Bannon sets up operations in the birthplace of fascism

Steve Bannnon is a cancer on humanity. It's not enough that he's helped to degrade American politics to the point where someone like Trump could actually become president, now he's turned his sights on Europe, trying to use his insidious influence to return the continent back to its glory days. Like, for instance, the 14th Century, when the Jews were expelled from France. Or maybe the 15th Century, when the Jews were expelled from Spain. Or maybe the mid-Twentieth Century when. . .well you get the idea.

This came across my Twitter Feed today:

Steve Bannon & his allies have leased a monastery in the Italian countryside for 19 years, where they plan to build a school for budding populists and "modern gladiators." But it's ignited protest from locals, who want Bannon to take his right-wing populist agenda elsewhere. pic.twitter.com/kHWhY86SQu

— On Assignment with Richard Engel (@OARichardEngel) April 16, 2019

Hahahaha "Gladiators!" Because, sure. This guy is the guy who should be training gladiators!

Bannon is converting a $1 million, 800-year-old monastery outside of Rome into an “academy” for the training of “modern gladiators,” or the next generation’s populist leaders.
“I think the populist nationalist sovereignty movement is about the reinforcement of the traditional Judeo-Christian West,” Bannon told MSNBC’s Richard Engel. 

Okay, stop. Hold it right there.
First of all, you media people really really need to stop letting guys like this describe themselves as "populists," or a "national sovreignty" movement or whatever other benign phrases they want to use to characterize themselves. You know what they are, You know what they mean by terms like "national sovereignty." You have GOT to call them out on their whitewashing.

Also, we need to stop letting them get away with using the phrase "Judeo-Christian." I don't know when they started doing this, but it is so transparently disingenuous, so completely bogus that it needs to be called out. These people don't see themselves as "Judeo- anything." They just figured out at some point that they could make a subtle adjustment to their terminology as a fig leaf to cover their anti-Semitism. If they want to pretend that they have some sort of kinship with the Jewish people because Christianity uses the same 10 Commandments and reveres the same prophets and patriarchs, guess what? So does Islam. And do you think there is any chance that these psuedo-Christian supremacists would EVER describe themselves as being part of an Islamo-Christian tradition?


Look, here is an excerpt from an article about the 10 Commandments as relates to Islam:

In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the MercifulThe Ten Commandments are the well-known instructions, the essence of the Torah, which Allah revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai, peace and blessings be upon him. The commandments prohibit the major sins of idolatry, impiety, disrespect for parents, murder, theft, adultery, false witness, and envy.
These commandments are among the core teachings of Judaism and Christianity that are taught to children at an early age, and all of them are included within the teachings of Islam. Some believe these commands go back as far as the seven laws of Noah, peace and blessings be upon him.

Considering that Muslims venerate Jesus as a great prophet in his own right, you could say that Christians have more in common with Muslims than with Jews. Not that that matters, but seriously, stop letting them get away with describing their Christian Dominionism as "Judeo-Christian." The only concern these people have for Jews is that they want them all to be returned to Israel so that the rapture can begin. Or Armageddeon, or the Apocalypse, or whatever horrifying vision these lunatics have of the "End Times."

Pictured: The second-dumbest thing ever to be named "Rapture."

 (Yeah, lookin' at you, Debbie Harry!)

Okay, I guess we got a little bit side-tracked there: Back to the Bannon interview:

“I think the populist nationalist sovereignty movement is about the reinforcement of the traditional Judeo-Christian West,” Bannon told MSNBC’s Richard Engel. “What we’re saying is let’s have an academy that brings the best thinkers together and can actually train what we call ‘modern gladiators.'”

Oh my God. That will never not be funny! "Gladiators!"

Are you not entertained?

Bannon also lamented that the Pope is not a fan of the “populist nationalist” movement and argued that the Vatican “needs change.”

Yes, the Vatican needs change. For instance, they need to start seriously addressing the horrific child abuse that goes on in their ranks, stop protecting the abusers, and. . . oh wait. NO, of course, what needs to change is that the current Pope is not too big on the whole fascism thing. Oh, for another Pius XII!

“This institution is in decline,” Bannon said, gesturing to the Vatican. “This is just the very beginning — it’s going to take years.”

Sure, the Catholic Church is in decline. That's what happens when people find out you've been operating an international child-rape ring for centuries. But you know who's the man to fix this? To set the Catholic Church back on the right path?

This guy? I guess?

Bannon alleges that Francis has mismanaged numerous sex abuse scandals roiling the church, and says the pope is not treating the issue seriously enough.

Oh! So maybe he does have a grasp on the real problems with . . . .

"The Catholic Church is heading to a financial crisis that will lead to a bankruptcy," he said.

Ugh. Of course. Of course that's the problem. They aren't managing public perception well enough to keep the tithes rolling in. And they're paying out too much in lawsuit settlements, probably. Children being horribly traumatized, scarred for life, that's not the issue. The issue is the impact of that horror on your finances. God, this guy is sickening!.

So, anyway. . . like every right-wing project you hear about, the real question is how much of this is a grift and how much is driven by sincere hatred and rage? I guess we'll have to see how much he charges the marks to attend his "academy" and whether they learn anything other than how to dress up like Romans and do Gladiator LARPing.