Wednesday, November 23, 2016

From Norman Vincent Peale to Steve Bannon

And from Bannon to Breitbart to Israel:

"It's hard to think of Steve Bannon as a low-profile guy... He is the executive chairman of the hard-right Breitbart News and the US president-elect chose Bannon last week as his chief strategist and senior counsellor... Here are a few things you've probably read about Steve Bannon in the past week: He's a white supremacist, bigot and anti-Semite... He's associated with the 'alt right' movement that, according to the New York Times, delights in 'harassing Jews, Muslims and other vulnerable groups by spewing shocking insults on social media'.

"Bannon is an aggressive political scrapper, but he says his views bear no relation to the media's description... Anti-Semitic? 'Breitbart is the most pro-Israel site in the United States of America. I have Breitbart Jerusalem which I have Aaron Klein run with about 10 reporters there. We've been a leader in stopping this BDS movement in the United States, we're a leader in the reporting of young Jewish students being harassed on American campuses, we've been a leader on reporting on the terrible plight of the Jews in Europe.' He adds that given his many Jewish partners and writers, 'guys like Joel Pollak, these claims of anti-Semitism just aren't serious'...

"He acknowledges the site is 'edgy' but insists it is 'vibrant'. He offers his own definition of the alt-right movement and explains how he sees it fitting into Breitbart. 'Our definition of the alt-right is younger people who are anti-globalists, very nationalist, terribly anti-establishment.' But he says Breitbart is also a platform for 'libertarians', Zionists, 'the conservative gay community', 'proponents for restrictions on gay marriage', 'economic rationalism' and 'populism' and 'the anti-establishment'." (The Donald's 'cloven-hoofed devil' has no interest in being the story, Kimberley A. Strassel, The Wall Street Journal/ The Australian, 21/11/16)

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