Steve Bannon Goes Another Round

Published October 10, 2017 at 10:00 AM CDT

Former White House strategist Steve Bannon speaks at a rally for Roy Moore, Monday, Sept. 25, 2017, in Fairhope, Ala. (Brynn Anderson/AP)

Steve Bannon unloads to The American Prospect’s Robert Kuttner, again—this time on his grand design to blow up the Republican Party and more. Kuttner joins us.

Steve Bannon didn’t talk much to the press when he was inside the White House as Donald Trump’s chief strategist. Now outside, he’s talking. About blowing up the Republican Party. Going after the party establishment. Going to war for his vision of economic nationalism. And one of the people he’s talking to – maybe appealing to – is Robert Kuttner, ardent progressive. Editor. They’ve just talked, again. Kuttner’s with us. This hour, On Point: Steve Bannon, unchained. — Tom Ashbrook.

Guest

Robert Kuttner, co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect. Professor at Brandeis University’s Heller School. His latest book is Debtors’ Prison: The Politics of Austerity Versus Possibility. ( @rkuttner)

From Tom’s Reading List

The American Prospect: Steve Bannon, Unleashed — “Bannon’s current obsession is to blow up Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republican Senate incumbents whom he regards as hostile to his brand of nationalism. Bannon believes that if Republicans will just embrace populist economic nationalism, they can become a workers’ party and the majority party for decades to come. He’s been on the road, recruiting primary challengers to knock off Republican incumbents—and carry that populist message.”

CNN: Steve Bannon Is Looking For Retribution After Alabama Win. And He’s Recruiting. — “Fresh off his insurgent candidate’s big win in Alabama, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon is making clear he is seeking retribution against fellow Republican campaign operatives who work against him. ‘The populist movement is going to do a house cleaning of all those individuals that made a living off the conservative grassroots while stabbing them in the back,’ a source familiar with Bannon’s thinking tells CNN.”

HuffPost: Missing In Action: Barack Obama — “But after Obama’s presidency, and the Republican effort to block him at every turn, we were most dis-united than ever. And Trump has made divisiveness the essence of his strategy. So where is that prophetic voice? What is staggeringly disappointing is that Obama has declined to weigh in on the greatest threat to this Republic since the Civil War, not to mention the greatest threat to racial justice. In fairness to Obama, it’s clear that he is reluctant to be a lightning rod for even more racism. But on that front, as on other fronts, Obama’s signal weakness both as president and as post-president has been an excess of caution.”