Steve Bannon has opinions about ‘Jewish Palm Beach matrons’

JTA Staff

Bannon

Steve Bannon speaking at a campaign event for then Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore in Fairhope, Alabama, Sept. 25, 2017. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

(JTA) — Steve Bannon had some choice words for Palm Beach Jewish women who support Donald Trump.

In an interview with Vanity Fair published on Thursday, the former White House adviser and current head of Breitbart News described the reception he expected to get in the tony Florida enclave in November, when he attended Restoration Weekend — an annual gathering of right-wing thinkers hosted by leftist-turned-conservative David Horowitz.

“The thing about Restoration Weekend,” Bannon tells author Gabriel Sherman, “is you got a lot of Jewish Palm Beach matrons who used to be superhot. They were all left-wing in the 60s. That was before they locked down successful Palm Beach business guys. Now they’re hardcore. You half expect them to throw their panties at Horowitz. They’re all Trump people.”

The comment is sure to fuel more accusations that Breitbart is anti-Semitic — accusations that stem from Breitbart’s hyper-nationalist, anti-“globalist” worldview and an allegation by his ex-wife, denied by Bannon, that he didn’t want their twin daughters to attend a private school with a large Jewish population.

Bannon’s defenders, including the Zionist Organization of America, point to Breitbart’s strongly pro-Israel stance and Bannon’s assertions that anti-Semitism has no place in his version of the “alt-right” movement.

Palm Beach is also home to President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, which had been famously welcoming to Jewish members at times during the twentieth century when other local clubs weren’t.

In the same article, Bannon shows he hasn’t buried the hatchet with Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, with whom he frequently clashed as a rival for the president’s ear. Bannon suggests his worldview, not Kushner’s moderating influence, still holds sway in the White House he left in August.

Trump “momentarily has lapses when he’s convinced by people around him in the White House to do ridiculous things like support Big Luther Strange, another genius move by Jared,” Bannon said.

Trump supported Strange in Alabama’s recent Republican Senate primary, while Bannon backed the eventual nominee, Judge Roy Moore, in a race seen as a testing-ground for Bannon’s assault on the Republican establishment.

Moore lost the general election to Democrat Doug Jones, after Moore was accused of sexual misconduct involving teenage girls while he was in his 30s.

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