Whether he’s being depicted as the devil or as the Grim Reaper, former White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon has come to symbolize the triumph of a supposedly new form of right-wing politics. Early this year, CNN concluded that he was one of the “chief architects” of President Trump’s agenda. Bannon had a hand in creating this image, styling himself as the leader of a pro-Trump “cabal” out to topple an insufficiently populist Republican establishment. Bannon’s brand of politics, with its appeals to white nationalism, has never reached the White House before, we are told, and his brazen assault on democratic norms is basically unprecedented.
Yet for all of the impressions of him as a far-right pioneer imperiling American democracy, the Bannon style of American politics actually has deep roots in the modern conservative movement. Bannon’s victories — and he has had more than his fair share over the past year, including, most recently, former judge Roy Moore’s nomination as the GOP Senate candidate from Alabama — are best seen as the product of a decades-in-the-making project that stretches back to about the time of Bannon’s birth in 1953.
The Bannon style of American politics is defined by his anti-establishment and anti-elitism sensibility; his oratory with overtones of white nationalism aimed at stoking white working-class fury; his deep ties to and the financial support he draws from super-rich business titans; his deft manipulation of modern media to spread his ideas; and his protectionist “America first” stance on foreign affairs.
On all of these counts, however, Bannon is drawing on strains important to the making of conservative politics in the mid-20th century. The Bannon style of American politics, then, isn’t really new at all, although Bannon has woven these disparate strands together in ways that have become freshly resonant and helped spark a rebellion.