Thanks, Steve. White House strategist Steve Bannon is the guy to blame for the "fire and fury" nuclear showdown with North Korean madman Kim Jong-un.
Or for President Trump's statement of today: "Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path!"
Trump's rhetoric, of course, is catnip for Kim, who uses the tweeter-in-chief's bellicose words to justify his nuclear program that has bankrupted and isolated North Korea.
 |
But without the evil genius of Bannon, Trump would be playing lots of golf and hosting an updated version of "The Apprentice" instead of threatening a tinpot dictator hellbent for attention. Hello, Madam President.
Josh Green, senior national correspondent for Bloomberg Businessweek, wrote the definitive book, "Devil's Bargain," on the extraordinary life and rise of Bannon from graduate of a right-wing Roman Catholic military academy in Virginia, US Navy, Goldman Sachs, Hollywood filmmaker, CEO of Hong Kong Internet gaming company, beneficiary of the ultra-rich Republican donor Mercer family, executive chairman of Breibart News, chief of Trump's campaign and White House strategist.
 |
Published in June, Devil's Bargain is a must-read for students of political PR and those still scratching their heads over the presidential election.
According to Green, Bannon had been searching for a "vessel for his populist-nationalist ideas, trying out and eventually discarding Tea Party politicians such as Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann."
At the same time, Bannon was using his attack, attack, attack and attack political strategy in Breibart and the alt-right media to destroy Clinton.
Trump was the perfect vessel for Bannon, who was despised by Republicans and Democrats for his attacks on each.
Bannon encouraged Trump's worst tendencies, wrote Green. "He was a human hand grenade, an Internet-era update of the Slim Pickens character in Dr. Stranglove who rides the bomb like a rodeo bull, whoopin and hollerin' all the way to nuclear annihilation."
Steve may be in for the ride of his life.
Hats off to Federal Board chairman Jerome Powell for finally getting off his duff to stand up to his unhinged taunter-in-chief. A posse of central bankers from here and afar rally in support of Powell.
Whatever happened to the No. 1 enemy of the people? Donald Trump now loves the New York Times... Viceroy Rubio should let foreign reporters enter Venezuela to cover the occupation... Porter Novelli goes poof in Australia in sign of more things to come in bulked up Omnicom.
America’s political revolution ranks as the world’s greatest geopolitical risk in 2026, according to Ian Bremmer’s influential Eurasia Group... Russia's propaganda machine got it wrong on the looted Venezuelan
Donald Trump’s shouty December 17 speech delivered at warp speed began with a lie and continued to head south for about another 18 minutes.
The Emirates NBA Cup is a stain on the reputation of the National Basketball Assn. Commissioner Adam Silver should cut ties wih human rights-abusing United Arab Emirates... Trump hit an all-time low with his Truth Social post about Rob Reiner's murder... Pay attention, sceptics. Climate change cuts US income by 12 percent, says new report.
