Said Steve Bannon, from his house in Arizona, referring to Ellen DeGeneres and others who are relocated, out of fear of the Trump administration.
“We are so close,” he tells me. “We just need to see this through.” Trump may have won the presidency, but to enact the sweeping changes he wants to make — chief among them destroying the administrative state and deporting millions of undocumented migrants — he needs to move fast, with the support of his party.
If they manage this, Bannon tells me more than once, the Maga Republicans can rule for half a century. “If we deliver now, it’s upon us. They’ve given President Trump that. If he delivers on the economics of this … we’re going to govern for 50 years. It’s all there for us to lose.... We have to institutionalise the populist nationalist revolution in this country, and you only do that by seizing the institutions, purging them, reforming them, and remaking them in the image and likeness of the American people, the working men and women in this country.”..
Bannon claims he seeks to push America towards the “sunlit uplands” of prosperity by slashing federal bureaucracy.
The sunlit uplands!
By reducing government spending, taxes for working people will go down, allowing them to save money and encouraging growth. Billionaires, on the other hand, he says, should be heavily taxed....
“I keep telling the wealthy, you’ve got to understand something: unless this changes you’re going to have a French Revolution in this country,” he says....
"Sunlit uplands" is not a Bannon turn of phrase. It is Winston Churchill's.
Bannon knew he was talking to the London Times, and he slipped in a subtle phrase. Perhaps it's too subtle for The Times to notice or perhaps The Times is too proud to acknowledge noticing.
Bannon could have nudged harder with an obvious phrase like "their finest hour," but he's a delicate man, some of the time, and he went with "sunlit uplands." Churchill:
"I expect the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilisation. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be freed and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'"
Contrast the idealized place called The Sunlit Uplands with the real estate the whiny little children are infesting in the Cotswolds.
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So, another permanent majority? Good thing they won’t overplay their hand.
If they manage this, Bannon tells me more than once, the Maga Republicans can rule for half a century
At best they have about 18 months. Recent evidence from the swamp suggests they may be finished before they begin…
…but I see Bannon’s point. Given the recent results and the possibility of implementing Florida-style election laws nationwide the business as usual Democrats don’t stand a chance. Something may sprout from the ruins but if it smells anything like Davos Uniparty Americans don’t have the appetite for it…
The "lights of perverted science" have been having a good run in this century, the failure of the Nazi project notwithstanding.
Jeremy Clarkson excepted our douchebags will fit right in with the Cotswolds douchebags…
I’m exhausted with the “My Side Uber Alles!” battle of wills that has taken hold of us as a result of social media. I’ve been trying to exit the battle of wills the past couple of years. I do better some days than others.
I’m in a state of “Make me good, but not right now!” I want some enemy heads to roll first…
I can’t make anything out of that, Derve. It’s just plain empty.
Perhaps it's too subtle for The Times to notice or perhaps The Times is too proud to acknowledge noticing.
If their The Times is anything like our ‘the Times’ the twentysomething kids running it don’t know who Churchill is…
Hey, I just rented a house in the Coswolds for a month next summer. Hope the place isn't teeming with discontented lefties.
My gut instinct is to dislike sweeping forward-looking statements like that. Review the similar and earlier prognostications of Ruy Teixera for the why of the what not to do.
It's a lovely area of the British Island, close enough to easily access London or Birmingham (big-city amenities and major airports) but still has a lot of wild or preserved land to explore, with Roman roads, classic follies and famous places. Stratford-on-Avon is a beautiful short drive from Cheltenham, a nice base-station for exploring the Cotswolds and even greater Gloucester.
Tank, the Cotswolds were pretty over run by nouveau riche Londoners last time I was there...about 10 years ago if memory serves. It has probably gotten worse. But you'll still enjoy. You can only do so much to ruin a place that beautiful. Nice walking paths. Personally I'd suggest Yorkshire or Northumbria. Less spoiled.
Hey, Tank - to rip off Fran Liebowitz, "I'm poor. I generally summer where I winter." Enjoy the Cotswolds. My only familiarity with it is from the Agatha Raisin books by the late M.C. Beaton (Marion Chesney)
Derve writes: "But the people here who follow this understand what Bannon is talking about and aren't here for the Churchhill discussion so much"
I'm afraid you misunderstand Derve. Althouse write what SHE wants to write. We're here to read that. We're not here to read you telling us that what Althouse writes ionm her blog isn't what should be in her own blog.
"he needs to move fast, with the support of his party."
The one thing Trump won't have is the support of his party. The GOP doesn't do radical upset. Read about Ronald Reagan's first term. The most effective objections to achieving his goals (military build-up, tax reform to flatten rates, reducing the growth of government spending) came from GOP Senate members who styled themselves as moderates. A good part of the GOP is committed to leaving things the way they are.
Also, the GOP is going to have to figure out a way to get a substantial majority in the House. They don't have it.
Steve Bannon is extremely well-read. Most of the media is not. Hence, them missing "sunlit uplands', which our well-read host managed to catch.
Frankly, Derve, Ann's particular talents for words, grammar, language is what attracts me to this blog, for about a decade or more now. I've often said that she'd have been an excellent editor had she not been a law professor. Though editors probably don't have much of a retirement plan. It takes a certain mind to see the 'wordsmithing' behind the bright, shiny things. And I often learn so much more when Ann does the dirty hard work of pulling the words out for us to look at for a moment. I read so much, so quickly every day. I tend to miss some details here and there, just grabbing the Big Picture. Ann misses nothing and it makes each post worth reading through.
Tank, the whole country is full of discontented lefties, but the good news is they are quite content with what they have done to the UK. They are only discontent that they can’t do it to the rest of the world. They’ve become Brussels without even knowing they wanted to be like them.
They have stolen farmers lands invited an invasion of marauders silenced the people
The seats elias stolr through gerrymandering
You could try setting a good example by spending more time on your own blog.
"This was their finest hour" "will shall never surrender" is a great speech, and a great piece of rhetoric. Of course, Churchill and all the pols around had no plans to "fight to the last", if the germans had invaded the UK and been winning, they were going to Canada. Continuing the fight, but also staying safe.
Churchill reminded me of jeff davis and BFF Judah Benjamin, exhorting everyone to keep on fighting after Lee's surrender, and "die in the last ditch". And then fleeing to Texas to "continue the fight" aka going to Mexico.
I can one movie and one TV show that made great use of the "Finest Hour" speech. The first is "Dunkirk" where we hear the speech on the radio, when one of soldiers gets back to England. I appreciate that Nolan was subtle, and didn't smash it in our face.
The 2nd was the TV mini-series "Piece of Cake" where the "battle of britain" fighter pilots hear the speech, and one of the more cynical pilots mocks it. A Polish pilot gets so upset at the mockery, he attacks him.
Thats the stupidest thing youvd said recently
"Steve Bannon: Maga can rule for 50 years" Hubris.
Listen for teh lamentations of their self-sterilizing womyn.
Oh… the Inanity!
They'll rule only as long as Murkowski, Collins, and Romney vote with the party they nominally represent.
There are also lot's of celebrities who have "Diddy problems" right now who are using "Trump" as an excuse to flee the country. Ellen is rumored to be one of them.
Another pile of inciting agitprop from Bannon. Just like when he lost us the Senate by lying to MAGA and telling them to stay home and not re-elect our two seated senators, in case our “votes got stolen.”
Just like when he incited other people to put themselves in harm’s way on Jan. 6 while he lolled about with a questionable Chinese billionaire, and clear-headed, real conservatives reformers were expressing concern about how he was burning through unusual amounts of money in Europe. From someone.
I don’t know who he’s working for, but it’s not MAGA.
Can't wait to see the reaction if they start up with sh*tposting on government rules, on social media.
#Crazyuncleintheattic. Bannon is the GOP's Carville.
He may be smart, but he's the go-to guy for journalists looking for quotes that will embarrass MAGA.
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"Broad sunlit uplands" was inspiring in 1940, but it's a little problematic. Here we are living in those uplands, I suppose, but we are still discontented and worrying about the future. History doesn't stop, though one might need to think it will if one wants to win a war.
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As if by karma or the hand of God, the Cotswolds were hit by flooding after Ellen and Portia decided to move there. There is some discussion about whether their own mansion was flooded. Ellen also has a history of pulling pranks, so maybe it will turn out that her exile was more of a gag than real.
The senate that rubberstamped austin mayorkas and co yesh no big loss
How about cassidy who gave the green grift a ramp up
Surfers always ride waves they didn't help to create.
Narciso, sorry I hurt your feelings. Keep those persuasive and detailed comments coming!
Romney will be gone by Janaury 2025, but there's a line of Republican Senators willing to take his place and ally themselves with Lisa Murky and Sourpuss Collins.
…a few days ago with that post of Greek octopi I asked when they announce the summer-vacation spot for 2025. Sounds like Bannon just did…
I’ve heard reasons why those types are essential for the GOP. I’m holding out for a good reason…
Stuck at The Twilight Fringe.
After the Dardanelles debacle, Churchill voluntarily returned to the army and spent several months as an officer on the WWI front line.
He didn't lack physical courage. It seems unlikely he would have run if the Germans invaded. We'll never know.
Jeremy Clarkson is owed an apology. So is Caleb. After all they have to drive their tractors around our Ameritrash.
"We have to institutionalise the populist nationalist revolution in this country..."
Gag. So now instead of one crazy party in our two-party system, we have two crazy parties. All crazy parties.
"The sunlit uplands!"
Is actually a particularly apt counter-metaphor to "The Swamp."
The article is dated November 30, which was Winston's 150th birthday. I am certain both the author and Bannon were aware of the occasion, and that's why Winston's words were coming out of his mouth. It's possible the Times didn't see fit to remind the reader of the provenance of "sunlit uplands" at such a time, any more than you'd need to remind someone where "comfort and joy" comes from this month.
JSM
Winston insisted on keeping a pistol with him all through the war. He was going to take a few Boche down with him if things came to that.
JSM
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