Steve Bannon distanced himself from the brand of white nationalism displayed at a violent rally in Charlottesville, Va. this past weekend, describing the protest participants as “a collection of clowns.”
In an interview with the American Prospect published Wednesday, Bannon described the white supremacists and neo-Nazis in Charlottesville as a “fringe” element of the far-right that should be defeated.
“Ethno-nationalism — it’s losers,” Bannon said. “It’s a fringe element. I think the media plays it up too much, and we gotta help crush it, you know, uh, help crush it more.”
Bannon, the White House chief strategist, is a nationalist who ran Breitbart News and called it a “platform for the alt-right.”
But in his interview with the American Prospect, a liberal website, Bannon seemed to deflect his own role in cultivating the rise of far-right groups.
He defined his own views as “economic nationalism” and criticized Democrats for propagating in what he called “identity politics”
“The Democrats,” he said, “the longer they talk about identity politics, I got ’em. I want them to talk about racism every day. If the left is focused on race and identity, and we go with economic nationalism, we can crush the Democrats.”
The Bannon interview comes as President Trump is said to be considering firing him. Trump is reportedly resentful of Bannon’s vivid media profile, and Bannon has been accused of leaking damaging information about other White House officials, including National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster.
In a Tuesday press conference, Trump called Bannon a “good man.”
“We’ll see what happens with Mr. Bannon,” Trump said.
