WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=MPEGTS:900000,LOCAL:00:00:00.000 00:00:00.360 --> 00:00:03.870 Steve Bannon is an outsider. He claims to have started a 00:00:03.870 --> 00:00:08.160 platform for the extremist fringe. All right. He also happens 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:11.460 to be the White House chief strategist with a direct line to the 00:00:11.460 --> 00:00:14.850 most powerful man in the world. Donald Trump. And he's had to 00:00:14.850 --> 00:00:18.660 reinvent himself multiple times over his life and career to get 00:00:18.660 --> 00:00:22.110 there. This is the long weird winding road of Steve Bannon's 00:00:22.170 --> 00:00:25.920 ascent to power. Let's start with Bannon's younger years. He 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:29.700 was born in 1953 to a working class Irish Catholic family in 00:00:29.700 --> 00:00:32.970 Virginia. He then got his bachelor's degree from Virginia Tech 00:00:32.980 --> 00:00:36.780 in 1976. He moved on to get his master's from Georgetown in 00:00:36.780 --> 00:00:42.060 1983 and then his MBA from Harvard in 1985. He also served in 00:00:42.060 --> 00:00:45.840 the U.S. Navy for seven years after the Navy. He landed at 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:48.630 Goldman Sachs as an investment banker and after a stint at 00:00:48.630 --> 00:00:52.500 Goldman Bannon reinvented himself as a movie producer executive 00:00:52.500 --> 00:00:55.470 producing a number of politically charged documentaries 00:00:55.500 --> 00:00:58.410 beginning with Ronald Reagan and moving all the way up through 00:00:58.860 --> 00:01:02.880 Michele Bachmann Sarah Palin and a lot of other right wing 00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:06.390 figures. That's Joshua Green senior national correspondent for 00:01:06.390 --> 00:01:09.660 Bloomberg Businessweek. Green spent time with Ben on and off 00:01:09.660 --> 00:01:13.050 for eight months for Bloomberg Businessweek cover story okay . 00:01:13.080 --> 00:01:16.110 Getting back to Bannon a large chunk of his financial success 00:01:16.170 --> 00:01:19.440 came from acquiring a piece in a fledgling TV show by the name 00:01:19.440 --> 00:01:22.380 of Seinfeld which he still receives royalty checks from. To 00:01:22.380 --> 00:01:25.890 this day. But Benham wasn't done reinventing himself as he 00:01:25.890 --> 00:01:30.000 transitioned to Hollywood and then to Tea Party politics. He 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:33.300 used those same skills to climb to where he is today at the top 00:01:33.300 --> 00:01:36.120 of Trump's White House. Bannon took over as executive chairman 00:01:36.120 --> 00:01:39.090 for the hard right populist publication bright Bart after the 00:01:39.090 --> 00:01:42.840 death of its founder Andrew Breitbart. It was this crazy 00:01:42.840 --> 00:01:48.720 outsider populist minded rabble rousing provocative website that 00:01:49.080 --> 00:01:52.710 gleefully skewered Republicans and Democrats alike. Everything 00:01:52.710 --> 00:01:55.830 that we see and every trend that we see is very strong until a 00:01:56.280 --> 00:01:57.540 really an outsider's 00:01:58.980 --> 00:02:01.740 voice and an outsider's movement to really take their country 00:02:01.740 --> 00:02:05.070 back. After Bennett took over traffic for bright Bart exploded 00:02:05.070 --> 00:02:09.110 to record levels. Then came the 2016 presidential campaign . 00:02:09.120 --> 00:02:13.170 When Trump announced his candidacy that was his first big speech 00:02:13.200 --> 00:02:17.840 we talked about message bringing drugs they're bringing crime . 00:02:17.850 --> 00:02:22.740 He was basically channeling bright Bart news in Bannon while 00:02:22.740 --> 00:02:26.040 Trump's politics were heavily influenced by bright Bart. Benton 00:02:26.040 --> 00:02:29.940 also turned the Web site into a Donald Trump machine posting 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:33.120 article after article praising the Republican candidate in 00:02:33.150 --> 00:02:36.150 August Bannon already successfully mobilized the populist 00:02:36.150 --> 00:02:39.210 nationalistic outright movement on the web to boost Trump. At 00:02:39.210 --> 00:02:42.750 the same time Donald Trump's campaign was on the rocks. So 00:02:42.750 --> 00:02:46.860 Trump tapped Bannon to serve as his campaign CEO. Naturally 00:02:46.920 --> 00:02:52.830 charismatic exciting guy driven by a burning desire to defeat 00:02:52.830 --> 00:02:56.370 that establishment I think appealed to Trump. And then this 00:02:56.370 --> 00:03:00.660 happened. Donald Trump wins Wisconsin surpassing the 270 00:03:00.660 --> 00:03:04.200 electoral votes he would need to take the presidency. And 00:03:04.200 --> 00:03:07.830 Bannon was thrust into the spotlight and with it harsh criticism 00:03:07.980 --> 00:03:12.210 he was condemned by the ADL the NAACP and a number of Democrats 00:03:12.360 --> 00:03:16.110 and Republicans who have called him offensive sexist and 00:03:16.140 --> 00:03:19.620 anti-Semitic. Citing a number of articles on bright Bart as 00:03:19.620 --> 00:03:23.190 well as this one that would put the 00:03:24.300 --> 00:03:26.700 family that her husband children 00:03:27.740 --> 00:03:30.520 they wouldn't be a bunch of guys that came from the other 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:34.710 schools up in a number of petitions have sprouted to keep Bannon 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:37.530 out of the White House. But the White House chief strategist 00:03:37.530 --> 00:03:40.800 does not need Senate confirmation which means Bannon is here to 00:03:40.800 --> 00:03:45.120 stay. So how will he wields his newly found power. Bannon 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:48.270 views his role on a Trump White House as being keeper of the 00:03:48.270 --> 00:03:51.540 flame. Bannon is going to be the guy who sees his own role in 00:03:51.540 --> 00:03:55.560 keeping Trump honest and keeping him aligned with the populist 00:03:55.560 --> 00:03:58.470 ideas a guy like this in the first place. So from a Navy 00:03:58.470 --> 00:04:01.830 officer to a banker to a Hollywood producer to a nationalist 00:04:01.830 --> 00:04:05.220 mouthpiece to the White House Steve Bannon has one last thing 00:04:05.340 --> 00:04:07.380 that he will try to reinvent America .