“If there is any confusion out there, let me clear it up: I’m leaving the White House and going to war for Trump against his opponents on capitol hill, in the media, and in corporate America.” – Stephen K. Bannon (Aug.18, 2017)
Anyone who expects Stephen Bannon, bitter on his removal as White House Chief Strategist, to turn on Donald Trump through his platform at Breitbart News is going to be disappointed.
Bannon will not turn on Trump. He will turn on the Trump Administration.
What’s the difference, you ask? My prediction is this: Bannon will proceed to catalogue all of the failures and foibles of the White House with insider knowledge and pinpoint accuracy. He will be much better positioned to heap this kind of vitriol from outside than within, and opponents of the regime will be encouraged and amused at the infighting and disarray.
Don’t be fooled. For through it all Trump himself will be presented as blameless. Blame will be directed solely at his advisors, primarily senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner, chief economic advisor Gary Cohn, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
If you noticed something in common between those names then you’re keeping up with the plot. We will soon be introduced to the latest iteration of the figure of the court Jew; the worm-tongued advisor who infiltrates court due only to the kindly tendencies a well-meaning but naive king. Former Generals Kelly, Mattis and McMaster will come in for criticism too, no doubt, but will get a lighter touch. Though no less inimical to Bannon’s agenda, the institution best associated with them is the U.S. military which must command deference and respect. When an abstract corporate entity of treasonous intent and malevolent power is needed to explain the administration’s failures, the “deep state” will be given a Jewish face.
Am I being overly alarmist? Jews, you may object, have not been significantly targeted by the Trump movement up to now, which has been characterized more by racism, Islamophobia and anti-immigrant xenophobia. Instances of anti-Semitism have appeared, sure, but they don’t seem to be informing the movement’s core ideology, at least not yet. True enough. And honestly, we’re still a long way from where actual Jews will be targeted with actual violence or discrimination such as is already a concern for other groups. Yes, we will continue to see anti-Semitic hate groups emboldened to agitate openly, but on a state level we’re not looking at concentration camps or Nuremberg laws any time soon.
Nonetheless, members of other vulnerable groups will ignore the significance of the coming anti-Semitism at their own peril, as will Jewish Trump-supporters who don’t feel personally threatened. It will become a significant keystone, crucial at this stage in the descent to authoritarianism, for the maintenance of the rest of the movement’s ideology and agenda.
For the bulk of Trump’s supporters, who are not anti-Semitic, there will remain plenty of room for deniability, such as in the administration’s unrelenting support for Israel and because the word “Jew”, as such, will never be used (nor, of course, will “Zionist”, the favorite stand-in term for the anti-Semitic left). The word used instead will be “globalists”, but the content of the mythology – who and what these “globalists” are, and why they do what they do – will resonate with anyone who has read the Protocols of the Elders of Zion or the International Jew. The hard core of the movement’s supporters – those who surround confederate monuments with torches and Nazi flags – will know exactly what is being said when the names of perpetrators are singled out, alongside “the media” and “corporate America”.
And this myth will enable both groups of Trump supporters to overcome cognitive dissonance and adjust to reality, finally confronting the myriad failures and hypocrisies of the administration without having to jettison their undying support for the leader and his movement. For it is not his fault; it is the fault of evil advisors serving another master, who can be driven away only if the People are strong enough to stay loyal and united.
Over time Bannon will shape this narrative into the rhetorical backbone of the Trump reelection campaign. It is just coherent enough to work. And in so doing, bring anti-Semitism into the mainstream of American political discourse for the first time in a long time.
The Tarragon Lectures 