Transcripts For KQED Frontline 20170524 : vimarsana.com

Figures that resonate with middle america. Narrator . Who promised disruption. What bannon said was, we are going to do everything we can to take your power away and move it somewhere else. Narrator tonight on frontline. Deconstruction of the administrative state. Narrator bannons war. Frontlinis made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. And by the corporation for public broadcasting. Major support for frontliis provided by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. More information is available at macfound. Org. Additional support is provided by ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. At fordfoundation. Org. The park foundation, dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. The john and Helen Glessner family trust, supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. And by the frontline journalism fund. With major support from jon and jo ann hagler. Theres a brandnew team in charge of the white house, a brandnew staff to keep the wheels turning. President trump wakes up with a busy day ahead. This is just the beginning of what is going to be a very busy day for donald trump. This president came to this town with a mindset after the election he was going to shake things up. He was going to move at a much more rapid pace and shake the government up. Were also expecting him to head to the pentagon. Narrator on his seventh day in office, President Donald Trump headed to the pentagon. It was time for action. Depart the white house and head to the pentagon. I do think that they wanted to have a flurry of activity at the beginning to demonstrate that trump is what he said he was. Hes not going to wait. Hes not going to take his time. He knows what to do, and hes going to fix everything. Hes going to set the world right immediately. Opportunity for him to meet with his secretary of defense, james mattis. Narrator it was the first time the new president had been to the pentagon. Would not offer details, but President Trump is expected to. The president is asking the military to. Narrator at trumps side, his chief strategist, Stephen Bannon. Trump has told me multiple times that he actually loves to fight. In bannon, he saw someone who was just like him, someone who loved to fight. Narrator bannon had engineered a sweeping executive order aimed at fulfilling a Campaign Promise to restrict muslims from entering the United States. Thats Steve Bannons idea, is to just throw everybody else offbalance, knock them back before they have a chance to resist. Narrator until this moment, the orders details had been a wellkept secret in washington, even among trumps own team. They wanted to rush this thing through and get it out there, and essentially take a shockandawe approach to changing immigration policy. Defense secretary mattis knew very late in the process that this was what was going to be done during this visit. Bannon didnt want other agencies to have a chance to see what was in this executive order and say, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Slow down. This might not be something wed want to do. John kelly is the new secretary of homeland security, a retired fourstar general. Hes on the phone being briefed on a helicopter while theyre doing this announcement. The president s first and most important responsibility to the American People is to keep the homeland safe. And so i think that thats what the president was shooting for there, is to, is to protect the homeland. Narrator bannon and the new president had sent a message. Change had come. That was, in the eyes of bannon, the way to rupture the establishment. They knew it was going to be disruptive. They wanted the disruption. Bannon sees disruption as power. Refugees are welcome here a scene of outrage at jfk airport in new york, where. Protests all across the country, reaction from around the world after the president signed his executive order. They knew that the protests would come, they knew the media would erupt. Its what they wanted. Swift reactions from around the country. Now protests, outrage, and backlash from President Trumps. Sanctuary for all no ban no wall one senior trump official said, the fact that it came out on a friday afternoon, with no warning, was no accident, because bannon knew that people who were opposed to this policy would be enraged. And most of them would have saturday and sunday off from work, so they could get out there and they could protest and they could get angry. And tv cameras would come and film these protests. It would be all over the news. Seattle Police Actually dispersed some crowds with pepper spray. It would send the message to trumps voters that trump was keeping the promises that he made on the campaign trail. No ban no wall sanctuary for all narrator it had been a steve bannon production. Bannon thinks, this is great. Were killing it. Were winning. Were doing everything that we said we would. We are beating down the establishment and the liberals into submission. We are literally making America Great again. This american carnage stops right here and stops right now. From this day forward, its going to be only America First, America First. The time for empty talk is over. Now arrives the hour of action. Narrator a strategist, a revolutionary, a provocateur, steve bannon helped create a movement intent on transforming the country. Thank you very much, benjamin. Narrator but bannon himself rarely talks publicly about the worldview at the heart of his politics. Were speaking from los angeles today, right across the street from our headquarters in los angeles. Narrator one exception, this video at a vatican conference less than three years before he entered the white house. He comes on to the screen. Hes via skype. Its this grainy video image. He gives this speech, where he talks about how islam is a threat to judeochristian civilization. I believe the world and particularly the judeochristian west is in a crisis. The threat that bannon sees post9 11 to the judeochristian west, is that radical islamic theology is metastasizing into more mainstream islamic communities. Were at the very beginning stages of a very brutal and bloody conflict. We are in an outright war against jihadist islam, islamic fascism. And this war is, is, i think, metastasizing almost, far quicker than governments can, can, can handle it. Narrator bannon describes himself as a combatant in what he believes is an epic war. Steve bannon sees americas dilemma, at this stage in its history, as really part of a civilizational battle between the forces of the west and faith and democracy versus that of islam and terrorism. And he has kind of reduced all of the conflicts of modern society to that essential faceoff between the terrorists and the americans. Narrator for steve bannon, his view of the world began to form decades earlier, back in the 1950s. Richmond, virginia, the capital of the old south. To really understand steve bannon, you just need to think about richmond, where he grew up. He grew up in a workingclass household in richmond, virginia, and he thinks his whole worldview comes back to his experience. The familiar man in the tent is splicing. It is both the typical skill of the telephone man. Narrator his father was a Telephone Company lineman who taught bannon the value of hard work. Kennedy, kennedy, Kennedy Kennedy, kennedy, Kennedy Kennedy for me narrator . And was a strong supporter of democrat jack kennedy. His dad knocked on doors for john f. Kennedy. Irish catholic to the core. I spoke with his brother, and his brother talked about, you know, sort of, every Irish Catholic kid at that time grew up thinking that they could be jfk, you know. And it wasnt different in the bannon family. Kennedy narrator in high school, he attended an allmale catholic military academy. He earned a reputation as a brawler. In college at virginia tech, he worked during the summers to pay the bills. Steve bannon worked at the junkyard when he was coming home from college, and his mom would spray him outside before he could come in, you know, with the, with the hose. Narrator it was during those years that bannon had his First Experience with politics, as an antiestablishment candidate for student government. He made an insurgent run for student class president when he was a junior. It was very trumplike. Washington bureaucrats are not going to change the policies that deprive us of a normal human lifestyle. He attacked his opponents for being tools of the administration, establishment people, and hes an outsider. Narrator he pulled off an unlikely victory, winning by a landslide. Then bannon joined the navy. He told shipmates it was a stepping stone for a career in politics. On the u. S. S. Foster, in the gulf of oman, bannon first saw what he came to believe was a gathering storm in the middle east. Good evening. The u. S. Embassy in tehran has been invaded and occupied by iranian students. The americans inside have been taken prisoner. Weeks go by and months go by, and this is a story dominating americas news and headlines, night after night after night. Late yesterday i cancelled a carefully planned operation. Narrator bannon would later say that president carters failure to rescue the hostages was his political turning point. Two of our american aircraft collided on the ground. He was aboard the ship when the mission went bad. He blamed jimmy carter for this failure, for hurting american prestige. Narrator after seven years, bannon left the navy. He enrolled at Harvard Business school. It was a ticket into a world far from workingclass richmond. He landed a coveted job at goldman sachs, but rather than stay on wall street, he headed to hollywood to make deals. He took a different path than a lot of the people at goldman sachs. He felt the kids that had gone to prep schools had kind of easier entrees, socially. And he was very aware of it, and edgy about it. Narrator at goldman, and then on his own, bannon financed movies and tv shows. By his late 40s, bannon was wealthy, but he still seemed to be searching for a purpose. Then everything changed for steve bannon. Kfi news time 6 09. 63 degrees here in los angeles. Good morning, everybody. Its bill handel, and a pleasure to have you with us. If you have not yet heard, a few minutes ago, an airplane crashed into one of the World Trade Centers followed by. Narrator the lurking danger from the muslim world that he had first seen in the navy had now arrived in america. It confirms all his fears, all his suspicion. Here are the same forces of islam that seized american hostages in 1979 and 1980. Now theyve reached all the way over to the United States. Theyre coming here. Theyre killing americans. He viewed that as a civilizational war. Narrator it was a fight bannon wanted to join. He did, first as a documentary filmmaker. In the traditional Motion Picture story, the villains are usually defeated, the ending is a happy one. I can make no such promise for the picture youre about to watch. Narrator alarmed by september 11, bannon produced a film about his hero, ronald reagan. Were at war with the most dangerous enemy that has ever faced mankind in his long climb from the swamp to the stars. The first word that leaps to mind is apocalyptic. He has a very alarmist, urgent filmmaking style. The tone is febrile, the visual style is lurid. Narrator bannons film identifies a dark threat he calls the beast. The beast embodied nietzsches will to power, stopping at nothing to achieve its ends. His belief in the beast was so real. It was very real. The whole idea of the beast. I mean, youre either for the beast or youre against the beast. You know, theres no inbetween. Narrator the film portrays reagan as a political warrior willing to fight the beast. But bannon did more than glorify reagan. At the films end, he issued a warning. Theres a note to myself in the script. Steve, i know you have your own ideas about what to do with the coda. Well, what happened was, he went into the editing room and the coda. Suddenly, the beast still lives. The wolf had not passed by the door. War had not been wished away. rachmaninoffvespers playing suddenly, the narrator is talking about the beast and we see muslims praying. Reaching out, first to convert, then turning into destroy, that was the nature of the beast. And then we see people jumping out of the World Trade Center and falling to their death. rachmaninoffvespers playing narrator increasingly, bannon was a man on a mission reading, studying, trying to understand history, and how to change it. He really has the persona of a college professor. Hes constantly carrying around books, and hes talking about different philosopher he reads. When you sit down with steve bannon, its really sitting down for two or three hours. Free spirit. He was very happy to discuss the ideas of giordano bruno, chinese philosophy, and plato. He had his own room, but there were so many books on the bed, he couldnt sleep in it. Narrator and he had become fascinated by one particular book. Steve bannon calls me and just introduces himself as someone who is very interested in the works of strauss and howe, generations and the fourth turning, and whos making a movie about them. Narrator that book the fourth turning argued that historical cycles predict the future and that another crisis was looming. History is seasonal, and winter is coming. The risk of catastrophe will be very high. The nation could erupt into insurrection or civil violence, crack up geographically, or succumb to authoritarian rule. Narrator bannon was so drawn to this grim prediction about the future, he made a film about it generation zero. This is the trigger that lets loose a chain of events which pushes society in a new mood, in a fundamentally different direction. Narrator and bannon seemed to believe that he knew what would happen next. One part of the conversation that i vividly remember is about the possibility of a huge war, comparable in scope to the second world war, as part of the coming crisis. This was something that he clearly believed was likely to occur. He wanted to get me to say on camera that i thought it was likely to occur. He wasnt impolite about it. But the thing i remember him saying, well, look, you know, we have the american revolution, then we have the civil war. Thats bigger. Then we have the second world war. Thats even bigger. So whats the next one going to be like . Bring on the apocalypse. There is an almost fetishistic desire to see everything blow up. Its almost like he is inviting a cleansing fire to just raze the edifice, raze the institutions. I think its that dramatic. Narrator the films didnt have the impact he hoped for. Narrator bannon still saw an america in crisis, and in his films, he began to look for a new political warrior to save the country. In 2011, he believed he found her. people cheering and yelling were sitting there in 2011, in pella, iowa. And he says, costa, one day someone like sarah palin, perhaps even in 2012, is going to be president of the United States. Narrator the occasion was the premiere of a documentary bannon had made about palin. I said, what are you talking about, steve . How could sarah palin become president . Steve gravitates towards countercultural conservative figures that have an ability to resonate with middle america. Narrator inside the theater, bannon unveiled the film he called the undefeated. dramatic music playing like a marine, she runs toward the danger. On day one, governor palin made it absolutely clear that this was a different governor. If we have government still invading our house, then, you know, the women stand up and we start invading the government. And thats what we dont see in any politician. She was a champion of our ideals. Narrator bannon had spent a year producing the film, but he could not convince palin to actually run. Bannon was disappointed palin didnt run. Bannon saw it then. He was just ahead of his time. It wasnt going to be palin and it wasnt going to be 2012. But populism, the populism he saw then, it was on the rise. Narrator and in hollywood, that insight made bannon a player among conservatives. And that kind of thrusts him into this small circle of hollywood conservatives that includes Andrew Breitbart. And that is sort of how bannon makes his way from hollywood all the way over into rightwing politics. Narrator Andrew Breitbart was a oneofakind force. bleep you, john podesta. Narrator he worked at the drudge report, helped start the huffington post, and now he had his own site. Whats in your closet, john podesta . Andrew was an iconoclastic guy. He was a controversial guy, but mostly because he took no prisoners. Because were playing to win. Meaning he would kind of say whatever came to mind. He thought of himself, and i think he was, in many ways, a real truthteller. Weve been drinking. Weve had, like, a couple beers. Sex and gambling. Narrator somehow, bombastic breitbart and bookish bannon were drawn to each other. New orleans pd. There certainly was a chemistry and an energy between the two of them, where you could see that they were both thinking, this is a person who could get me to the next level. Breitbart immediately recognized bannon as a fellow traveler, as someone he could conscript into this war against islam, but also against secular culture in the United States. Narrator breitbart needed bannons Business Savvy and he needed an infusion of money. Bannon knew where to get it conservative megadonors the mercers. Bob mercer is a Computer Scientist who applied his genius to the stock markets and just started minting money. So he is a selfmade gazillionaire. Narrator bannon cultivated mercers daughter, rebekah. She was new to politics and looking to make an impact. Bannon starts becoming their political adviser, kind of like a personal political strategist to the family. Some people have worried, whove known the family, that hes become kind of a svengali to the whole family. Narrator now bannon told them that investing in breitbart was the perfect way to take on big government. Steve bannon wrote up a Business Plan that called for the mercers to put 10 million into breitbart, and its at that point it starts growing into a force. Narrator the deal had another provision steve bannon would officially join breitbarts board of directors. But then, shocking news. Wellknown conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart has died. Breitbart reportedly collapsed last night, and the coroner says he died of natural causes. I got the news at 3 30 in the morning, like it was out of a movie, a horrifying moment, and it was steve on the other line. And he gave me the bad news very quickly and i had a delayed response, i couldnt process it at that moment. Narrator with the mercers support, bannon took over. Breitbart changed dramatically, from emphasizing hollywood culture to washington power politics. Bannon is very, very into the inner workings of power in washington, d. C. You can see that the website starts to push political narratives that are dccentric a lot more than it probably would have if andrew had been alive. Narrator in washington, steve bannon set up operations in a townhouse he called the breitbart embassy. I actually met steve for the first time at the socalled breitbart embassy. Steve is a very engaging, charismatic person. I found him to be actually very charming. He had a clear sense of vision and objective. He wanted breitbart to be the most dominant voice in the Republican Party space. Narrator other than bannon himself, almost everyone at the embassy was under 30. You go into the breitbart embassy, and its 25yearold after 27yearold after 25yearold and 30yearold talking with bannon, talking about history, reveling that theyre the outsiders and pointing figures at the insiders as clowns or as fools who dont get it, who dont understand the populism thats really on the rise in the country. So from a house on capitol hill, a number of people who are kind of on the fringes of the Republican Party come together and build what appears to be the roots of a movement. Narrator now bannon molded breitbart around his worldview. He called it populist nationalism. Its America First in the most literal sense, that its the countrys responsibility to look out for ourselves, and the best way to look out for ourselves is to be, if necessary, hostile to other countries. Narrator breitbarts readers embraced stories on black crime, islamic terrorism, violence by immigrants, stories of a corrupt globalist elite, a culture under assault. Its a kind of a nativist voice that comes out of breitbart, and its not something thats never happened in america before, because weve had waves of nativism. But its, its bringing nativism to a digital platform where its reaching the whole country. Hispanic and black thugs tend to attack asians. Blacks are incapable for being responsible for themselves. Narrator breitbarts comment sections became notorious gathering places for extreme viewpoints. The towelheads are taking over because we let them. Gayness is a cancer on us all. I mean, it reads like youve walked into a hate Club Gathering of some kind. How stupid are women . Lets find out. They were appealing to the segment of the population that are racist, homophobic, antisemitic really, the worst among us. Creating this congregating space everyday, where people from that worldview can go and rally around one another to find content that validates their worldview. And i think thats what they were building, ultimately. Narrator the articles and comments fueled questions about bannons own beliefs. Ive never heard steve bannon say racist things, but that doesnt mean breitbart hasnt encouraged some of these racist elements within the Republican Party. As much as bannon says himself that he has never embraced these people, breitbart, in some respects, has given these people a voice, has normalized elements of the conservative right. Narrator the site was booming, with millions of readers. At the embassy, they shrugged off criticism. If you are seen as the most powerful rightofcenter person in america, or one of the two or three most, youre going to get called a racist, a sexist, a bigot, a xenophobe, a homophobe, an islamophobe, and theres not much you can do about it. Narrator but bannon didnt just want readers, he wanted to fundamentally change washington. It is the most aggressive push for Immigration Reform. Narrator and in 2013, as the republicans began to work with democrats on Immigration Reform. Pushed the bipartisan Immigration Reform plan. You create a pathway for those people that are here. You dont say, you got to go home. Narrator . Bannon decided to take on the g. O. P. Leadership. Viewed as a victory for the g. O. P. Narrator and to do so, he made an alliance, with a 27yearold senate staffer, Stephen Miller. Miller was this little ideologue. I mean everybody on the hill knew who he was because, you know, he was very active and he would blast you in the media. He would blast reporters with press releases day and night. A lot of reporters considered this spam. Narrator miller was madetoorder for steve bannon. He was a top aide to controversial republican senator Jeff Sessions. From the right wing, sessions was an outspoken opponent of Immigration Reform. He shaped sessions on immigration as much as sessions shaped miller. Miller was there with sessions day in, day out. Narrator miller connected sessions and bannon. They built a formidable alliance. Stephen miller quickly becomes a gobetween. Miller is setting up happy hour meetings between breitbart staffers and the staffers in sessions office. And breitbart really elevates sessions with its coverage. He becomes a kind of standard bearer for this part of the far right. Sessions immigration bill will hammer americans. Sessions comes out swinging against secretive house immigration push. Sessions breitbart doing great work getting truth out about immigration bill. It was very clear that steve and breitbart, with Stephen Miller, were playing a very handson role in trying to advise senator sessions. Republicans in washington are not on the same page as their voters. Narrator populist anger in the g. O. P. Base boiled over. Liberal republicans need to be punished and they need to be. All of a sudden, republicans who thought they wanted to pass this thing were getting phone calls and getting picketed by furious constituents that say, how can you be doing this . You have to stop. Immigration reform is all but dead in the water, at least. Narrator Immigration Reform collapsed. End of Immigration Reform. Narrator bannon, sessions, and miller realized they had tapped into something powerful. It was a big victory for our audience, because they thought that this was putting, putting the interest of the permanent Political Class in washington ahead of the Common People throughout the country. That was a significant moment in our development and realizing we can get results. Narrator his influence was growing. And now bannon renewed his search for a political warrior who could transform the country. Bannon, i feel like, has been someone whos been looking for a figurehead to attach himself to for a very long time. Narrator and in new york city, there was a breitbart reader who was just the person bannon was looking for. Trump was reading and digesting Breitbart News as long ago as 2013, 2014, and internalizing these things. And nobody paid any attention because nobody cared about donald trump in politics in 2014. Narrator bannon had been introduced to trump by david bossie, a producer on many bannon films and the head of the conservative Advocacy Group citizens united. Bossie and bannon are friends, and bossie says to bannon, come on over and meet donald trump. Hes thinking of running for president. So they all meet up at the trump tower in new york and they talk about it. Ive known steve bannon for about ten years, worked with him on a lot of projects. One of the greatest strategic minds that ive ever been around. And trump continues to keep a relationship going with bannon from that point on. Narrator in trump, bannon had found a fighter who matched his own instincts. And so breitbart, palin, trump, all are sort of antiestablishment figures, and i think that that appeals to bannon. It was more about destroying enemies. And thats where he and trump, i think, really meet. I think theyre very much into destroying enemies. Sweet home alabama narrator by 2015, as trump launched his campaign for the presidency, he echoed breitbarts headlines, painting an alarming picture of illegal immigrants. So many people have been so badly hurt. The other day in california last week a woman, 66 years old, a veteran, was killed. Raped, sodomized, tortured, and killed by an illegal immigrant. We have to do it, we have to do something, we have to do something. Narrator and all the while, behind the scenes, trump turned to bannon for advice. Although he was not officially on the campaign, bannon wrote this email to his old friend julia jones about his connection to trump. Steve told me he was Donald Trumps Campaign Manager in august of 2015. But i think it was kind of like a metaphor. I mean, he was behind the scenes. I said, oh, congratulations. Its wonderful, you know. Because i knew it was what hed always wanted, you know. Now, you know, its the big time. This was it, this was. Hed made it. Narrator to jones, bannon boasted, dont you ever read breitbart . Its trump central. Now bannon was increasingly on the attack, going after trumps opponents one by one. The reason that i quit breitbart is because they were working so closely with trump. When a news outlet decides that it is more important to maintain close ties with a particular candidate or politician than it is to maintain the integrity of their journalists, thats no longer a journalistic organization. It is now a propaganda platform. Narrator during that time, six breitbart Staff Members resigned. I just realized, i dont want to be a part of this anymore, and i think that there were a lot of reporters who didnt sign up to be the voice of the trump campaign. If i wanted to be involved with a specific president ial campaign, i would, i would have gone and done so. Narrator while bannon worked from the embassy, Stephen Miller signed on to Trumps Campaign as a Senior Policy Adviser and speechwriter. Donald j. Trump, ladies and gentlemen, is going to stand up to the bullies and fight for you. Stephen miller would literally go out on stage before trump and get the crowd riled up with a redmeat recitation of all of the ills that were affecting america. Are you ready to fight the terrorists, are you ready to stop the onslaught of radical islam, and are you ready. Going well beyond where trump was rhetorically, but eventually their messages began to merge and they began to have this fairly consistent worldview that matched not only that of steve bannon, but also that of Jeff Sessions. I am pleased. Narrator Jeff Sessions himself was the first United States senator to give trump a crucial endorsement. Make America Great again. Donald trump is the projected winner of the New Hampshire primary. To regain his frontrunner status in a crowded field. Hes pulling ahead in virtually every super tuesday state. We love nevada we love nevada thank you. This makes backtoback victories for. Donald trump is a professional political wrecking ball. Narrator as he headed into the general election. Trump adding breitbart executive steve bannon as campaign c. E. O. Narrator . Trump officially brought bannon into the campaign. Firebrand conservative Breitbart News boss Stephen Bannon as chief executive. Steve is the guiding right hand, the karl rove, if you will, of the trump campaign. Hes orchestrating it all the mercers, funders of breitbart, benefactors of trump. David bossie, close friend of bannon. Sessions and miller, that relationship starts with bannon and breitbart. Theyre all breitbartbannon orchestrated personnel. So that tells you whos really running the show and whats going on at that point. With that breaking news from the campaign trail, Donald Trumps lewd remarks about women. Narrator but then, a shocking revelation. They let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the bleep . Narrator . The emergence of the access hollywood videotape. The trump camp has swiftly launched into disaster mode. People were revoking their endorsements. Republicans were all coming out against trump. And we know now, internally, Reince Priebus was urging trump to consider getting out of the race. Narrator rather than give up, bannon wanted to fight back. Bannon recommends that trump hit back 100 times harder. Change the topic just enough so that the emphasis goes from Donald Trumps wayward transactions with women to bill clintons activities decades earlier with women. Narrator they kept their plans a secret, until two days later, at the second president ial debate, when bannon executed the counter attack. These four very courageous women have asked to be here. Narrator standing in the back of the room steve bannon. Mr. Trump may have said some bad words, but bill clinton raped me and Hillary Clinton threatened me. I dont think theres any comparison. Narrator it was the type of event Andrew Breitbart would have loved. The real breitbart touch there was recognizing you had to surprise the media, that the media would all move in one direction, and you had to give them something they couldnt anticipate. Okay, thank you all very much. We appreciate it. Donald trump canvassing the country as the election nears. Campaign finds donald trump still stumping for every last vote. Trump making his rounds today on the campaign trail. We will make America Great. Narrator bannon encouraged trump to travel the country. We are going to drain. Narrator . To reach out to what he called the forgotten the angry and disaffected. Our terrible trade deals. Narrator delivering the nationalist message. We will keep radical islamic terrorists the hell out. Narrator . Bannon had been developing for more than a decade. We will build a great wall. Bannon sees in trump a vehicle for his perspectives. He understands that trump is not one who studies policy. And so hes able to insert into trumps basic message and language a lot of the core messages that bannon has been working on for years. We are led by very stupid people. When i first started covering trump at the start of his campaign, he was a candidate of gut instincts. It wasnt until bannon came on in august of 2016 that you really saw trump working with sessions and bannon, start to put policy to his gut instincts. But by the end of his campaign, he had in many respects adopted bannonism. The world is watching our country today. Trump is set to become americas 45th president today. Narrator on inauguration day, Steve Bannons strategy paid off, helping secure a victory that many called impossible. I, donald john trump, do solemnly. Narrator bannon was named chief strategist and senior white house counselor. Protect and defend the constitution of the United States, so help me god. Congratulations, mr. President. Narrator now bannons ideas would become the essence of the president s inaugural address. Bannon crafted the speech. This was a bannon speech, and it was in the president s hands, but it was a bannon speech. This american carnage stops right here and stops right now. The line about carnage in america, i think that was steve. You know, there were, like. Every now and then, i hear things, im like, oh, thats, okay, thats steve. From this day forward, its going to be only America First. America first. cheers and applause god bless america. Narrator the speech was just the beginning. Thank you. God bless america. Bannon is on a kind of a Kamikaze Mission to just get as much done as he can because he knows that people with ideas that are as powerful and controversial as his, you know, may not last in washington. Narrator and as they put the administration together, bannons allies took key positions. The first cabinet appointee Jeff Sessions as attorney general. If youre steve bannon, the job you want to care about most, probably, is attorney general. Its a job that oversees so many of the big issues that matter to you. Narrator Stephen Miller was appointed Senior Adviser to the president. And from breitbart, bannon recruited 25yearold writer julia hahn and the National Security editor, sebastian gorka. You have all these people who were never taken seriously by the establishment now are the establishment. There have always been people like bannon and miller in and around government, people who saw the darkest possible construction of things, people who wanted to tear down some of the institution because they felt they had become corrupt. But the difference is, now theyre in the west wing. Over the weekend, the first family and white house staff. Narrator in that first week, bannon wanted trump to act quickly, using the president s executive power. To get a presidency up and running on day one. Trump got elected to disrupt washington, and if it took a lot of executive orders and controversial executive orders to do it, so be it. They wanted to make that clear. Trumps advisers have teed up more than 200 possible executive orders. Narrator the white house issued a raft of executive actions on obamacare. This ones associated with obamacare. Hes speeding up environmental reviews. Narrator . The environment, immigration, and the border wall. Steve bannons theory was, bam, bam, bam, keep washington offbalance. A new order, a new order, boom, boom, boom. In fact, at one point he wanted to do hundreds all in a single day. Trump also signed five more executive actions today. Bannon has these white boards in his office. He calls it his war room inside of the white house promises that trump made, promises they want to make sure that trump keeps. President trump signed two executive orders, one on. Narrator one of bannons Top Priorities doing something about the danger hed been warning of for years radical islam. Breaking news, a freeze on refugees coming to the United States. A source telling cnn. The first travel ban on january 27, it was a political document, not a legal document, written to send a message. Theres a new sheriff in town. I think that was their intention, was to show that this was a tough, harsh action that sort of displayed, was a statement of intent by the Trump Administration. Liberals across the country digging in against President Trumps latest executive orders. The criticism has been fierce. Narrator as the executive actions dominated the headlines, at the white house, bannons influence was growing. Trump signed three new executive orders. In the early days, steve bannon is everywhere. Hes in every meeting he wants to be in. He is always at the side of the president. And he has access to any policy he wants to influence. Stephen bannon was given a seat at the table. Narrator bannon was even given a seat on the National Security council. To the National Security council. He has no particular Foreign Policy or National Security experience. He was the provocateur of provocateurs in that group. And so whats the reason for that, other than the kind of the aggrandizement of steve bannon, as a way to say, im all powerful . Narrator bannons moment had arrived. It seems like this is everything you could have wanted as an insurgent. Suddenly, youre in charge. Suddenly, the levers of power are in your hands and the hands of the president that you helped get there. Key players in the Trump Administration will speak at the conservative Political Action. Narrator by the end of the first month, bannon headed out of washington. National harbor, maryland. Chief strategist steve bannon. Narrator . To make a rare public appearance at the annual conservative Political Action conference. Controversial adviser to the president steve bannon will also address the group. The honorable steve bannon. cheers and applause narrator he had abandoned his suit and tie for the rumpled look hed worn on the campaign trail. Now, the c. P. A. C. Speech is really the apogee of Steve Bannons moment in the trump white house. You know, i can run a little hot on occasions. What bannon basically said was, we are going to be in your face, you the establishment, you the media, you the democrats. If you think we are going to play by your rules, you are wrong. We are going to do everything we can to take your power away and move it somewhere else. Theyre going to continue to fight. If you think theyre going to give you your country back without a fight, you are sadly mistaken. Every day, every day, it is going to be a fight. For him to show up there sort of in this triumphal mode, you know, were in charge now, was quite a moment for him. If you look at these cabinet appointees, they were selected for a reason, and that is deconstruction of the administrative state. And if you. applause and cheering narrator but to some observers, this moment and the publicity that followed looked like the beginning of the end for steve bannon. Bannon made himself vulnerable in that moment. A lot of bannons rivals inside of the white house were watching bannon very closely at c. P. A. C. By going to c. P. A. C. , by stepping out, he became even more of a political celebrity. And know who was paying close attention to that . President trump. Steve bannon that is getting the lions share of the credit. Narrator in the days just before and after the event, the buzz about bannon was growing. He has been called everything from President Trumps brain to president bannon. Stephen bannon pulling the strings behind the scenes. Bannons worldview and his impact on the presidency. Narrator Time Magazine branded him the great manipulator. Under the title bananas. Narrator on twitter, they called him president bannon. Even president bannon. Im ready to start this briefing. Okay. Narrator and then there was saturday night live. I cant start without steve bannon. Hes walking in right now. dramatic music playing sorry im late. laughter thats okay, steve you look great. The narrative of bannon being the hand thats in the puppet, you know, is not necessarily a good one for bannon. Can i have my desk back . Yes, of course, mr. President. Ill go sit at my desk, yeah. No president , and i think, probably, President Trump in particular, likes to have it look as though some adviser is pulling all the strings. The president was going to put him in his place, and remind people, im the president and he works for me. Tensions growing behind the walls of the oval office as the power struggle. Narrator and bannons agenda was in a tailspin. Denied. In a major setback for Donald Trumps travel ban. Narrator that travel ban was stuck in the courts. President trumps Approval Ratings at record lows. Narrator the president s Approval Ratings were sinking. Wild day at the trump white house. Narrator there were reports of chaos and infighting at the white house. And a lot of chaos and controversy. Narrator and the president s legislative agenda seemed to be stalled in congress. Replace obamacare, the clock is ticking. The objections. Bannon was in an environment that was new to him. Hed never worked the legislative process. He may have done things in hollywood, or he may have done things at goldman sachs. And, and you think, okay, i know how to operate and get people to do things. And trying to get conservatives on board as many groups. But dealing in the legislative environment is different. The selfproclaimed closer couldnt close the deal. Tonight, a major defeat for President Trump. Narrator at the white house, they waited for trumps reaction. Every executive whos ever worked for donald trump and succeeded has very quickly absorbed the lesson that in all things trump, if something succeeds, the credit goes to the boss. And if something fails, the blame is distributed to the nearest available target. The turmoil that is brewing inside the white house, whether steve bannon. Narrator increasingly, the president s soninlaw Jared Kushner pointed the finger at bannon. The degree to which there was competition between Jared Kushner and steve bannon, the president was going to, in one way or another, put bannon down and be responsive to his family. What rattled bannon was that the socalled globalists, the financial types from new york who are close with Jared Kushner, were moving the administration in a more mainstream republican direction. The president is now firing warning shots at steve bannon. And bannon is feeling isolated. Hes definitely losing allies, like Stephen Miller, whos now sort of talking to the, the Jared Kushner ivanka trump wing. We are watching the fate of steve bannon. Narrator then, as trump seemed to walk away from some of bannons hardline positions, humiliation. The president publicly downplayed bannons role. Trump adding fuel to the fire of speculation that steve bannon may soon hear, youre fired. Narrator finally, the president decided bannon would be stripped of his seat on the National Security council. Breaking news. Bombshell from the white house. Stephen bannon has been removed from the National Security council. Narrator in washington, it was seen as a sign bannon and his ideas were on their way out. Comes amid west wing clashes, bannon warring with the president. If they fire bannon, they could make an enemy of a man who knows all their secrets. Narrator then a surprise. As the president headed out of washington on his 100th day in office. A campaignstyle rally in harrisburg, pennsylvania. So what does his base say about the first 100 days . Narrator . Walking before the cameras, joining him on marine one, his chief strategist, steve bannon. Nobody else speaks to his base as powerfully as steve bannon does. And thats not something Jared Kushner can do. Thats not something ivanka trump can do. President trump to rally his supporters on his 100th day in office. With a rally in harrisburg, pennsylvania, where hes got thousands of supporters waiting eagerly to hear his speech, and were going to bring it to you live. Narrator it had all the elements of Trumps Campaign stops a huge crowd waiting and a speech that was pure bannon. One by one, were finding the illegal immigrant drug dealers, gang members, and killers, and removing them from our country. And they will not let them back in theyre not coming back. If you look at Public Opinion polls, the people who voted for trump think that hes doing just fine. That is steve bannon. That is the effect of steve bannon saying, you, mr. Trump, are going to keep your eye on the ball. Youre going to keep saying these things. Youre not going to be swayed by these establishment people in washington who dont have your own interests at heart. So let me state this as clearly as i possibly can we are going to keep radical islamic terrorists the hell out of our country. U. S. A. u. S. A. narrator it was a steve bannon production. That night, as they returned to washington on marine one, steve bannon was seated right next to the president. And bannon was by his side in the weeks that followed, as the white house was gripped by one crisis after another. Two words shock and surprise. Breaking news tonight President Trump has fired fbi director james comey. Narrator the administration faced its biggest challees so far. Fired fbi director james comey wrote a memo. Just department appointed a special counsel to. Narrator they responded with the combative strategy that had brought them to power. Fighting back against the media. White house denying a bombshell new report. Narrator the critics. Reporters in the media are not an acccurate portrayal. Narrator the establishment. Look at the way ive been treated lately. You have to put your head down and fight, fight, fight. Never ever ever give up. Narrator bannons war continued. Bannon sees an amazing and probably last in his lifetime opportunity to really have his worldview come to the fore in american politics. He wants to see this out as much as he can, to see what can actually be accomplished with a populist president. It comes without warning and is sending shock waves across washington this evening. Go to pbs. Org frontline to explore extended interviews with kurt bardella. Steve is the guiding right hand, the karl rove, if you will, of the trump campaign. Alex marlow. Steve gravitates towards countercultural conservative figures that. And others. Then visit our watch page, where you can stream more than 200 frontline documentaries. Connect to the Frontline Community on facebook and twitter, then sign up for our newsletter at pbs. Org frontline. All the stuff you learned about in medical school is really just a tiny little bit of what it means to be good at doing our job. Based on the bestselling book by atul gawande. So many people i see, their death comes as a surprise. Frontline takes you into the Difficult Conversations between doctors and patients. I just was wanting something positive to say. The reason i regret it is because i knew it was a complete lie. Frontlinis made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. And by the corporation for public broadcasting. Major support for frontliis provided by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. More information is available at macfound. Org. Additional support is provided by ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. At fordfoundation. Org. The park foundation, dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. The john and Helen Glessner family trust, supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. And by the frontline journalism fund. With major support from jon and jo ann hagler. Captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org for more on this and other frontline programs, visit our website at pbs. Org frontline. Frontlinebannons war is available on dvd. To order, visit shoppbs. Org or call 1800playpbs. Frontline is also available for download on itunes. Youre watching pbs jeani asked the clerk,was at the how do they let you knowthing. If your son is wounded . It was very hard for me to form those words, but i just felt. Ive got to know. I just felt so suspended in space and anxiety. And the man said, now, dont worry. Theyll tell you. 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