Bannon, Trump and the ‘Nationalist Economic Agenda’
On the conservative spectrum, there are moderate conservatives, such as Paul Ryan, and more right-leaning individuals, such as President Donald Trump. Most Republicans can be classified into these two groups, but there are some that don’t even fit on the spectrum and make die-hard conservatives like Ronald Reagan seem like socialist Bernie Sanders.
Steve Bannon deserves his own category and his own special award for breaking the norms of George Washington and being a living embodiment of conservative extremism. He is the physical manifestation of all of the reasons why the conservative party is not taken as seriously as it once was, and his views only accentuate this problem.
He is the one that whispers in Trump’s ear and commands his every move, and some would say that he does even more to influence public policy than all the other advisors combined.
When reading the policies published by Trump, it is hard to distinguish when Bannon’s voice stops and Trump’s begins. All the policies that Trump have pushed are in line with Bannon’s stances, and his new “Nationalist Economic Agenda” also seems quite in line with Bannon’s viewpoints.
In this agenda, Trump pushes for an “America First” prospect that would protect America’s home-grown industries and defend against cheap Chinese and Mexican imports. By imposing tariffs and levies on imports, Trump and Bannon hope to strengthen fledgling American industries and create jobs for the American people.
On paper, this seems like a halfway decent plan, and in line with what Trump promised during his campaign. However, the idea of an isolated America, cut off from the rest of the world, seems like the ideals that America espoused before World War II.
The antiquated idea that a country can prosper without participating in international trade is one that the baby boomer generation embraced. Right now, in our day and age, globalism is the new hot topic, and every country in the world is actively taking a role to promote international trade.
Trump’s plan, which includes putting the U.S. at odds with China and Mexico, would not contribute to the ongoing globalization that has been the characteristic of the 21st century. The continuing isolationism occurring in the White House also supports Trump’s immigration policies. With the recent immigration ban, the idea of halting the dissemination of information and the stop of multiculturalism is evident in his nationalist agenda.
Not only does he want to make sure that America stops trading with other countries, he is inadvertently stopping the flow of brain power into the United States. Keeping the U.S. out of the loop of the newest technological innovation that goes on in the world is surely not what Trump intended to do when he ran for president. His campaign policy to “make America great again” strived to increase American jobs, but by taxing imports from other countries, he is decreasing interest in American jobs. Day by day, Donald Trump strays further away from his goal of helping the American people and strays toward the illogical views of Steve Bannon.
Featured Illustration: Samuel Wiggins
Matthew, I hardly think anyone, including Steve Bannon, commands Donald Trump’s every move. You obviously haven’t watched very many of Trump’s speeches (and I doubt you watched his address to Congress this week) because you don’t have any discernment to understand that Trump is his own man, and he thinks for himself – and has of course made some mistakes because of that. Steve Bannon is not the puppetmaster pulling Trump’s strings as you think he is. You need to stop watching and reading the far-left liberal media and watch and read media that isn’t biased against the current administration. It’s also not an “immigrant ban.” It’s a ban against those coming from nations that don’t have any vetting of immigrants at all. If it was an “immigrant ban,” no one would be allowed in the U.S., including no one from the 40+ predominantly Muslim nations that are not included in the ban. Again – please become more educated before you write drivel like this.
The conservative party is taken far more seriously by a majority of Americans in a majority of states than liberals, the so-called progressives, are being taken seriously. Conservatives are not the ones who constantly whined, protested and threw temper tantrums when their candidates didn’t win in 2008 and 2012. Liberals are doing this, and by doing that, they’re not being progressive. They’re being regressive toward being children. Conservatives are either tired of their juvenile tactics and have lost patience with them, or secretly laugh at them and/or pity them for being snowflakes in their safe spaces. What you have written is the result of you being uneducated about both sides of the political spectrum.