In 2016, Bannon described himself as a Leninist. When a Daily Beast reporter asked what that meant, Bannon replied: “Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that’s my goal too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.”

That was Bannon’s goal before he became a federal employee, funded by U.S. tax dollars. But Bannon’s views did not change when he became Trump’s chief strategist. In his February speech to CPAC, Bannon said his objective was to “deconstruct the administrative state” and that many of the injurious incompetents who fill Trump’s cabinet–the EPA head who opposes environmental protections, the HUD secretary who opposes public housing–“were selected for a reason, and that is deconstruction.”

Bannon sought to destroy the United States as we know it from both from within the White House as Trump’s advisor, and from outside it, back when he was the editor of white supremacist outlet Breitbart. Bannon sought to build a movement, not serve our government. In many ways, he succeeded: His white nationalist views became sanctioned at the executive level, and the U.S. government is chaotic, understaffed, and weaker on the global stage than at any point this century.

What is essential to realize is that, despite reports of a feud, Trump shares much of Bannon’s dark outlook. Trump spent his business career eagerly anticipating both social and economic disasters. “I sort of hope that happens because then people like me would go in and buy,” Trump said of the housing crash in 2006. Before that, Trump spent decades exploiting the damaged economies of towns like Gary, Indiana and Atlantic City, leaving them as bad or worse off than when he arrived. In 2014, Trump openly longed for the U.S. to “go to total hell” and cited riots as necessary for true American greatness–words that should worry all of us as we head into this tense weekend. Over the past two years, Trump has rarely condemned his white supremacist supporters who attack ethnic and religious minorities; at one point, he offered to pay legal fees for violent fans.

Trump declared “I alone can fix it,” but in order for him to fix it–that is, to consolidate his power under the guise of improving our nation–America needed to be broken, over and over again.

By the time Trump launched his campaign in June 2015, the U.S.–reeling from two wars, a long recession, and civil unrest–was vulnerable and looking for big change in any form: perfect prey for Trump’s vulture-like proclivities. By the time Bannon officially joined Trump’s team in August 2016, Trump’s run had radically shifted political norms and spurred a wave of hate crimes. Bannon was a natural fit: while Trump’s goals seem largely kleptocratic (abusing executive power to line the family coffers is an ongoing issue), Bannon’s destructive and racist ideology melded easily with Trump’s own views and that of his base, many of whom were readers of Breitbart.