“On the telephone, Mr. Bannon spoke in blunt but calm tones, peppered with a dose of profanities, and humorously referred to himself at one point as “Darth Vader.” He said, with ironic relish, that Mr. Trump was elected by a surge of support from “the working class hobbits and deplorables.”
“The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for awhile,” Mr. Bannon said during a telephone call.”
Bugsy Bannon
In my experience with folks who want to curtail my Freedom of Speech, all you need do is count to ten, and they self-destruct! This is because they think their motives for trying to shut you up are invisable, and thus they compare themselves to a Cloaked One, like Darth Vader, and The Phantom of the Opera.
Most of us knew there was something dark and vicious lurking in Steve Bannon, but I did not see it was he who was really pissed about the crowd size photos, and the hard questions the Press was asking “the thin-skinned one”. Now we understand Bug Bannon was wearing Donald Trump’s thin skin, and was using that poor rich bastard, to alter the world to his liking. Bug Bannon needs to be immersed in the rarefied air of Super Human Genius, a Svengali with a Master Plan, that only HE understands. Therefore, HE trusts no one, not even Erik the poor abused boy at the Carney who grows up to be the richest and most powerful man on earth, and the galaxy!
Then, Bug Bannon, tells the press to shut up while he hides behind the apron of “working class hobbits and deplorables.” who must hate Free Speech as much as the Bug Master. The little powerless working hobbits missed this one – not!
Jon Presco
WASHINGTON — Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump’s chief White House strategist, laced into the American press during an interview on Wednesday evening, arguing that news organizations had been “humiliated” by an election outcome few anticipated, and repeatedly describing the media as “the opposition party” of the current administration.
“The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for awhile,” Mr. Bannon said during a telephone call.
“I want you to quote this,” Mr. Bannon added. “The media here is the opposition party. They don’t understand this country. They still do not understand why Donald Trump is the president of the United States.”
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The scathing assessment — delivered by one of Mr. Trump’s most trusted and influential advisers, in the first days of his presidency — comes at a moment of high tension between the news media and the administration, with skirmishes over the size of Mr. Trump’s inaugural crowd and the president’s false claims that millions of illegal votes by undocumented immigrants swayed the popular vote against him.
Mr. Bannon, who rarely grants interviews to journalists outside of Breitbart News, the provocative right-wing website he ran until last August, was echoing comments by Mr. Trump this weekend, when the president said he was in “a running war” with the media and called journalists “among the most dishonest people on earth.”
During a call to discuss Sean M. Spicer, the president’s press secretary, Mr. Bannon ratcheted up the criticism, offering a broad indictment of the news media as biased against Mr. Trump and out of touch with the American public. That’s an argument familiar to readers of Breitbart and followers of Trump-friendly personalities like Sean Hannity.
“The elite media got it dead wrong, 100 percent dead wrong,” Mr. Bannon said of the election, calling it “a humiliating defeat that they will never wash away, that will always be there.”
“The mainstream media has not fired or terminated anyone associated with following our campaign,” Mr. Bannon said. “Look at the Twitter feeds of those people: they were outright activists of the Clinton campaign.” (He did not name specific reporters or editors.)
“That’s why you have no power,” Mr. Bannon added. “You were humiliated.”
Of all of Mr. Trump’s advisers in the White House, Mr. Bannon is the one tasked with implementing the nationalist vision that Mr. Trump channeled during the later months of the campaign, one that stemmed from Mr. Bannon himself. And in many ways Mr. Trump’s first week has put into action that vision — from the description of “American Carnage’’ Mr. Trump laid out in his inauguration speech, to a series of executive actions outlining policy on trade agreements, immigration, the building of a border wall and the demands that Mexico pay for it.
He is one of the strongest forces in a White House with competing power centers. A savvy manipulator of the press, and a proud provocateur, Mr. Bannon was among the few advisers in Mr. Trump’s circle who was said to have urged on Mr. Spicer’s confrontational, emotional statement to a shocked White House briefing room on Saturday, when the White House disputed press reports on the inauguration crowd size. He mostly shares Mr. Trump’s view that the news media has misunderstood the movement that the president rode into office.
On the telephone, Mr. Bannon spoke in blunt but calm tones, peppered with a dose of profanities, and humorously referred to himself at one point as “Darth Vader.” He said, with ironic relish, that Mr. Trump was elected by a surge of support from “the working class hobbits and deplorables.”
The conversation was initiated by Mr. Bannon to offer praise for Mr. Spicer, who has been criticized this week for making false claims at the White House podium about the attendance of Mr. Trump’s inaugural crowd; for calling reporters dishonest and lecturing them about what stories to write; and for failing to disavow Mr. Trump’s lie about widespread voter fraud in the election.
Asked if he was concerned that Mr. Spicer had lost credibility with the press, Mr. Bannon chortled. “Are you kidding me?” he said. “We think that’s a badge of honor. ‘Questioning his integrity’ — are you kidding me? The media has zero integrity, zero intelligence, and no hard work.”
“You’re the opposition party,” Mr. Bannon said. “Not the Democratic Party. You’re the opposition party. The media’s the opposition party.”
While Mr. Bannon mostly referred to the “elite” or “mainstream” media, he cited The New York Times and The Washington Post by name.
“The paper of record for our beloved republic, The New York Times, should be absolutely ashamed and humiliated,” Mr. Bannon said. “They got it 100 percent wrong.”
He added that he has been a reader of The Times for most of his adult life.
Reply from Congressman Peter DeFazio
Dear Mr. Presco
Thank you for contacting me regarding your concerns with the outcome of the presidential election. I appreciate hearing from you on this important topic.
Following the November 8 election I have heard from hundreds of my constituents who are worried about their personal safety, civil rights and freedoms and that of their children and communities under the Trump Administration.
I signed on to a letter with over 160 of my colleagues to President-elect Trump urging him to rescind his appointment of Stephen Bannon as White House Chief Strategist. As the Executive Chairman of Breitbart News, Bannon repeatedly published stories that promote racism, xenophobia, misogyny and anti-Semitism. The appointment runs counter to Trump’s election night promise to be a president to all Americans and sets a troubling precedent for his administration.
I plan to fight any attempts to weaken, privatize or dismantle Social Security or Medicare. I will continue to push for a reversal of Citizens United, so the voice of American citizens is no longer drowned out by dark corporate campaign cash. I will push back on any proposals to undo consumer financial protections that allow big banks to prey on working Americans.
We live in a constitutional representative democracy. The President does not possess dictatorial powers. There is a need to bring the country back together. In the coming years, Congress and the Trump Administration will have to work to find common ground. I n particular, I look forward to working with this administration on a new trade policy. I have voted against each and every so-called “free trade agreement,” which have exported quality American jobs to seek out the cheapest, most exploitable labor around the world. We need to change that.
Additionally, President-Elect Trump has talked about a trillion dollar investment in our crumbling infrastructure. That money could be well-spent to put hundreds of thousands of people to work, make our country more competitive, get people out of congestion , and save on fuel. I have ideas about how to fund that investment and I look forward to working with him on that when possible.
I will otherwise look for places where we can make common cause. W hen I find it necessary to disagree with this administration and their proposed policies, as I have with every president, Democrat or Republican, I will do my best to represent my district and the needs of my people, my state, and our country as best I can.
We’re the oldest representative democracy on Earth, and we’ve withstood a lot of crises. We’ve had a civil war, where we killed one another within our own country. We’ve been through the Great Depression, and even the threat of Nazism. We’ve stood up to a lot of things, and we can find common cause to draw together again. You can be sure I will continue to support vital programs and the fight for equality for individuals of every religion, gender, sexual orientation, and race.
Thanks again for contacting me, and for your engagement in the political process. Please keep in touch.
Sincerely,
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE PETER DeFAZIO
Rosamond Press 