Now that Donald Trump has won the presidential election, the tough part of his job is just beginning: enacting all of his many campaign promises.
In order for Trump to carry out all these mandates, the President-Elect has enlisted the help of many of his hardcore supporters and the inner circle of his campaign. One of the most important people around Trump in the latter stages of the race was his campaign chief Steve Bannon, formerly the executive chairman of Breitbart News.
While Bannon was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs 20 years ago, in more recent times, he’s worked in the environmental sector on the Biosphere project and in Hollywood as a film and television producer.
Bannon is a veteran of the U.S. Navy, which he worked in for seven years in the 1970s and 1980s as both a surface warfare officer and a special assistant to the Pentagon’s Chief of Naval Operations. Bannon holds a Master’s degree from Georgetown University in National Security Studies and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
As President-Elect Trump’s senior counsel and chief strategist Bannon is charged with formulating many of the cornerstone policies and plans of the Trump administration. It’s a large responsibility, especially considering the precarious state of the nation that successive presidential administrations have left it in. But both Trump and Bannon have big plans to shake things up.
One of the policies that Trump wants Bannon to enact is a “New Deal for Black America.” Speaking at an event at a former Baptist church in Charlotte, North Carolina, Trump declared, “I want to talk about how to grow the African-American middle class, and provide… safe communities, great education and high-paying jobs.”
Trump reiterated his opposition to illegal immigration and to free-trade agreements, both of which had threatened jobs in the African-American community. “We won’t let your jobs be stolen from you anymore,” vowed Trump.
Trump also promised that he would eliminate subsidies for climate issues, “including all global warming payments to the United Nations.” Trump instead wants to redirect that money to inner city infrastructure, an amount that could be as much as $100 billion in eight years.
For inner city youth, Trump said that “school choice is the civil rights issue of our time.” Trump said he wished to become the “greatest champion” for school choice for children who are disadvantaged, giving pathways not just to college, but to vocational training for those who wanted it.
Instead of continuing to pour money into failing inner-city schools like the Democrats have done for decades, Trump wants to offer vouchers for alternative and charter schools. Bannon is a champion of this program, drawing on plans for it crafted by one of his Breitbart contributors, think tank founder David Horowitz.
Trump also vowed to protect religious freedom, which he said was a source of “tremendous power” in America. Instead of mandating that religious groups follow “politically correct” doctrines that offend their religious beliefs (as President Obama has done), Trump wants to protect and enshrine religion.
And lastly, Trump committed to replacing Obamacare, which has been robbing people of their hard-earned income to pay for a program that is “destroying our health care system,” according to Trump. “Doctors are quitting, insurers are leaving, and companies are fleeing … If we don’t repeal and replace Obamacare, we’ll lose our health care system forever.”
Bannon will be tasked with the implementation of many of these programs and policies; he’ll be in charge of the nitty-gritty details of figuring out how to carry out many of these grand ideas.
One issue Bannon will be dealing with especially is how to reform the nation’s defenses and restructure its foreign policy. Trump has talked at length about how he wants to get the U.S. out of costly, bloody foreign conflicts while at the same time strengthening the military.
Too many wars over the last 15 years have sapped the country’s defensive strength and nearly doubled the nation’s debt. The U.S. has in many cases made foreign situations worse than if dictators and despots had been allowed to continue to rule in their regions.
For instance, in Libya, thousands of people are dead and the country’s government is in shambles because Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama wanted to spend enormous American resources to get rid of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Now, Libya is a haven for ISIS and a source of terrorism and instability in the world, whereas previously, it was a U.S. ally that had just decided to give up its weapons of mass destruction.
Fortunately, given his military background and national security expertise, Steve Bannon is a key person to be able to guide Trump in the delicate matters of foreign policy and armed forces reform.
And Bannon will also focus on attempting to cut out one of the most malevolent forces of the Obama administration (and the campaign of Hillary Clinton): globalism. Bannon is an opponent of alliances and international organizations such as the European Union, NATO and the United Nations.
For both Trump and Bannon, a focus on “America First” is what’s important, and the free flow of American funds to many of these organizations and alliances needs to be tapered.
Bannon is close to both Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump’s new national security advisor, and John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Both Flynn and Bolton are anti-globalists and will help Bannon devise and enact these policy ideas.
Bannon stands opposed to the influence of globalist billionaires such as the Rothschild family and George Soros, whose tentacles reach into the public sphere through numerous media groups, non-governmental organizations and nonprofits; Bannon will furiously work to curtail their clout.
Bannon was a big booster of the Brexit movement in the U.K. and is a strong supporter of nationalist candidate Jeanne-Marie LePen in France, who very well may become that nation’s next leader.
Bannon will also help Trump shore up alliances with Russia, which for too long have been victimized by Obama’s selfish and short-sighted policies in Syria, where the U.S. wanted to push a proprietary pipeline project through.
Both Obama and Hillary Clinton were virtually in favor of war with Russia in the last year and were aggressively challenging Russian leader Vladimir Putin with cyber attacks and military exercises. Tensions were escalating to nearly unmanageable levels, but now, Bannon will help to ease the pressure on this relationship.
Steve Bannon definitely has his work cut out for him. He’s already being attacked with smear campaigns from progressives, who have charged that he’s racist, despite his support for inner-city school reform and anti-Semitic, despite his vocal support for Israel and his establishment of a Breitbart News bureau there.
Like the rest of Trump’s cabinet, Bannon needs all the support he can get from conservatives and the full backing of Trump loyalists. Here’s hoping he can help Trump achieve everything that they’ve talked about.
