is known and measured.

Nevertheless, alarming as the ideologies of those who've made this happen are, I believe the bannonism plan to replace western-style liberal, secular democracy with some form of authoritarian Christian fascistic nationalism doing battle for supremacy with the rest of the planet is even more so. At least the Kochs want to continue making money. If they chose to massacre Jews like my husband, and/or some other sufficiently small group, I think it'd be for practical reasons--to satisfy their base, not for ideological reasons.