The Devils Bargain

Author: Joshua Green

I resisted reading this book for a long time. I felt that I had already overdosed on the news and information related to Trump and the last thing I needed was to read a whole book on Trump and his Chief Evil Influencer, Steve Bannon.

Once I got down to reading a few pages, I quickly realized that the book was more about Steve Bannon than Trump. I learnt that the seeds for the Trump’s victory in 2016, were sown way back and the unifying theme of all these supporters were a hatred for Bill and Hillary Clinton. Apparently the Ken Starr investigation stoked all the flames of the Clinton-haters, but failed to deliver as Bill continued to remain President. Worse still, after he retired, his Foundation was very successful both in raising money and having an impact on the world.

David Bossie spent his lifetime trying to prove some of the scandals that swirled around the Clintons. When Trump enlisted Bossie to his campaign, he pulled in Steve Bannon and fellow Clinton hater. However, Steve was more than just that. He was a naval officer during Carter’s presidency and had seen the disastrous attempt to rescue the Iranian hostages from up close. When the Twin Towers were brought down by Islamic terrorists, he was convinced that the spread of Islam had to be stopped. 

The book follows the twists and turns of Steve Bannon’s career and it is amazing to read about all of his exploits. He started out as a Naval Officer, but quickly figured out that it would take him a long time to wield any influence there. He made his way to Wall Street and made money at Goldman Sachs. He launched his own investment firm specializing in the media and made money off a bunch of shows including Seinfeld.  He then got the opportunity to make movies and made a total of 18 movies.  He founded the Government Accountability Institute (GAI) where he helped feed the media with all kinds of stories, most of which were aimed against the Clintons. In fact, he used the GAI to publicize Peter Schweizer’s book Clinton Cash, which documented the foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation, and some possible reasons into why they were made. It is during this time that he developed a relationship with the Mercers and Breitbart news. All of this is quite a journey for one individual and I couldn’t help but admire the drive and influence that Steve wields.

The book is well written and helped me understand all the supporting cast in the Trump victory. I quickly realized that Trump was a convenient front-man for the whole movement. What is interesting is to try and figure out how they will manipulate Trump, now that he is in the Oval Office. The book doesn’t quite go there, and I would love to see some speculation on that.