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Stephen K. Bannon, the former chief strategist for President T nip, took the stage in Zurich on Tuesday for an event hosted by a right-wing Swiss magazine.
Bannon ADRIAM Plkfrv-wR,CSTTY IMACIVS
BY JASON HOROWITZ
Takes On Europe, With Populist Toolbox in Viand
MILAN — Stephen K. But it is Italy, where populist o uli t b •
Just that.
Only months ago, Mr. Bannon
was forced out of the White House
and Breitbart News, the alt-right
news empire he helped make into
apolitical force, for the sharp criti-
cisms of President Trump's chil-
dren attributed to him in a book.
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leaned back in an. armchair oppo- forces smashed the country's es- 11:;repitbsrtwNe sites in the image of preneur does it:' he said, "there seemed propelled by automated \
Bannon
site a copy of Painting by an Ital- tablishment by combining to win him or Others,
either owned by are going to be these populist na. - bats rather than real supporters.
Mil old master and explained his more than half the vote on Sunday, ideas, under his guidance. the next year on line. pop up
mans, I'm sure they have some
, will spread those tionalist news sites that o "you can't just have just all hu-
Modest efforts to build a vast net- his de facto headquarters.
that Mr. Bannon has turned into As a final component, he wants only take these things to the next botsr Mr. Bannon said, untioth
work of European populists to de- to train an army of populist foot level:' ered. "The thing is that they ai
in sprawling interview here, soldiers in the language and tools
Molish the Continent's political es- With Europe more aggressively generating, enthusiasm on stir
tablishment. he declined to name whom he had of social media. tackling the migration issue, Mr. stringsr
met, other than to describe them Mr. Bannon said that a common Bannon was aiming to move the He said he hoped the
"All I'm trying to be," he said, "is
global populist movement."
the infrastructure, globally, for the eratives and investors.
as a broad array of politicians, op- message he had received from future battle of populism to other ties‘wstui,ld, eVentuaWg ;sijvct kc
(A spokesman for Matteo a desire to establish a media outlet
for their views.
populists throughout Europe was terrains.
important to get populist riationzil- g.overnment att, z„,,-,,,,z,.,
He said that the reason it -was so non as the Ntahans tx-y to ,
— something INCA. CAlt. 01 .'tie.
"They see what Breitbart did ist governments in place was to e v..,itv,..
d they want it in their own lan- prepare for a coming great-pow-
ganu," "d Mr. Bannon who ers clash with an axis of ancient pathetically ahout,1•41zU
slipped into the pres ut ' tense Turkish, Persian and. Chinese chef.- the now yanninshenNtl
when talking about the website nzations. "Exiles can't fight that who oohs -sears zego a
from which he recently separated. fight:' he said. "Because people the tutxtre ot lt.aly a
"That's the key. Right now my have to buy into it' 'peaty center -1ett.
sites are in English, they want one He is also increasingly inter-
ested in motivating people to fight
media conglomerates like Face-
• • book that monetize their data.
Salvint, the leader of the anti-im-
migrant League, said the two
would have liked to have met, but
did not. A spokesman for the anti-
establishment Five Star Move-
ment, which won a third of Italian
votes, did not return a request for
comment.)
"He's lost his mind," Mr. Trump Aside from the occasional cof-
said at the time. fee at Campo de' Fiori or photo-op
But now Mr. Bannon, the archi- at Piazza Navona, Mr. Bannon has
tect of Mr. Trump's populist cam- been holed up in hotel rooms, ta-
paign message and the presi- king meeting after meeting.
dent's former chief strategist, has In Rome, he stayed at the luxu-
returned with an international rious Rafael hotel, where Bettino
mission. Craxi, the face of Italy's corrupt
. On Saturday, he is set to head- establishment and mentor to Sil-
line the annual conference of vio Berlusconi, was pelted with
France's far-right National Front coins in 1993 by an angry mob as
in the northern city of Lille, where he departed the political scene.
lie will be introduced by its leader, In Milan, he sat in a room at the
vlarine Le Pen. People with grand Principe di Savoia, opposite
nowledge of Mr. Bannon's itiner- a copy of Titian's portrait of the
y suggested that he might meet Duke of Mantua, a master of in-
ter in the weekend with the Hun- trigue in Renaissance Italy and a
rian prime minister, Viktor Or- longtime sufferer of syphilis, sur-
1, but Mr. Bannon declined to rounded by red damask wallpa-
' whether or not he would, only per. Jams were on a room service
ing that he admired Mr. Orban cart, and a copy of a book titled
"hero" and "the most signifi- "Headlines All My Life" was on
guy on the scene right now" the desk.
Zurich, Mr. Bannon says, he In both cities, he wore a blue
3 "fascinating" meeting on and white striped button down
y with leaders of Ger- over a polo shirt. In Rome the polo
's far-right Alternative for was orange. In Milan it was blue.
my party. He sipped sparkling water and
, included Alice Weidel and described a grand vision for a
' von Storch, who recently global populist future.
to a New Year's Eve public In the United States, Mr. Ban-
announcement by the non said, he is working on a
police that went out in piroject to create a think tank to
anguages, including Ara- "weaponize" populist economic
weeting, "Are they seek- and social ideas.
vase the barbaric, Mus- He sees that work spreading to
hordes of men?" Europe, where a proliferation of
A new mission:
To train Europe's
budding populists
to do what he did.
Mr. Renzi, he sai
ject lesson to eve
tician in Europe,"
one.
And he has become fascinated The former prirr
with crypto currencies and how said, had tried to
they can help populist move- sels's rules when it
ments the subject of a speech he gration crisis, and i
gave in Zurich this week. ropean Union alloy
In preparation for the speech, tries to close their
organized by Die Weltwoche, a ing Italy to take ti
conservative Swiss magazine, Mr. burden.
Bannon said he visited the town of "They hung hin
in their own language," he said, Zug, known as Crypto Valley for said.
calling that "phase two." its bustling cryptocurrency indus- Mr. Bannon sa
He could be forgiven the slip, as try. He was impressed. on Sunday also
the site still seems to be in his "If Brussels and the European Francis, who ha
thrall. ("Stephen K. Bannon took Central Bank is worried about Ita- for migrants.
Zurich by storm Tuesday, ad- ly going to the lira, their concerns "This vote wa
dressing a sell-out crowd:' began should be that all these communi- pope:' said mr.,
Breitbart's article on the speech.) ties and states are going to who has nonet1
But Mr. Bannon, who said he crypto," he said in Milan. time critic of
was paying for the trip, said he In the meantime, he said, he ad- "The pope likk
was weighing whether to buy a mires Italy's populist parties for radical and ai
name-brand outlet, like News- already being on the technological revolutionw,
week or United Press Interna- cutting edge. the little gu,
tional, or to start a new one, or to The Five Star Movement, a place on Su
connect entrepreneurs with capi- web-based party that preaches di- He said 1
tal or invest himself. rect, online democracy, and the turn to Ro
He imagined a scoop-driven League, the hard-right, formerly the Vatica
and high-metabolism outlet "like northern-based secessionist can cardii
Axios," he said, referring to the party, both dominated social me- then Fra
buzzy Washington newsletter, but dia during the campaign. tended
with a populist bent that would de- Often, their critics say, they did "The)
your Europe's sleepy legacy pa- it with spurious and inflammatory stay for
pers. fake news about migrants and non sa
"Whether I do it or a local entre- crime. Many of those messages love to