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In this episode, we examine the behavior and agenda of former White House Senior Advisor Steve Bannon. We discuss his politics, his influence on Donald Trump, and his self-described enemies list. Most importantly, what impact will Steve Bannon have on the thinking of Republican primary voters. Segment 1: Who is Steve Bannon and Why Does He Matter? Steve Bannon is 62 years old and has a very interesting background. He grew up in Virginia, served in the U.S. Navy, graduated from Harvard Business School in 1985, was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, was a documentary filmmaker and ran the conservative newspaper and website Breitbart News.  Some interesting side notes, he brokered a deal that landed him an ownership stake in blockbuster TV series Seinfeld. He also produced documentaries about the Tea Party called The Battle for America in 2010, and The Undefeated in 2011. In August of 2016 Steve Bannon was introduced as the CEO of Donald Trump’s Presidential Campaign. He was credited for sharpening Donald Trump’s populist message, hammering home fears of open borders, and promote the distrust of Hillary Clinton. After Donald Trump’s surprising victory, Steve Bannon was named senior counselor to the President. As soon as he was sworn in Steve Bannon made it clear how he viewed the world and his job in the White House. At the annual Conservative Political Action Committee conference on February 23rd he outlined the Trump Administration’s agenda as focusing on “national security and sovereignty”, “economic nationalism” and the “deconstruction of the administrative state”.  His description of “deconstruction of the administrative state” is as follows: “If you look at these cabinet appointees, they were selected for a reason and that is the deconstruction. The way the progressive left runs, is if they can’t get it passed, they’re just going to put in some sort of regulation in an agency. That’s all going to be deconstructed and I think that that’s why this regulatory thing is so important.”    Steve Bannon was and still is very critical of journalists and the media, calling it a “running war”. This is no surprise considering Donald Trump’s use of this strategy during the campaign and using the term “fake news”. After being on the job for a week, on January 26th Steve Bannon argued that news organizations had been “humiliated” by the election outcome and repeatedly described the media as the “opposition party” of the administration.  During the interview he referred to himself as “Darth Vader”,His exact words were: “The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while,” Mr. Bannon said in an interview on Wednesday. “I want you to quote this,” Mr. Bannon added. “The media here is the opposition party. They don’t understand this country. They still do not understand why Donald Trump is the President of the United States.” “The mainstream media has not fired or terminated anyone associated with following our campaign,” Mr. Bannon said. “Look at the Twitter feeds of those people: They were outright activists of the Clinton campaign.” (He did not name specific reporters or editors.) “That’s why you have no power,” he added. “You were humiliated.” “The media has zero integrity, zero intelligence, and no hard work.” “You’re the opposition party,” he said. “Not the Democratic Party. You’re the opposition party. The media’s the opposition party.” Steve Bannon has shown a deep hatred toward people that he called “globalists”. In particular, National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, and National Economic Council Chairman Gary Cohn.  Bannon’s project centered on opposition to what he derisively called “globalism”: the idea of tearing down borders and linking countries through trade, immigration, and international institutions like NATO and the United Nations. He believed that Brexit and Trump’s rise in particular showed the way for a global uprising of so-called “nationalists” or “populists” against the status quo. He warned of an “invasion” of Europe by Muslims; he emphasized the need for countries that have a “Judeo-Christian” heritage to band together to fight radical Islam. The scale of the threat, Bannon has suggested, is akin to what the West faced in the 1930s. China, in Bannon’s eyes, was also a fundamental threat. He has predicted an outright war between the United States and China — two nuclear-armed powers — in under 10 years. “We’re at economic war with China ... the economic war with China is everything,” he said. “One of us is going to be a hegemon in 25 or 30 years and it’s going be them if we go down this path.” This apocalyptic vision of global conflict really did drive Bannon’s behavior in Washington.  What were Steve Bannon’s final thoughts at the end of last week as he returned to run Breitbart News? Some media reports that he told associates that he has a “killing machine” in Breitbart News, and that he would be waging  “thermonuclear war” against the “globalists”. How big is the “Bannon” wing of the Republican Party? Harry Enten of fivethirtyeight.com provides an excellent analysis answering this question. David, Ryan and Courtney discuss what this all means for Republican candidates, primary voters and elected officials.