A greatest hits guide to Steve Bannon’s disgusting misogyny and racism

He has a history of hating pretty much everyone who isn’t a rich, white, heterosexual man


In President-elect Donald Trump’s acceptance speech last week, he pledged:

“… to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans, and this is so important to me. For those who have chosen not to support me in the past, of which there were a few people, I’m reaching out to you for your guidance and your help so that we can work together and unify our great country.”

Remember that? That was maybe kind of nice. Or at the very least, an attempt at it. For some, it might’ve even been enough to quell the widespread anxiety that took no time at all to settle in and make itself comfortable. Many, including our current president, urged us to Give Trump a Chance. Dave Chappelle even did so in his SNL monologue just days later. “If they say so…” we all thought.

Enter Steve Bannon.

On Sunday, Trump, in his first personnel decisions as president-elect, named Bannon as his chief strategist and senior counselor and Reince Priebus, the Republican National Committee Chairman, his chief of staff.

Before he was preparing for the White House, Bannon was the former executive chair of Breitbart News, a so-called ‘alt right’ website that revels in publishing provocative stories with headlines like “Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive And Crazy,” “Trannies Whine About Hilarious Bruce Jenner Billboard,” and “Political Correctness Protects Against Muslim Rape Culture.”

Well, Chance. It’s been real.

Following the announcement, the internet practically imploded with damaging soundbites, more offensive headlines published by Breitbart and yes, even abuse allegations. And because there is so much to digest, I’ve decided to compile a greatest hits list to make it all a little easier to swallow.

  1. Breitbart has been accused of promoting racist, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant ideals, as well as having ties to white nationalism, a movement that opposes multiculturalism and believes in the supremacy of the white race. Bannon is now on leave from Breitbart, but once described his ideology as “nationalist,” but not necessarily white nationalist. Meanwhile, David Duke, former Ku Klux Klan leader, praised Bannon’s appointment as “excellent.”
  2. He opened Breitbart’s doors to everyone’s favorite blogger Milo Yiannopoulos, who penned articles like: “Does Feminism Make Women Ugly?” “There’s No Bias Against Women in Tech, They Just Suck at Interviews” and “The Solution To Online ‘Harassment’ Is Simple: Women Should Log Off.” Here’s a preview of that last one: “Given that men built the internet, along with the rest of modern civilisation [sic], I think it’s only fair that they get to keep it,” Yiannopoulos wrote.
  3. In a 2011 radio interview, Bannon said conservative women complicate the progressive narrative which is why the left dislikes them. “That’s why there are some unintended consequences of the women’s liberation movement,” he said. “That, in fact, the women that would lead this country would be pro-family, they would have husbands, they would love their children. They wouldn’t be a bunch of dykes that came from the Seven Sisters schools up in New England. That drives the left insane and that’s why they hate these women.”
  4. Glenn Beck, a man who once said, “When I see 9/11 families on television, or whatever, I’m like, ‘Oh, shut up’ I’m so sick of them because they’re always complaining,” has called Bannon “a nightmare,” and declared on his television show during election coverage, “If America accepts him into the White House, we are racist.”
  5. In a December 2015 exchange released by The Hill last month, Breitbart’s Washington editor Matt Boyle discuss the possibility of posting a story supporting Speaker Paul Ryan’s plan to overhaul the government’s mental health system last year. Doing so, Boyle said, could “open a bridge” to Ryan. Bannon replied: “I’ve got a cure for mental health issue[s],” Bannon wrote. “Spank your children more.”
  6. Speaking of children, he has two daughters with his ex-wife who accused him of domestic violence in 1996. The case was eventually dismissed because the “victim/witness” was “unable to be located”; Bannon’s ex-wife has said she decided not to press charges after he threatened her.
  7. Fortunately the ex-wife had more to say, this time regarding Bannon’s feelings about religious minorities. In a 2007 court declaration, Bannon asked her how many Jewish students attended a school where she was considering sending their children. “He said that he doesn’t like the way they raise their kids to be ‘whiny brats’ and that he didn’t want the girls going to school with Jews,” she wrote. A spokesperson for Bannon denied the allegations.
  8. Oh, and if you were wondering if perhaps the whole woman-hating thing was strictly limited to his personal relationships and the kind of writing he publishes, do read on. When a female employee challenged his management on a project, he called her a “bimbo” and said he wanted to give her a “reality check,” to “kick her ass,” and to “ram [her accusations] down her fucking throat.”
  9. Breitbart has also condemned Planned Parenthood a number of times, even going so far as to publish yet another Yiannopoulos piece that compared the non-profit’s work to the Holocaust.
  10. In an interview between Trump and Bannon that resurfaced this week by The Washington Post, Bannon suggests that Silicon Valley has too many Asian C.E.O.s and that international students in the U.S. should go back to where they came from. “When two-thirds or three-quarters of the C.E.O.s in Silicon Valley are from South Asia or from Asia, I think . . . ” Bannon said, trailing off. Fortunately for all of us, he righted himself soon afterward, “A country is more than an economy. We’re a civic society.”

I could continue, of course, but I’d much prefer to put us all out of our misery.

Unlike publications like Politico, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today who have actively chosen to sanitize Steve Bannon, his work with Breitbart and the implications of his shiny new position, I’d like to formally introduce him to our readers for everything that he is: a racist, sexist, alleged abuser and anti-Semite with white nationalist ties. In other words, a match made in Trump heaven.

Sign the petition to rescind Bannon here.