Steve Bannon is a proud, unreconstructed Reactionary; as a result, I disagree with him on virtually everything. He has an enormous ego and a big mouth. There are holes in his ideology to which he seems oblivious. His judgment and tactical sense are questionable. Finally, he appears to have assumed that he has more of a following than Trump, which is incorrect. There isn’t much to like here.
And yet, he has some interesting ideas, his interest in American workers appears to be genuine, his comments about the Trump family were accurate, and he at least stands for something bigger than his own ego. In that, he differs from the corrupt, ignorant gasbag in the White House.
My sympathies are consequently with Bannon in this battle–not that they will do him any good. Will Bannonism survive? In a nutshell, Bannonism is an attempt by the Reactionary wing of the GOP to impose its agenda on trade, immigration, entitlements, and taxes on PBPs through primaries. Bannon believes that the PBPs will always pull the lever for Reactionaries over Democrats, so winning primaries will lead to a takeover of both the GOP and the country as a whole. Trump is more realistic on this point; he understands that PBPs have to be wooed through tax cuts and deregulation, and that the GOP can’t win general elections without PBP votes and donations. Alabama is proof that Trump and McConnell are right on this point, and Bannon is wrong.