The question I was always interested in getting at with Bannon was do you really believe this stuff – because a lot of it is offensive and inflammatory. And he said, you know, personally I’m mixed on a lot of this stuff. But we’re airing a lot of things that traditional people are thinking that don’t get mainstream media representation anymore. So they were making a market for these kinds of views and these kinds of stories and attracting an audience, what’s turned out to be an extremely large and powerful audience by tapping these sentiments.
.. GREEN: I think messaging and theater, for lack of a better word. I mean, Bannon is a guy who came out of the media world. He used to be a movie producer. He made documentary movies. He’s somebody, I think, with a pretty clear sense of narrative and also of the value of presentation and how you can seize the attention of the entire political culture if you push the buttons right.
I think he’s figured out that you can essentially seize control of the political conversation through stunts like the one that Bannon orchestrated before the second debate, where he rolled out all these women who had accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault and sexual harassment. And he’s somebody, I think, who takes Trump’s impulses and channels them into a more or less cogent worldview that fits into this right-wing populist ethos that Bannon is all about.
.. your profile of him, the photos show him wearing cutoffs. And when you see him in photos now like with the transition team, he really stands out from the Trump family who are so carefully, you know, tailored and coiffed. I mean, Bannon, you know – he looks a little unkempt. He might have a little growth of beard. He doesn’t have a tie. His hair isn’t exactly combed. I mean, you know, if one were being unkind, you might say he looks like somebody ready to mix it up. You spent time with him. Is this a cultivated look or is that just him?
GREEN: That is just him. I mean, if you want to be blunt, he looks like a bloated homeless alcoholic…
DAVIES: (Laughter).
GREEN: …And revels in that view. And if you look at the cover picture he let us shoot for business week, he is sitting on a couch wearing like two polo shirts on top of each other with an Oxford shirt over that and cargo shorts and flip flops – clearly hasn’t shaved or showered. He revels in this image of himself as an outsider who is giving a big middle finger to the system.