The man who once imagined a ‘global war’ between ‘the Judeo-Christian west’ and ‘jihadist Islamic fascism’ is now Trump’s top adviser. Here’s a selection of anti-Muslim remarks he has made in the past

The emergence this week of a script for an Islamophobic film written a decade ago by Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s chief strategist, has drawn new attention to Bannon’s past statements about Islam, and to his view that “the Judeo-Christian west” is engaged in a “global war” against “jihadist Islamic fascism”.

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The script for the film, Destroying the Great Satan, which was never produced, opens with a fantasy scene of the US Capitol adorned with a star-and-crescent flag and broadcasting the Muslim call to prayer, according to a script obtained by the Washington Post. The film imagines a “fundamental clash of civilizations” between the west and “supremacist” Islam, the Post reported.

Here is a selection from the script published by the Post, and previous statements Bannon has made about Islam.

‘Loss of the will to win’

The road to the establishment of an Islamic Republic in the United States starts slowly and subtly with the loss of the will to win. The road to this unique hell on earth is paved with the best intentions from our major institutions. This political/accommodation/appeasement approach is not simply a function of any one individual’s actions but lies at the heart of our most important cultural and political institutions.

– from Destroying the Great Satan, a 2007 film script by Stephen Bannon.

‘Very brutal and bloody conflict’

We’re at the very beginning stages of a very brutal and bloody conflict, of which if the people in this room, and people in the church, do not bind together and really form what I feel is an aspect of the church militant, to really be able to not just stand with our beliefs against but to fight for our beliefs this this new barbarity that’s starting, uh that we will literally eradicate everything we’ve been bequeathed over the last 2,000 and 2,500 years.

– from a summer 2014 talk via Skype to a Vatican meeting of the conservative Catholic group Institute for Human Dignity.

‘Something that we’re going to have to face’

It’s a very unpleasant topic. But we are in an outright war against jihadist Islamic fascism. And this war is, is, I think metastasizing, almost far quicker than governments can handle it … We have Boko Haram and other groups that will eventually partner with Isis in this global war. And it is unfortunately something that we’re going to have to face, and we’re going to have to face very quickly.

– from a summer 2014 talk via Skype to a Vatican meeting of the conservative Catholic group Institute for Human Dignity.

‘The very beginning stages of a global conflict’



I think the discussion of, you know, can we put a cap on wealth creation and distribution – it’s something that should be at the heart of every Christian that is a capitalist. Is, what is the purpose I’m doing with this wealth. What is the purpose I’m doing with the ability that god has given us and that divine providence has given us to actually be a creator of jobs and a creator of wealth. I think it behooves all us to really take a hard look and make sure that we are reinvesting that back into positive things, but also to make sure that we understand that we’re at the very beginning stages of a global conflict, and that if we do not bind together with other countries that this conflict is only going to metastasize. They have a Twitter account today, Isis does, about turning the United States into a river of blood if it comes in and tries to defend the city of Baghdad. And trust me, that is going to come to Europe. That is going to come to central Europe, it is going to come to western Europe, and it’s going to come to the United Kingdom. And so, I think that we are in a crisis, like I said a crisis of capitalism, really the underpinnings of capitalism. And on top of that we’re now, I believe, at the beginning stages of a global war against Islamic fascism.

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– from a summer 2014 talk via Skype to a Vatican meeting of the conservative Catholic group Institute for Human Dignity.

‘The Judeo-Christian west is in crisis’

I believe the world, and particularly the Judeo-Christian west, is in a crisis, and it’s really the organizing principle of how we built Breitbart News to really be a platform to bring news and information to people throughout the world, principally in the west but we’re expanding internationally, to let people understand the depths of this crisis. And it is a crisis both of capitalism but really of the underpinnings of the Judeo-Christian west and our beliefs. It’s ironic I think that we’re talking today, at exactly, uh, tomorrow, 100 years ago, at the exact moment we’re talking, uh, the assassination took place in Sarajevo, um, of uh Archduke Franz, uh, Ferdinand, um, that uh led to really the end of the Victorian era and the beginning of the bloodiest century in mankind’s history.

– from a summer 2014 talk via Skype to a Vatican meeting of the conservative Catholic group Institute for Human Dignity.

‘Islam is not a religion of peace’

In a 2010 interview, Bannon spoke of former president George W Bush and his statement after the 9/11 attacks that “Islam is a religion of peace”:

Islam is not a religion of peace. Islam is a religion of submission. Islam means submit. I mean, the whole thing, it’s just categorically, he’s – Avi, he is the epitome, he’s the Republican version – not a conservative – he’s a Republican establishment, country club version of the Clintons. That’s all they are. It’s a it’s it’s a it’s a – it’s the baby boomer, narcissistic, he wants to feel loved.

– A 2010 interview with “Western Word Radio with Avi Davis”, flagged by CNN.

‘There’s clearly a fifth column ... that has to be dealt with?’

Bannon asking a radio guest a question:

You believe that not only we’re at war, but we have to prosecute this as a war, and we have to take care of this fifth column – there’s clearly a fifth column here in the United States – that needs to be dealt with immediately?



– 2016 Breitbart interview, flagged by USA Today.