This kind of rhetoric is extremely dangerous. At a minimum, Bannon’s words are inciting. At worst, he’s planting a seed to justify political violence. Remember, every accusation is a confession or admission (through projection). At this point, put nothing past Bannon and the rest of the political arsonists/anarchists. Let’s unpack …
First, let’s start with a refresher on “projection.” Technically, projection is a defense mechanism where people unconsciously “project” negative thoughts and traits onto others. On the surface, projection appears as hypocrisy. But it can often:
- Be a confession of past/current behavior or predictive of future behavior.
- Provide a window into how someone engages with and reacts to their environment.
- Indicate someone who is hyper-subjective in how they see the world and/or lacks the ability to conceptualize an alternate reaction in another person.
Basically, the unconscious thought process goes: “Since this is how I would respond in this situation, everyone must respond the exact same way.” Since Trump views every situation as a transaction to exploit, lie, cheat, and steal, he projects (subjectively interprets) that everyone else must be doing the same.
Second, it’s important to remember who Bannon is. The “brilliance” of Steve Bannon is that he has convinced tens of millions of people to believe that destroying democracy is a noble, patriotic objective as long as it occurs while chanting “America First.” And don’t forget, Bannon was making these comments on Alex Jones’ INFOWARS show.
Jones is a pathologically dishonest sociopath who monetized the trauma and misery of parents whose children were slaughtered at their school. Imagine being attacked by people who say your experience and your grief isn’t real and didn’t happen. Imagine the narrative being that your child either didn’t exist, or didn’t die … all while trying to come to grips with the fact that you will never see your child again.
Yet, Bannon describes Alex Jones as one of the greatest political thinkers in the country’s history. This provides a window into Bannon, his motivations, and his willingness to engage certain tactics and strategies to produce desired outcomes.
After years of Trump fatigue and Jan. 6 revelations, it appeared as recently as July that many on the right wanted “Trump to just go away” so Ron DeSantis could take over. But now, the right is re-galvanizing around Trump.
As a candidate, Trump is a potential liability. However, he is still very useful, especially after the FBI raid, because he’s a martyr. But Trump is also an obstruction standing in the path of the inevitability of the DeSantis regime.
So what would Trump’s ultimate value be to the authoritarian movement on the right? If he “just went away” but made it seem like Democrats and the left were at fault, he could make way for a true autocrat.
Maximum value.
Liability elimination.
Remember: The right is fixated on “false flags” and conspiracies.
Remember: The right is prone to commit political violence and mayhem and blame it on their political enemies.
Remember: Nearly every accusation is a confession/admission.
Remember: Many on the right are lusting for civil war and would think nothing of creating an Archduke Ferdinand–like, false flag incident in hopes it would provide the spark that would ignite the political tinderbox.
Eliminating the FBI would create a vacuum for vigilante and militia law enforcement. Many, perhaps even most, of which are extremist groups. We must take these threats seriously and push back on the deadly narratives coming from Steve Bannon and Alex Jones as they take hold in the right-wing ecosphere.
This article originally appeared as a Twitter thread.
Photo by Colin Lloyd on Unsplash
