David Brooks says plenty of problematic things. His recent reflections on the Women’s March were tone deaf and privileged and he routinely fails to see the world outside of an either/or, black/white paradigm. Many of us have vehemently disagreed with his writing in the past—but his latest column is scary and downright bizarre.
In his New York Times op-ed entitled “Let Bannon be Bannon!”, he extolls the virtues of chief White House chief strategist Steve Bannon while simultaneously lamenting Trump’s recent policies, which he seems to think are not Bannonesque enough.
Back in the good old days — like two months ago — it was fun to watch Bannon operate. He was the guy with a coherent governing philosophy. He seemed to have realized that the two major party establishments had abandoned the working class. He also seemed to have realized that the 21st-century political debate is not big versus small government, it’s open versus closed.
Wait a minute. Coherent governing philosophy? As a reminder, it was Steve Bannon who said this in the past:
Is comparing yourself to Lenin and wanting to burn down the government and “destroy the administrative state” considered a coherent governing philosophy?
Of course, in lots of cases (especially now) that strategy is warranted. But Steve Bannon is far from a champion of the people who wants to build a government that works in the interest of all people—particularly those who are the most marginalized. And with cuts to all kinds of humane programs like Meals on Wheels and free lunch programs, it seems like Bannon’s fingerprints are all over this budget proposal. But that doesn’t stop Brooks from seeing him as some kind of ethereal, savior-like creature with endless wisdom that is being unnecessarily silenced by the Trump administration.
Bannon had the opportunity to realign American politics around the social, cultural and economic concerns of the working class. Erect barriers to keep out aliens from abroad, and shift money from the rich to the working class to create economic security at home.[...]
Why is Bannonism being abandoned? One possibility is that there just aren’t enough Trumpians in the world to staff an administration, so Trump and Bannon have filled their apparatus with old guard Republicans who continue to go about their jobs in old guard pseudo-libertarian ways.
Bannonism is being abandoned because it’s white nationalism and hate (for nearly everyone and everything that isn’t white, straight, and male) masquerading as policy. This is not hard. But Brooks does get one thing right: the Trump agenda is a nightmare. With a health care plan that promises to hurt its base, and plans to eliminate job training and roads-building programs, it looks like the wealthy elite and defense contractors make out best in Trump’s America.
When [the Trump health care and budget plans] fail, which seems very likely, there’s going to be a holy war between the White House and Capitol Hill. I don’t have high hopes for what’s going to emerge from that war, but it would be nice if the people who voted for Trump got economic support, not punishment.
For that, there’s one immediate recipe: Unleash Steve Bannon!
No one should have high hopes for what’s coming. Both the health care and budget plan are deeply flawed and will hurt nearly everyone save the very wealthy, who don’t need the same insurance options and services as the rest of us. But let’s hope that no one heeds Brooks’ call. Instead let’s pray for the exact opposite—that Steve Bannon is tightly restrained and severely limited in his power until this awful nightmare of an administration is over.