in <u+201c> the weekend interview with stephen k. bannon <u+201d> (nov. 19), kimberley a. strassel cites an article that appeared in the daily beast claiming that donald trump adviser steve bannon said he was a <u+201c>leninist<u+201d> who wants to <u+201c>destroy the state,<u+201d> and written <u+201c>by a writer who claimed to have spoken with mr. bannon in 2013.<u+201d> mr. bannon responded that the story was being circulated by <u+201c>a guy i<u+2019>ve never heard of in my life<u+201d> who <u+201c>claims he met me at a party, and then claims i said something about lenin, and this is taken as gospel truth, with nobody checking it.<u+201d> i am that writer, a historian who has written or edited over 20 books and who writes regularly for many publications. i would never falsely attribute words to anyone. the event at which i met mr. bannon was a book party held the night of sept. 12, 2013, at mr. bannon<u+2019>s home. mr. bannon approached me and proceeded to lay out his views in the words quoted. mr. bannon says my claim should be checked. the very next morning i phoned the writer fred siegel and gave him an account of what mr. bannon had said. then i read the cover story on mr. bannon dated oct. 8, 2015, in bloomberg business week, which called him <u+201c>the most dangerous political operative in america,<u+201d> and provided details about his work to derail the conservative establishment. after reading it, i again phoned mr. siegel and told him that the article was about the man i had talked to him about two years earlier. mr. bannon should acknowledge that he made the statements now widely circulating in the media. ronald radosh the hudson institute silver spring, md. steve bannon says he is <u+201c>an economic nationalist<u+201d> and <u+201c>an america first guy<u+201d> skeptical of <u+201c>ethno-nationalism.<u+201d> unfortunately, his record suggests otherwise. in response to a comment by candidate donald trump that he wanted to let highly educated foreign students who graduate from u.s. colleges stay in the country, mr. bannon pointed out that <u+201c>three quarters of the ceos in silicon valley are from south asia,<u+201d> while going on to note that <u+201c>a country is more than an economy. we<u+2019>re a civic society.<u+201d> not only does mr. bannon overstate the south asian ceo ratio considerably, but he puts america last in suggesting that the ethnic composition is a negative. if mr. bannon really wants to, as he says, <u+201c>work together to implement donald trump<u+2019>s vision for america<u+201d> and put his policies into effect, he could do worse than pick up a copy of <u+201c>the other one percent: indians in america,<u+201d> a book rich in detail on how a diverse group from the world<u+2019>s largest democracy has contributed so richly to the world<u+2019>s oldest. vijay dandapani new york
stephen bannon<u+2019>s memory should be better - wsj
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