I am reading the book" the Devils bargain" about Steve Bannan and Donald Trump. I also just read an extensive article in the New Yorker by Jane Mayer about Mike Spence. So I have been pondering between the two of them, who is the more dangerous and evil.
Starting with Steve Bannon, He has stood for and advanced despicable agendas. In common with many prior "Populists" he uses race baiting and preaches hey divisive agenda. Prior populists, for instance father Coughlin during the depression, focused on being anti-semetic. In those days, blacks and Hispanics we're not seen as taking things from the white majority, which is not to say that they were not despised. Bannon has also advance the theme of Wall Street and corporate America as villains, not to mention globalism, the modern equivalent of Smoot – Hawly. His nativism is reminiscent of Lindbergh and the America first party.
Spence, or as I call him" spot", because of the fawning way he follows trump around, gazing adoringly at him, appears much more duplicitous. He is a combination of sanctimonious claptrap and relentless self-aggrandizement and opportunism.(To many in Utah, a familiar profile.) Jane Mayer is a pretty good investigative journalist and if she it is right pants would be and eager tool of those such as the Koch brothers who seek to control the electoral process through the uses of dark money. So with Spence, you would get the combination of sanctimonious social, particularly religious, pseudo conservatism and dark money. Now for my money, which isn't dark or extensive, that makes him worse than Bannon. Notwithstanding Spence's feigned adoration of Donald Trump, there is no question in my mind that he sees Trump as an impediment and the sooner he's gone the better.
Which brings me I guess to Donald Trump. Is a truly despicable person. He is arrogant,incompetent and also lies a lot although it is sometimes hard to tell if he is merrily lying or totally delusional. But of the three, he is the least dangerous and evil. As far as domestic policy is concerned, he has none.All he wants to do's sign bills without reading them and claim victory, rather like George W. Bush on the deck of the aircraft carrier. His danger is in foreign-policy given the extensive powers of the presidency. But remember, he considers himself the ultimate" dealmaker". And as he explained in his book" the art of the lie", or something like that , robust bullshitting is the way to go. Granted, he makes us nervous but he probably thinks he's just being clever and will make some great deals. If he did order an attack against North Korea, millions would die probably and he would likely consider it a negative externality. We would of course prevail. But, should China intervene in an armed conflict, all bets are off. That is the danger. I have to believe he would not order an attack if he sought to do so he would be restrained and probably impeached. But he is a clear and present danger.
So the question is, are we better off with Trump or either Bannon or Spence in control. The fact that we even have to consider such a question is a disgrace to all of us collectively.
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