Steve Bannon: America's Joseph Goebbels

Using Nazi Germany to make current day comparisons is essentially a cottage industry within the extreme ends of the political writing community.  It rarely makes much sense.  For all the hate leveled against Obama for his, supposed, liberal-socialist-left leanings there was at least an equal number of portrayals of him as Hitler incarnate.  Actual history is seldom a source for expressing emotions.

Now we have Trump, and once again Hitler “similarities” are trucked out as a means to convey emotions.  The reason is obvious…simplicity.  Trump and Hitler, it says it all in three words. Trump is evil for all the reasons Hitler was evil, or so it might go, just as it was leveled against Obama. For the most part we have become a nation that likes our observations limited to 15 second sound bites or 140 character Tweets.

Obama was not a Hitler, Trump is not a Hitler, and America is not the Germany of 1932-1939.

The real loss, however, is not the mischaracterization of the United States or its leaders with Nazi Germany.  What we lose is a perspective on how history actually evolved and the genuine lessons available to us as we plod through the making of our own history.

Nazi Germany provided a wealth of information on human interaction because of the dramatic and devastating consequences of the actions taken by that government over a very short period of time.  The more apt characterization would be that of a disease that broke loose from modern social immunities and brought humanity to its knees.

However, just because a Nazi Germany is more than unlikely in an age of trans-global economic interests and potential nuclear warfare, it doesn’t mean that symptoms of the social disease that infected the world in the middle of the last century are not present today. The US has gotten the sniffles and it looks like it’s going to get worse.

Fascism simply defined is the use of ethnically cleansed Nationalism to sustain authoritarian control over an economy consisting primarily of private property (typically managed in the hands of few people or institutions).  It gained popularity in the 20^th century as a reaction to both un-tethered free enterprise (which bore the depression of the 1930s) and liberal social change, which was viewed as a disenfranchisement of Christian Caucasians.

Compared to the 1930s, especially in Europe, we in the US currently live in a time of unprecedented prosperity, as do most Western nations.  Nevertheless, the new President, both before and after his election, has lectured unceasingly about how retched and pitiful conditions are in the US. In my world I have not encountered a single “Make America Great Again” supporter who had any legitimate personal reason to yearn for the past (other than to simply be younger).

The historical lesson to be learned from Nazi Germany (circa 1933-1939) is that using ethnic and nationalistic arrogance to combat trumped up fears (excuse the pun) works, and people like Steve Bannon know it.

Joseph Goebbels was Hitler’s head of the Propaganda Ministry in Nazi Germany and Hitler’s closest advisor, staying with him till they both committed suicide in their famous Berlin bunker in 1945. Highly educated (PhD), he adopted a successful plan to control information regarding Hitler and the internal enemies Hitler used to promote fear (i.e. Jews, homosexuals, atheists, Gypsies, the mentally handicapped, and Slavic people generally).

Whether Goebbels believed any of the hate propaganda he formulated is speculative at best. But no matter, he loved the power and influence it brought. It was self-fulfilling.  Paradoxically, the better life for the average German got, the more the manipulation worked, eventually leading him and Hitler to convert domestic power into military conquest and devastation.

The similarities with Steve Bannon are compelling, even if Bannon only resembles a Jr. Whopper on a Facist menu.

Bannon (63) is reasonably well educated and, after a short stint in the Navy, gained modest success and valuable production experience in the film industry. Early in his 50s he began to produce documentaries directed at Right-Wing ideologues that resonated with the Clinton-haters in the 1990s. In that effort he crossed paths with Andrew Breitbart, a young far-Right Conservative publisher who reportedly (and interestingly) compared Bannon to the talented Nazi propagandist filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl.  

Later Bannon (and others) teamed up to create Breitbart .com, a web far-Right “news” site that is now associated with the so-called “alt-Right”. It later included talk radio.  After Breitbart’s premature death, Bannon took over Breitbart,LLC and, with emphasis on conspiracies and anti-“Liberal/Government/non-Christian” topics, extended its appeal. Without going into detail, let’s just say it made for fun conversation around the table at a Skinhead Thanksgiving.

Bannon put increased emphasis on Nationalistic and anti-Islamic rhetoric to increase his “market share” of the Conservative echo chamber. However, he is exceedingly unappealing physically, with a comportment that would fit in nicely with life lived beneath a bridge. He needed a Donald Trump. It is likely he saw an upside to an alliance with Trump whether Trump won the election or not.  You might remember there were active news leaks about a possible Trump Channel after a Trump loss.

Trump’s recent Twitter fit about Bannon pulling his strings is understandable. Hitler would have reacted the same if it had been suggested that Goebbels was running the ship of State.  Narcissists can never accept that kind of submission of their egos.  Still, if a husband only does what his wife whispers to him it begs the question of who is in charge.

Again, we are not living in a failed republic as was Germany in 1934. A majority of us actually hate Trump and it’s more likely than not that number will grow.  Still, history of what occurred during periods that were larger than life should retain value.  They tell us that while Steve Bannon is in place we will continue to see the effort to discredit the media and inflame fears.  Whether it’s terrorism, the Courts, Muslims, gun-grabbing Liberals, villainous voters, or bathroom identity we are in for a whirlwind of disinformation. 

Bannon is going to try to grab this Nation by the Goebbels. I don’t think it’s going to work.