Trump's theofascist

Stephen Bannon is the true ideological force of the Trump administration. And his ideology is alarming.

Stephen Bannon.
(Image credit: Andrew Harrer - Pool/Getty Images)

It’s becoming clearer every day that Stephen Bannon is the true ideological force behind the Trump administration — and clearer still that the ideology he's pushing is wrapped up with some very radical ideas about the West, Christianity, and Islam.

As a pair of recent stories in The New York Times explain, Bannon has made common cause with traditionalist Catholic critics of Pope Francis, especially U.S. cardinal Raymond Burke. At a meeting in the Vatican in 2014, the two men "bonded over their shared worldview," which includes a vision of Islam "threatening to overrun a prostrate West weakened by the erosion of traditional Christian values." This vision also informs an eight-page screenplay draft that Bannon produced several years ago about a United States that's been transformed into the "Islamic States of America" with the help of "enablers among us," including "the media, the Jewish community, and government agencies."

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Damon Linker

Damon Linker is a senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also a former contributing editor at The New Republic and the author of The Theocons and The Religious Test.