September 12th, 2017
Sunday night we were treated to the spectacle of Charlie Rose interviewing Steve Bannon, the bilious re-animated corpse of Spiro Agnew, on “60 Minutes.” Bannon, his voice dripping with thinly veiled contempt, uttered ahistorical nonsense that displayed less knowledge of American history than a 5th grader who was paying attention in Social Studies would have had. Bannon bristled at the notion that The United States was a country of immigrants and said that “economic nationalism” built this country. Unless economic nationalism is a new synonym for “slavery,” that is the most absurd thing ever uttered in public by a current or former White House staffer.
When Charlie Rose quite reasonably pushed back on Bannon’s patently false distortion of American history, Bannon responded like all anti-intellectual bullies and spat moldy epithets like “limousine liberal” and “leftist” in response. Bannon’s carbuncle and blister marked face sat atop a thick neck that pulsed independently, making him look like one of those poisonous frogs found in the Amazon rainforest. He hardly seems like the best camera-ready spokesperson for the muddled and hate-filled philosophy of the “alt-right.” Although many people legitimately questioned why the venerated news show, “60 Minutes,” was giving him a platform, we would do well to hear firsthand from the advisor that Trump still has on speed dial, so we know what poisonous tripe Bannon is feeding him.
A more important line of inquiry, though, is into the forces bankrolling Bannon, the white supremacist blog, Breitbart and the other forces of organized intolerance. Charlie Rose never asked Bannon about his patrons, the racist, reclusive billionaires, Robert and Rebekah Mercer, but a closer examination of the shadowy figures bankrolling the weaponization of hatred to attain power is essential. That is the only way that we can effectively combat the corrosive impact of big money on representative democracy. For example, radical anti-immigrant organizations like FAIR and NumbersUSA are funded by just a handful of foundations such as the Colcom Foundation and the Scaife Foundation (founded by late billionaire, Richard Mellon Scaife). (Source: “Funders of the Anti-Immigrant Movement,” Jan. 27, 2014, Anti-Defamation League).
We should also be focused on the House spending bill introduced last week with multiple riders that would eviscerate our already weak campaign finance rules. If passed, the bill would repeal the Johnson Amendment, which prohibits nonprofits from endorsing or opposing political candidates. It would lift the limit on the number of trade associations to which corporations could compel their employees to contribute from one to an unlimited amount. (Source: “Nestled in House Spending Bill: campaign Finance Deregulation,” by Cezary Podkul, The Wall Street Journal, 9/10/17).
What ties these little-known figures who inject big money into politics together is a warped desire to imbue their narrow, bigoted views with the force of law, leaving LGBT people, people of color, women and religious minorities with “no rights that the white man [is] bound to respect.” Dred Scott v. Sanford, 60 U.S. 393 (1856). So by all means, journalists should shine a light on the covert network funding the forces of hatred. After all, to paraphrase Justice Brandeis, sunlight is the best disinfectant.