Bannon, basically: Trump’s campaign was a fraud

[GennGreymane]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...n-was-a-fraud/

Stephen K. Bannon says he will be “covering” for President Trump on the outside, but the former White House chief strategist made a breathtakingly candid admission in the hours after his exit on Friday.

“The Trump presidency that we fought for, and won, is over,” Bannon told the Weekly Standard. “We still have a huge movement, and we will make something of this Trump presidency. But that presidency is over. It’ll be something else. And there’ll be all kinds of fights, and there’ll be good days and bad days, but that presidency is over.”

What, exactly, did Bannon mean? Well, he got specific:

“I just think his ability to get anything done — particularly the bigger things, like the wall, the bigger, broader things that we fought for, it’s just going to be that much harder,” Bannon said of Trump.

And what will be the effect of the remaining White House advisers on Trump?

“I think they’re going to try to moderate him,” Bannon said. “I think he’ll sign a clean debt ceiling; I think you’ll see all this stuff. His natural tendency — and I think you saw it this week on Charlottesville — his actual default position is the position of his base, the position that got him elected. I think you’re going to see a lot of constraints on that. I think it’ll be much more conventional.”

The line about Trump's “natural tendency” is exactly what Bannon meant about covering for the president. When Trump fails to deliver something he promised, as a candidate, Bannon will assure the faithful that their president's heart was in the right place but that the swamp got in his way.

But the bigger takeaway here is that Bannon believes Trump will fail. The wall? Probably not going to happen. Sweeping tax cuts? Bannon predicted “they’ll do a very standard Republican version of taxes.” Repealing Obamacare? Please. Bannon called the GOP plan that Trump backed “a half-hearted attempt at Obamacare reform.”

That's right — “reform.” Bannon wouldn't even call it a repeal effort.

The short translation is that Trump's campaign was a fraud. The ideas that Trump sold and his supporters bought are unlikely to turn into actions, according to Bannon.

It sounds like Bannon, who will return to Breitbart News, will pin the blame on everyone around the president, rather than the man himself. The question is whether the voters who put Trump in the Oval Office will be so charitable.

[Xeones]

He isn't calling the campaign a fraud. He's just saying Trump is incapable of accomplishing anything.

[Acidbaron]

Seems to me he's doing Trump a favor by already creating an unicorn, a magically beast that unlike a scapegoat can take many shapes and forms and will be blamed for everything going wrong and it will never be Trump's fault and always something or someone else.

[Breccia]

He isn't calling the campaign a fraud. He's just saying Trump is incapable of accomplishing anything.

"Great. We're not gutless, we're incompetent."

Most people think Bannon basically ran the campaign. His words on the current situation situation seems to match that. He can use his propaganda machine to blame everyone else all he wants, Trump doesn't do actual work, and he'll be blamed for that, correctly.

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Seems to me he's doing Trump a favor by already creating an unicorn, a magically beast that unlike a scapegoat can take many shapes and forms and will be blamed for everything going wrong and it will never be Trump's fault and always something or someone else.

That's some kind of reverse scapegoat action. "Everyone else is to blame except Trump." He is going to have a hard time accurately blaming Democrats when Trump has none in his cabinet and the Republicans have the majority in everything else. He'll try, but he'll have to lie to do it.

[Deleted]

"[name], basically: [False statement]"

Is this the new "an anonymous source familiar with the thinking of a relative close to someone who was within a 500 mile radius of Trump told [newspaper]"?

[Breccia]

"[name], basically: [False statement]"

Is this the new "an anonymous source familiar with the thinking of a relative close to someone who was within a 500 mile radius of Trump told [newspaper]"?

First of all, it's tough to decry anonymous sources when Trump routinely uses them. So, that argument's dead.

Secondly, yeah, WaPo leans left and that's their interpretation. Bear in mind, Bannon did say the things they campaigned on probably won't happen. Maybe that's fraud, maybe that's just incompetence, but there's no positive spin. Which is why some people might attack the article for unrelated things, such as anonymous sources, which this article does not have.

[Acidbaron]

That's some kind of reverse scapegoat action. "Everyone else is to blame except Trump." He is going to have a hard time accurately blaming Democrats when Trump has none in his cabinet and the Republicans have the majority in everything else. He'll try, but he'll have to lie to do it.

This is already happening, the statement has been made that they let the democrats in the White House. You also seem to not factor in that these are people who believe fluoride in tap water causes people to become gay, when they read that some people are actually democrats even though they aren't they will believe it since they have skills to question information, to be critical about information and they will accept it when it comes from certain people or news outlets as the truth.

[CostinR]

"Great. We're not gutless, we're incompetent."

Most people think Bannon basically ran the campaign. His words on the current situation situation seems to match that. He can use his propaganda machine to blame everyone else all he wants, Trump doesn't do actual work, and he'll be blamed for that, correctly.

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That's some kind of reverse scapegoat action. "Everyone else is to blame except Trump." He is going to have a hard time accurately blaming Democrats when Trump has none in his cabinet and the Republicans have the majority in everything else. He'll try, but he'll have to lie to do it.

Actually Gary Cohn and Jared Kushner are both registered Democrats. Kushner even helped Cory Booker in his senate run.

As for Bannon running the campaign, he joined in August officially didn't he? So ye he helped Trump but running the campaign is a bit ridiculous.

Maybe this is a wrong viewpoint that's perhaps not palpable with a lot of the 4chan, Breitbart fanclub online but as a Trump supporter I ALWAYS viewed him as a moderate candidate: This is a guy who defended Planned Parenthood in Republican primaries, praised Scotland's government run healthcare system as a model, was firmly on the far left side on trade deals, was the least hawkish candidate on foreign interventions with the exception of pure isolationists like Sanders or Paul.

So Bannon is complaining Trump is going to become a centrist? Hint asshole: He IS a centrist and your attempts are pushing a pure partisan line have been pathetic. If people wanted Ted FUCKING Cruz they should have voted for him.

[Sunseeker]

Don't really think that's what the article is saying, or what Bannon is saying.

Bannon's just calling a lame duck a lame duck.

[Deleted]

"The Trump Presidency is the best ever! The problem is the agenda, the administration (me included) and the political strategies."

I don't know if I should agree with him or just rolleyes for the stupid cheapshot against his own work.

[zorkuus]

If he actually believed the wall could/would be done then he is not as smart as some paint him to be.

[Breccia]

as a Trump supporter I ALWAYS viewed him as a moderate candidate

Was it the Wall, the Muslim Ban, or sucking Putin's cock that made you think that? Because every Republican ran on cutting health care for the poor in exchange for tax cuts for the rich, but only Trump did any of those three things. None of which are moderate. Neither is pretending not to know who David Duke was, which isn't just far right, it's fucking retarded, and gee, hasn't that been proven to be part of a pattern now, hasn't it?

Trump, like many politicians, said a lot of things to get elected. That's par for the course. Problem is, unlike a lot of politicians, he also spewed a lot of objective falsehoods -- such as 42% unemployment, Obama was a Kenyan, and Clean Coal exists -- which led most educated people to doubt his actual motives. Further, a lot of what else he said contradicted itself. "What do you have to lose," he told African Americans, "other than the fact that I won't rent property to you? Seriously I got sued by the federal government for that. Twice, And lost both times. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to tell Flint MI how I'm going to remove regulations on drinking water." He also played up to the "bomb the shit out of them" crowd extra hard for someone claiming Clinton was the warhawk, then said he could bring China to the negotiating table and win while ignoring his six bankruptcies.

All of which, while his charity was closed for not being a charity, not donating to charity, not revealing his taxes and getting caught trying to cheat on his then-pregnant wife.

Maybe you can try to defend that he had a coherent platform, including his health care plan that doesn't exist, his plan to defeat ISIS that doesn't exist, his infrastructure bill that doesn't exist, or his tax plan that doesn't exist. You can try, you might even land some decent hits, but I'm not sure all of them will be moderate. But while you can claim he had some moderate policies, you will not be able to reasonably say he was a centrist. Not when he threatened to jail a political opponent who was effectively tried eight times and never found guilty. Not when he accused the father of another opponent of being an assassin. Not when calls another one too ugly to get votes. Which, again, nobody else did.

You can call his platform coherent, or you can call it moderate, but you cannot call it both. And with the length of his "nobody else did this" list being extensive, I don't think you can get away with the latter. Especially not after he hires Bannon.

[zorkuus]

Was it the Wall, the Muslim Ban, or sucking Putin's cock that made you think that? Because every Republican ran on cutting health care for the poor in exchange for tax cuts for the rich, but only Trump did any of those three things. None of which are moderate.

This. Everyone ran on the basic republican talking points. Trump wasn't unique at all in that regard. He was unique in flinging feces like a rapid monkey though. What was so moderate about taking precious debate time with "lying Ted, lying Ted, lying Ted"?

The Trump following truly is a cult.

[DarkTZeratul]

Maybe this is a wrong viewpoint that's perhaps not palpable with a lot of the 4chan, Breitbart fanclub online but as a Trump supporter I ALWAYS viewed him as a moderate candidate: This is a guy who defended Planned Parenthood in Republican primaries, praised Scotland's government run healthcare system as a model, was firmly on the far left side on trade deals, was the least hawkish candidate on foreign interventions with the exception of pure isolationists like Sanders or Paul.

So Bannon is complaining Trump is going to become a centrist? Hint asshole: He IS a centrist and your attempts are pushing a pure partisan line have been pathetic. If people wanted Ted FUCKING Cruz they should have voted for him.

He's not a moderate or a centrist. He's a populist.

[Breccia]

He's not a moderate or a centrist. He's a populist.

See, why didn't I just wait and let you handle it. One sentence and boom, done.

[draynay]

Tell a bunch of big lies during the campaign about whats gonna happen, but what you're being told now is totally the truth!

[Breccia]

Tell a bunch of big lies during the campaign about whats gonna happen, but what you're being told now is totally the truth!

Also, WOLF! WOLF!

I had kept insisting that Trump was a 3 1/2 year lame duck, shoved into a corner waiting for papers to be shoved under his tiny hands to sign, probably weeping. Sounds like Bannon agres with me.

If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go throw up after re-reading that sentence.

[Deleted]

Also, WOLF! WOLF!

I had kept insisting that Trump was a 3 1/2 year lame duck, shoved into a corner waiting for papers to be shoved under his tiny hands to sign, probably weeping. Sounds like Bannon agres with me.

If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go throw up after re-reading that sentence.

But Jeezy says is 7 1/2 and I believe in Jeezy!

[kail]

"Incompetent" is a more accurate term than "fraud". Regardless, it's one of the few things I can agree with Bannon on.

[fengosa]

Actually Gary Cohn and Jared Kushner are both registered Democrats. Kushner even helped Cory Booker in his senate run.

As for Bannon running the campaign, he joined in August officially didn't he? So ye he helped Trump but running the campaign is a bit ridiculous.

Maybe this is a wrong viewpoint that's perhaps not palpable with a lot of the 4chan, Breitbart fanclub online but as a Trump supporter I ALWAYS viewed him as a moderate candidate: This is a guy who defended Planned Parenthood in Republican primaries, praised Scotland's government run healthcare system as a model, was firmly on the far left side on trade deals, was the least hawkish candidate on foreign interventions with the exception of pure isolationists like Sanders or Paul.

So Bannon is complaining Trump is going to become a centrist? Hint asshole: He IS a centrist and your attempts are pushing a pure partisan line have been pathetic. If people wanted Ted FUCKING Cruz they should have voted for him.

If Trump is moving to the center it's because his strong arm tactics haven't woked and he's decided he has to move on from the Bannon strategy. The problem with claiming Trump is a moderate is that he changes his stance so frequently. He campaigned on a healthcare plan that would be tremendous and wouldn't cut medicare/medicaid spending but he pushed a bill counter to those statements. I'm not going to argue that Trump hasn't said moderate things at times but he also does thing and says things that completely contradict those words rendering them meaningless.