Crispian Balmer — U.S. President Trump facing a 'coup': Bannon

Steve Bannon goes there, after being out of the headlines for some time.

“What you saw the other day was as serious as it can get. This is a direct attack on the institutions,” Bannon said during a flying visit to Italy. “This is a coup, okay”.…

“This is a crisis. The country has only ever had such a crisis in the summer of 1862 when General McClellan and the senior generals, all Democrats in the Union Army, deemed that Abraham Lincoln was not fit and not competent to be commander in chief,” Bannon said.

The US corporate media, led by the Grey Lady, is not only propagandizing another Iraq WMD story about Syria now, but also promoting a soft coup against POTUS.

So where does this all lead? Is looking the republic is in trouble?

Reuters
U.S. President Trump facing a 'coup': Bannon

Crispian Balmer

Sputnik — Former Trump Strategist Bannon Warns GOP Candidates Against Kochs' 'Toxic' Money

Turf wars.

Sputnik International
Former Trump Strategist Bannon Warns GOP Candidates Against Kochs' 'Toxic' Money

Steven Bannon is back — in Europe

Sputnik International
'Soros Brilliant, But Evil': Bannon to Rival Open Society Foundations in Europe

Deutsche Welle
US-Rechtspopulist Steve Bannon plant rechte Bewegung in Europa

[US right-wing populist Steve Bannon plans a right-wing movement in Europe]

(I didn't find an English there on their English site. It did not turn up in a web search either.)

Moon of Alabama — Cambridge Analytica And The Manipulation Of People

MoA-ites correctly distrust every word emanating from the mealy mouthed Guardian because it has been used in a vicious campaign to advance the interests of Zionists to the point where the well being of Guardian readers has been relegated below the interests of apartheid Israel.

Nevertheless having a bit of a shufti at the loudly trumpeted Facebook-Cambridge Analytica expose is an essential act for anyone who wants to try to get a grip on how populations are being deliberately manipulated.

There is a relatively easy to digest video here where Christopher Wyllie, a computer scientist, outlines the birth of Cambridge Analytica, Alexander Nix, the CEO and the method used to sell the development of the corporation to Steve Bannon, CA's first customer and Robert Mercer, the Wall Street financier who underwrote the cost of setting up the corporation.

I recommend spending the 13 minutes required to watch the video because Wyllie's summation of what they did and why is horrifying. Lines such as "If you want to change the way a person votes you have to change the culture the person lives within." and "to change a culture, first you have to smash the existing one then grab the pieces and mold it into the shape you want the culture to be"....

Moon of Alabama
Cambridge Analytica And The Manipulation Of People

b

See also

Reuters
Cambridge Analytica CEO claims influence on U.S. election, Facebook questioned
Eric Auchard and David Ingram

Steve Bannon — If America Doesn’t Thwart These Five Things, China Will Be a Hegemonic Power

“It said that the mercantilist, Confucianist, authoritative system of China is the victor over the Judeo-Christian, liberal democratic free-market West; that their system is better, and they go over how it is better and how they’ve beaten us,” [Steve Bannon] argued.
He warned that there are five things that China is going to achieve in the next few years, and if America does not thwart them, “China will in fact be a hegemonic power.” They are:

1. The rollout of fifth generation mobile technology — known as “5G.”
2. The expansion of the One Belt One Road Initiative — a transport system to go through central Asia and connect China to the Middle East.
3. Plan 2025 — 10 industries the Chinese have aimed to dominate by 2025. Bannon described the Chinese as “way ahead.” Bannon said three of those are silicon chips, robotics, and artificial intelligence.
4. Conversion of all oil transactions into Chinese currency, which he said will end America as a reserve currency and force the U.S. to start paying off the 20 trillion debt.
5. Financial technology. Bannon said the true piece of leverage with North Korea is the ability to decouple countries from the world’s financial system, sanction companies, and shut banks off from capital markets. He predicted that in 5-10 years that ability is gone.

“If they accomplish those five things, they win,” he predicted.

Breitbart News
Steve Bannon: If America Doesn’t Thwart These Five Things, China Will Be a Hegemonic PowerAdam Shaw

See also

‘I’m Proud to Be a Christian Zionist’: Steve Bannon Gets Standing O from Leading Jewish Organization

Amanda House

Anita Kumar And Ben Wieder — Steve Bannon’s already murky Middle East ties deepen

Intrigue.

McClatchy
Steve Bannon’s already murky Middle East ties deepen
Anita Kumar And Ben Wieder | McClatchy Washington Bureau

Olivia Beavers — Bannon wants candidates to challenge 'every Republican incumbent' except Cruz

"There's a coalition coming together that is going to challenge every Republican incumbent except for Ted Cruz," Bannon told host Sean Hannity on Fox News' "Hannity" on Monday night.… 

"There's a basic agenda that Trump ran on and won. He carried states Republicans haven't carried in living memory — Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania. This agenda works. The American people voted for it," he said in part.

"By the way, [Mitch] McConnell would not be majority leader unless Trump — in North Carolina and Missouri and Wisconsin — was able to carry those senators across the finish line. It's incumbent upon them to back President Trump's plan, but you don't see it," Bannon continued....

The civil war in the GOP would be good for Democrats if they didn't have a similar civil war going on, too.

Populism on the right and progressivism on the left pitted against the bipartisan Establishment that represents the ruling class and status quo.

Steve Bannon at the helm of Breitbart may be a stronger influence out of the White House rather than marginalized in it.

The Hill
Bannon wants candidates to challenge 'every Republican incumbent' except Cruz
Olivia Beavers

Carole Cadwalladr — British courts may unlock secrets of how Trump campaign profiled US voters

In recent weeks, investigators looking at how people acting on behalf of Russia targeted American voters have focused on Trump’s data operation. But although the FBI obtained a court order against Facebook to make it disclose evidence, the exact way in which US citizens were profiled and targeted remains largely unknown.

But British data protection laws may provide some transparency on the company at the heart of Trump’s data operation – Cambridge Analytica – and how it created profiles of 240 million Americans. In January, Carroll discovered he – and a group of other citizens – had the right under UK law to ask for his personal data back from the company, and when it failed to supply it, he started filing pre-trial actions to sue the company under British law. The lawsuit is the result of a unique situation, according to Ravi Naik of Irvine Thanvi Natas, the British solicitor who is leading the case. It arose because although Cambridge Analytica is largely owned by Trump’s biggest donor, hedge-fund billionaire Robert Mercer, and though its vice-president at the time of the US election was Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, the company was spun out of an older British military and elections contractor, SCL, with which it still shares staff, directors and a London office....

David Carroll, an associate professor at Parsons School of Design in New York, has discovered a transatlantic legal mechanism that he hopes will give him access to information being sought by both the FBI and the Senate intelligence committee....

“There are so many disturbing aspects to this. One of the things that really troubles me is how the company can buy anonymous data completely legally from all these different sources, but as soon as it attaches it to voter files, you are re-identified. It means that every privacy policy we have ignored in our use of technology is a broken promise. It would be one thing if this information stayed in the US, if it was an American company and it only did voter data stuff. 

But, he argues, “it’s not just a US company and it’s not just a civilian company”. Instead, he says, it has ties with the military through SCL – “and it doesn’t just do voter targeting”. Carroll has provided information to the Senate intelligence committee and believes that the disclosures mandated by a British court could provide evidence helpful to investigators.

It isn't just "Russia" that is involved in the attempt to "manipulate democracy."

There is a saying in the media world, "If it is free, you are the product."

The Guardian
British courts may unlock secrets of how Trump campaign profiled US voters
Carole Cadwalladr

also

News headlines, articles and videos like these highlight the fear and concern which many in our society have over the rising power of the surveillance state. Moore’s Law and the continuing exponential advancement of computing and telecommunications capabilities are (arguably) inexorably drawing us as a culture closer to the singularity. While transformative and unprecedented global digital sharing is empowered by these technological changes, the rise of the surveillance state and manipulative corporations like Cambridge Analytica (which allegedly was a prime mover supporting the electoral surprises of Brexit in June 2016 and the Trump presidential victory in November 2016) are also empowered entities in our culture landscape which we can ill afford to ignore. 

This brings us to the oft cited slogan from Spiderman, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

Moving at the Speed of Creativity
Rights and Responsibilities in an Age of Surveillance
Wesley Fryer
See also

AlterNet
Forget All Those Selfies—Tinder Has Amassed a Lot of Data on Millions Looking For a Hook Up
Sophie Linden

Then there is the censorship threat.

Russia Insider
SYRIANGIRL's Facebook Ban Linked to Russia-gate Twitter Purge? - an Exclusive Interview
Charles Bausman

Zero Hedge
"The Bombs Are Still Falling" - MSNBC Urges Government Censorship Of Social Media "To Protect Democracy"

Tyler Durden

Breitbart News — The Long Game: Bannon Creates Political Coalition to Advance Populist Economic Nationalist Agenda and Smash the Establishment

Former White House strategist and current Breitbart News executive chairman Steve Bannon has teamed up with conservative donors Robert and Rebekah Mercer to promote insurgent candidates to challenge the GOP establishment and create an organizational apparatus to advance the populist and economic nationalist policies championed by those candidates....

Breitbart News

The Long Game: Bannon Creates Political Coalition to Advance Populist Economic Nationalist Agenda and Smash the Establishment

Asia Unhedged — Freed from White House role, Bannon takes aim at China

Bannon-backed Ray Moore defeated the  Trump-backed establishment candidate in the Alabama GOP rimary for senator. Fresh from victory, Bannon now smells blood in the water. Trump is now isolated between the GOP establishment he needs to get things done in Washington and his anti-establishment base that wants the "swamp" drained, which means the establishment of both parties.

US business is bound at the hip to China as a result of Chinamerica policy. Since the GOP establishment is funded by US business, this portends to be quite a battle. 

And China holds a pretty strong hand in the game, too. While both parties would be bruised, it is not clear who would emerge from a trade war stronger. And there are strategic considerations, too.

Better make some more popcorn.

Asia Times
Freed from White House role, Bannon takes aim at China

Asia Unhedged

See also

The US attack will be aimed state subsidies.

“Overcapacity is a big problem already and given the 2025 plan and the subsidies that it contemplates for a number of new industries, one of the worries that one has to have is that that may result in future overcapacity,” [US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross] was quoted by the FT as saying.

“For example in robotics, there apparently are something like 400 robotics companies in China right now and people in the industry tell me their estimate is that maybe 360 of those are in it to get the subsidies and tax breaks and are not really that serious about products.”

China’s robot revolution a threat to US, says Ross

Jonathan Easley — Bannon back at Breitbart after White House ouster

President Trump’s former chief strategist Stephen Bannon returned to Breitbart News on Friday just hours after parting ways with the White House.

Bannon has reclaimed the title of executive chairman for Breitbart and directed the outlet’s Friday editorial meeting, the website said in a statement on Friday.

“The populist-nationalist movement got a lot stronger today,” said Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow. “Breitbart gained an executive chairman with his finger on the pulse of the Trump agenda.

The Hill
Bannon back at Breitbart after White House ouster
Jonathan Easley

Bannon spoke to the Weekly Standard Friday afternoon, shortly after news of his departure from the White Housebroke. He told TWS that his leaving the administration marked a turning point for Trump's presidency.

"The Trump presidency that we fought for, and won, is over," Bannon said. "We still have a huge movement, and we will make something of this Trump presidency. But that presidency is over. It'll be something else. And there'll be all kinds of fights, and there’ll be good days and bad days, but that presidency is over."

Washington Free Beacon
In Interview, Bannon Says After His Departure Trump Presidency ‘Is Over’

Charles Fain Lehman

Andrew Prokop — Steve Bannon’s exit from the Trump White House, explained

What will — and won’t — change in a post-Bannon White House.

The establishment and deep state win. Mike Flynn and Steve Bannon gone. What's next?

Vox

Steve Bannon’s exit from the Trump White House, explained
Andrew Prokop

Robert Kuttner — Steve Bannon, Unrepentant

Trump’s embattled strategist phones me, unbidden, to opine on China, Korea, and his enemies in the administration.

Great article.

The American Prospect
Steve Bannon, Unrepentant

Robert Kuttner

It gets better. Bannon thought this was off the record.

Raw Story
‘Leaker’ Bannon ‘never intended’ for free-wheeling interview to be on record: report

Elizabeth Preza

John Bowden — Bannon: I want Democrats to talk about racism every day

The Alt Right is not going to be happy with Steve Bannon calling the white nationalist protesters clowns and losers.

He is correct that Democrats have a tendency to overplay their hand in using identity politics, but they smell blood here.

The good thing is that America is finally having to deal with its demons.

The Hill
Bannon: I want Democrats to talk about racism every day

John Bowden

Meanwhile, Barack Obama hit a homer with this tweet.

The Guardian
Obama's anti-racism tweet after Charlottesville is most liked ever on Twitter

Claire Phipps

Then there is this.

So we are supposed to believe that communist influence is as big an issue in the US as white nationalism and racism?

Daily Caller
Many Unhappy With Communist Statues Across The U.S.
Henry Rodgers

Stratfor — The Apocalyptic Vision of Stephen K. Bannon

Useful short summary of Strauss & Howe's generational theory, chiefly The Fourth Turning, and Steve Bannon's interpretation of its implications for America and the world.

Financial Sense
The Apocalyptic Vision of Stephen K. Bannon

Stratfor

Jim Lobe — Bannon Down, Pentagon Up, Neocons In?

Balanced article on US politics relative to international relations and foreign and military policy.

LobeLog
Bannon Down, Pentagon Up, Neocons In?

Jim Lobe

Sarah Ellison — The Inside Story Of The Kushner-Bannon Civil War

It's more about the reality show than the title. Weekend read.

Hate-watching is a key element of reality television: viewers get a surge of superiority and catharsis when watching characters they do not respect but in some strange way are drawn to. “It’s incredibly satisfying to hate-watch [Trump],” Shapiro said—and the same goes for watching members of his staff. Senior West Wing aides, like the president himself, exhibit a trait that is essential for a successful reality-TV show: they are largely unself-aware, not fully realizing “how they are perceived, because they will keep stumbling into the same mess over and over again, and they are really easy to place in a cast of characters,” said UnReal’s Shapiro. They are, in part, reliable caricatures of themselves.

Vanity Fair
The Inside Story Of The Kushner-Bannon Civil War

Sarah Ellison

Mike Murphy — Trump declines to endorse Bannon, says U.S. ‘not going into Syria’

President Donald Trump declined to give top adviser Steve Bannon a vote of confidence during a New York Post interview published Tuesday, in which he also said the U.S. was not headed toward a ground war in Syria.…

When asked Monday by Post columnist Michael Goodwin if he still had confidence in Bannon, Trump didn’t exactly give a ringing endorsement: “I like Steve, but you have to remember he was not involved in my campaign until very late. I had already beaten all the senators and all the governors, and I didn’t know Steve. I’m my own strategist and it wasn’t like I was going to change strategies because I was facing crooked Hillary.”...

In the same interview, Trump told Goodwin that, despite last week’s airstrike, U.S. policy toward Syria has not changed. “We’re not going into Syria,” Trump said. “Our policy is the same — it hasn’t changed. We’re not going into Syria.”...

MarketWatch
Trump declines to endorse Bannon, says U.S. ‘not going into Syria’

Mike Murphy

Robert Barnes — If Trump Loses Bannon, Trump Loses the Presidency

Bannon – uniquely among the Trump team – threads together the policy weaves of the Trump electoral majority, a majority dependent upon newfound GOP support from the working class, especially in the northern half of the country, but also the southern upcountry and Appalachia….

Three issues allowed Trump to distinguish himself, both in the GOP primaries and in the general election, to appeal to these GOP skeptic voting constituencies:

1. No preachy politics.
2. No more dumb war.
3. No more job-killing deals.

Bannon understands, intricately, each of these issues and, as important, the intimate way each of these issues connects the new constituencies of the Trump electoral majority. 

Bannon also understands the adversary – an alliance of Deep-State, administrative-regulatory-state, professional-class career bureaucrats and their media lapdogs and allies....

Lose Bannon, lose the country. Lose Bannon, lose the presidency. Trump needs to bet on Bannon, or it will be time to no longer bet on Trump.

The American Thinker
If Trump Loses Bannon, Trump Loses the Presidency

Robert Barnes

Alexander Dugin — The uprising against the modern world of Steve Bаnnon

First analysis of Trump’s apostasy

Geopolitica
Alexander Dugin: The uprising against the modern world of Steve Bаnnon