Stephen Kevin “Steve” Bannon (born November 27, 1953) is an American businessman and media executive. He is the executive chairman of Breitbart News, a politically conservative American news, opinion and commentary website noted for its connection to the alt-right.^[1][2] Bannon will be Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor of the upcoming Trump Administration.^[3] He became chief executive officer of the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump in August 2016.^[4][5]

He is the co-founder and executive chairman of the Government Accountability Institute and the executive chairman of Breitbart News LLC, the parent company of Breitbart News.^[6] He has been involved in the financing and production of a number of films, including Fire from the Heartland: The Awakening of the Conservative Woman, The Undefeated (on Sarah Palin), and Occupy Unmasked. Bannon also hosts a radio show (Breitbart News Daily) on a Sirius XM satellite radio channel.^[7]

Early life

Bannon was born on November 27, 1953 in Norfolk, Virginia. He graduated from Virginia Tech in 1976 and holds a master’s degree in National Security Studies from Georgetown University. In 1983, Bannon received an M.B.A. degree with honors from Harvard Business School.^[8]

Bannon was an officer in the United States Navy, serving on the destroyerUSS Paul F. Foster as a Surface Warfare Officerin the Pacific Fleet and stateside as a special assistant to the Chief of Naval Operations at the Pentagon.^[9]

Business and media career

After his military service, Bannon worked at Goldman Sachs as an investment banker in the Mergers & Acquisitions Department.^[10] In 1990, Bannon and several colleagues from Goldman Sachs launched Bannon & Co., a boutique investment bank specializing in media. Through Bannon & Co., Bannon negotiated the sale of Castle Rock Entertainment toTed Turner. As payment, Bannon & Co. accepted a stake in five television shows, including Seinfeld. Société Généralepurchased Bannon & Co. in 1998.^[11]

In 1993, while still managing Bannon & Co., Bannon was made acting director of Earth-science research project Biosphere 2 in Oracle, Arizona. Under Bannon, the project shifted emphasis from researching space exploration and colonization towards pollution and global warming. He left the project in 1995.^[12][13] After the sale of Bannon & Co., Bannon became an executive producer in Hollywood. He executive produced Anthony Hopkins‘s 1999 film Titus. Bannon became a partner with entertainment industry executive Jeff Kwatinetz at The Firm, Inc., a film and television management company.^[11] In 2004, Bannon made a documentary about Ronald Reagan titled In the Face of Evil. Through the making and screening of this film, Bannon was introduced to Peter Schweizer and publisher Andrew Breitbart.^[11]

From 2007 through 2011, Bannon was chairman and CEO of Affinity Media. From March 2012 to August 2016, Bannon was executive chairman of Breitbart News LLC, the parent company of Breitbart.^[14][15] Under his leadership, Breitbart took a more alt-right and nationalistic approach towards its agenda.^[16] Bannon identifies as a conservative.^[17][18][19] Speaking about his role at Breitbart, Bannon said: “We think of ourselves as virulently anti-establishment, particularly ‘anti-‘ the permanent political class.”^[20]

Bannon is also executive chairman and co-founder of the Government Accountability Institute, where he helped orchestrate the publication of book Clinton Cash.^[6][11] In 2015, Bannon was ranked No. 19 on Mediaite‘s list of the “25 Most Influential in Political News Media 2015”.^[21]

Trump campaign and administration

On August 17, 2016, he was appointed Chief Executive of Donald Trump‘s campaign to become President of the United States.^{[14][17][22][23]} On November 13, 2016, he was appointed Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor to President-Elect Donald J. Trump, drawing strong opposition from the Anti-Defamation League, the Council on American “Islamic Relations, and the Southern Poverty Law Center due to statements from Breitbart they argued were racist and anti-semitic.^{[4][5][24][25]}On the other hand, David Horowitz and Ben Shapiro wrote, respectively: “I have known Steve Bannon for many years. This is a good man. He does not have an Anti-Semitic bone in his body.” and “I have no evidence that Bannon’s a racist or that he’s an anti-Semite”.^[26][27] Bannon was, as of mid-August 2016, registered to vote in Miami-Dade County, Florida, at the former residence of Diane Clohesy, Bannon’s third ex-wife, but the residence was vacant and slated for demolition.^[28] On August 26, 2016, Bannon’s voter registration information was changed to an address in Sarasota County, an address associated with venture capitalist Andrew Badolato, who has been involved in films produced and directed by Bannon.^[29][30]

Personal life

Bannon married Mary Louise Piccard, his second wife, in April 1995. Their twin daughters were born three days later. Bannon was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence, battery and dissuading a witness in early January 1996, after Piccard accused Bannon of domestic abuse. The charges were later dropped when his now ex-wife did not show up to court.^[31] Piccard also claimed that Bannon had made antisemitic remarks about choice of schools, saying that he did not want to send his children to The Archer School for Girls because Jews raise their children to be “whiny brats”. Bannon’s spokesperson denied the accusation, noting that he had chosen to send both his children to the Archer School.^{[32][33][34][35][36]} Bannon’s association with the alt-right movement along with his aforementioned alleged anti-Semitic remarks about choices of schools, have contributed to accusations of white nationalism from the Southern Poverty Law Center and other advocacy groups, commentators, and Senate Minority LeaderHarry Reid.^{[37][38][39][40][41]}

Filmography

References

…Bloomberg on Bannon