Opinion: Fighting Bannonism at home and abroad

Steve Bannon’s anti-immigrant agenda is still unpopular at home. But that could change if we’re not careful. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Tuesday, August 7, 2018 [NYTimes.com/Opinion »]( David Leonhardt is on a break from writing this newsletter until Aug. 27. While he’s gone, several outside writers are taking his place. This week’s authors are [Meagan Day]( and [Bhaskar Sunkara]( of Jacobin, the socialist magazine. You can[ sign up here]( to receive the newsletter each weekday. By Meagan Day and Bhaskar Sunkara Since his ouster from the White House a year ago, [Steve Bannon]( has been barnstorming across Europe, [meeting with figures]( like the former leader of the U.K. Independence Party, Nigel Farage; the French Rassemblement National head, Marine Le Pen; and the far-right Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban. Last month Mr. Bannon announced plans to establish a foundation to support right-wing populist movements on the continent. Mr. Bannon isn’t driving Europe’s ever-growing xenophobia. But his ability to plant roots there and the potential that he and others see in tying together country-level anti-immigrant sentiment into a continentwide movement are both alarming and, for those of us in the United States, a reality check. Despite the rise of Donald Trump, views around immigration in the United States seem to favor the left. The president may want to build a big beautiful wall, but most polls show that around 60 percent of Americans oppose the idea. In a [1994 Pew survey]( 63 percent thought that immigrants were a burden, while only 31 percent said they were strengthening the country. When asked the same question in 2016, just 27 percent see immigrants as a burden, while 63 percent think immigration is a good thing. The trend holds in 2018. In June, only 24 percent said the amount of legal immigration into the United States should be decreased. The situation is different in much of Europe. According to the International Organization for Migration, 48 percent of Europeans believe that migration should be reduced. In Finland, Greece, Sweden and Italy, among other countries, it ranks as the top concern of voters. There are several factors at work here, but one is clearly the continued relevance of the civil rights movement and anti-racist struggles, which won a more diverse and inclusive America. That’s no excuse for complacency or discontent about how far that progress has gone. But it does remind us that as scary as Trumpism is, right-wing ideas on immigration haven’t penetrated as deeply here as in Europe. The Trump administration is in power, already causing a great deal of harm, and it has a strong base of supporters, but it hasn’t won over the majority. The danger, of course, is that it could. For a generation, liberals have been content to marry neoliberal economic policies with the rhetoric of diversity and inclusion. They’ve declined to [push legislation]( to counteract growing inequality and have even administered austerity. When your policies don’t help the people who’ve been voting for you, it doesn’t take the machinations of Russian hackers to lose elections. If Democrats don’t build an economic message for the working class, black and brown voters won’t turn out for elections, and enough white ones who do might drift toward the siren call of right-wing populism. And then the Steve Bannons of the world won’t have to look to Europe to fulfill their political dreams. The full Opinion report from The Times follows. From Our Columnists [Democrats, Do Not Give Up on the Senate]( By FRANK BRUNI The party’s odds aren’t great, but they look better all the time. [Will the Birthplace of the Modern Right Turn Blue?]( By MICHELLE GOLDBERG Thanks to Trump, Democrats have a shot in Orange County. The Conversation [Can Democrats Campaign Against the Swamp?]( By GAIL COLLINS AND BRET STEPHENS It does still need some draining. From the Archives: The Bannon Playbook [Can Steve Bannon Realign American Politics?]( By SAM ROSENFELD Realignments are made, not born — and unlikely with candidates like Roy Moore. [Inside Steve Bannon’s ‘Fight Club’]( By KURT BARDELLA He didn’t regard Breitbart as platform to inform the public, but as his weapon in a war against the establishment. [Bannon’s Deviant ‘Badge of Honor’]( By JASON STANLEY The tactic of subverting language to turn vice into virtue has a very dark past. [Clouds Darken Trump’s Sunny Economic View]( Alexander Glandien By THE EDITORIAL BOARD There are more signs of a slowdown as the tax cuts’ stimulus proves weak, temporary and maybe even counterproductive. [A Better Way to Ban Alex Jones]( By DAVID FRENCH “Hate speech” is extraordinarily vague and subjective. Libel and slander are not. LIKE THIS EMAIL? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up [here](. ADVERTISEMENT [Saudi Arabia’s Ugly Spat With Canada]( By THE EDITORIAL BOARD By expelling the Canadian ambassador for speaking up on human rights, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman undermines the reforms he has made. [Zimbabwe’s Dubious Election]( By THE EDITORIAL BOARD President Emmerson Mnangagwa has yet to prove that the vote was fair, creating a problem for international donors and investors whose help is desperately needed to revive the country. More in Opinion [Why Russian Money Ends Up in U.S. Elections]( By BOB BAUER America needs a new model of campaign finance not to supplant the political marketplace but to correct for its inadequacies. [Why Apple Is the Future of Capitalism]( By MIHIR A. DESAI The financial model pioneered by Apple is envied and copied by other companies. But getting it wrong is a big risk. [The Nation Magazine Betrays a Poet — and Itself]( By GRACE SCHULMAN I was the magazine’s poetry editor for 35 years. Never once did we apologize for publishing a poem. SIGN UP FOR THE OP-DOCS NEWSLETTER Find out about new [Op-Docs]( read discussions with filmmakers and learn more about upcoming events. ADVERTISEMENT Letters [Trump’s Latest Twitter Target: LeBron James]( Readers discuss the president’s attack on the N.B.A. star after his critical remarks in a CNN interview. Letters [The Children of Donald Trump’s America]( Readers worry about a generation growing up amid divisiveness, fear and hate. HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [leonhardt@nytimes.com](mailto:leonhardt@nytimes.com?subject=Opinion%20Today%20Newsletter%20Feedback). 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