CPAC is going on as I type…the meeting of the minds (HA) of the conservative movement…..and so far the big story is something that the WH Chief of Staff said during his moment in the spotlight……at least they showed a racist the door…..but now more on Bannon’s rhetoric…..
Steve Bannon made his first public appearance since Donald Trump became president Thursday at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, the Washington Post reports. The president’s chief strategist said Trump’s goal is the “deconstruction of the administrative state,” meaning dismantling systems of taxation, regulation, and trade. Bannon said Trump picked his Cabinet nominees with that deconstruction in mind. Here’s what else is making headlines at CPAC:
- Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, who spoke alongside Bannon, says they aren’t rivals, as characterized by the media. Instead he says they work alongside each other and share a connection through Trump, Politico reports.
- White nationalist Richard Spencer was kicked out of CPAC after being spotted in the lobby of the hotel where it’s taking place. “His views are repugnant and have absolutely nothing to do with conservatism,” a CPAC spokesperson tells NPR.
- The Hill reports Bannon also reserved some of his time to bash reporters and the media, who he repeatedly called the “opposition party.” He warned that every day will be a fight against the “corporatist, globalist media.”
- Meanwhile, Sen. Ted Cruz predicted—without explanation—that Trump will have a second Supreme Court seat to fill by the summer, Time reports. He also called the Democratic base “bat crap crazy.”
- Speaking of Cruz, a lot has changed since last year’s CPAC, where he was the headliner and Trump canceled his speech, according to US News. Kellyanne Conway, who was working for Cruz this time last year, says CPAC is now “TPAC,” in reference to Trump.
- Despite earlier reports that she clashed with the attorney general and Trump on protecting the bathroom rights of transgender students, at CPAC Betsy DeVos said she supported the removal of Obama’s guidelines, calling them “overreach,” the Huffington Post reports
Sounds like Mr. Bannon has a theory in mind……it is called…..Transnationalism
Interactions and coalitions across state boundaries that involve such diverse nongovernmental actors as multinational corporations and banks, church groups, and terrorist networks. In some usages, transnationalism includes both nongovernmental as well as transgovernmental links. The term transnational is used both to label the actor (for example, a transnational actor) or a pattern of behavior (for example, an international organisation that acts transnationally – operates across state borders). Theorists focusing on transnationalism often deemphasise the state as primary and unitary actor.
The last line says it all….deemphasize the state…does that mean “deconstructed”…….?
The American Conservative has had some thoughts on “Transnational Nationalism”……..
Linker’s main point — and it’s a trenchant one — is to note the belatedness of the effort: National Review and Public Interest took years or even decades to bring the fusionist New Right and neoconservatism respectively to a position of political dominance, whereas American Affairs was only founded after Trump’s unexpected triumph. But I want to comment on something Linker says at the end of the piece about our nationalist moment:
Source: The “Paradox” of Transnational Nationalism | The American Conservative
Is this Trump’s plan? Or is it Bannon’s?
Someone needs to ask Trump for clarification…….