Monday, November 05, 2018

Jair Bolsonaro’s Rasputin? How to Weaken a Right-Winger


Jair Bolsonaro’s Rasputin? How to Weaken a Right-Winger

By Julio Severo
New Brazilian right-wing president has been often compared, especially by the left-wing Big Media, as a Tropical Trump.
The White House has dispelled such comparison by saying: “There’s only one Donald Trump.”
Yet, who will dispel the other comparisons?
Trump had an adviser who, with his occult connections, was considered “Trump’s Rasputin.”
In the same way, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has an informal adviser who is seen as “Bolsonaro’s Rasputin.”
The original Rasputin was a Russian adviser in a very right-wing government in Russia.
To conquer Russia and launch the Soviet Union, communists firstly had to overthrow the right-wing orthodox Christian government of the tsar, who was a hard and inflexible ruler against communist agitators and revolutionary movements. But a spiritual adviser named Rasputin, who painted himself deceptively as a “Christian,” undermined and weakened the hardness and inflexibility of the tsar, facilitating the actions of radicals. Rasputin was indeed an esotericist, an occultist.
Even when they are not communists, occultists eventually facilitate the dirty work of communists and other radicals by weakening Christian right-wing leaders who could, without the bad influence of occultism, fight agitators and communist movements.
Spiritual advisers can help or ruin a right-winger.
In the United States, Trump’s top spiritual advisers are evangelical ministers, including Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, and Paula White and Kenneth Copeland, charismatic televangelists. There are no occultists, esotericists, and astrologers among Trump’s spiritual advisers.
In fact, there was a top adviser to Trump who was an esoteric. Steve Bannon, an adherent of the Islamic occultist René Guénon, was eventually expelled from the White House, probably because Trump’s evangelical advisers are men and women dedicated to prayer. Their prayers had this powerful effect, expelling from the White House a troubled man.
In Brazil, the alleged top spiritual adviser of Bolsonaro — Olavo de Carvalho — is historically an astrologer, who deceptively paints himself as a Christian. The alleged adviser is, like Bannon, an adherent of Guénon, having translated a Guénon’s book into Portuguese and keeping Guénon’s books in his suggested reading list in his non-accredited “philosophy” course. To see the list of occult books Carvalho has written, use this link.
His occult connections have taken a heavy toll in his family: two of his sons are Muslim, an underaged daughter was forced to marry a Muslim in a mosque and another son is a toothless professional astrologer.
Nevertheless, Bolsonaro has never expelled him.
Brazil is spiritually far from right-wing Trump’s America and somewhat near the right-wing tsar’s Russia.
The reason Trump expelled his esoteric adviser is explained in his official letter about Bannon, where Trump says:
Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my Presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind. Steve was a staffer who worked for me after I had already won the nomination by defeating seventeen candidates…
Now that he is on his own, Steve is learning that winning isn’t as easy as I make it look. Steve had very little to do with our historic victory… Steve doesn’t represent my base—he’s only in it for himself.
Steve pretends to be at war with the media, which he calls the opposition party, yet he spent his time at the White House leaking false information to the media to make himself seem far more important than he was. It is the only thing he does well. Steve was rarely in a one-on-one meeting with me and only pretends to have had influence to fool a few people with no access and no clue, whom he helped write phony books.
In sum, eventually Trump saw his adviser — a adherent of Guénon — as a treacherous opportunist. There is no doubt in my mind that the prayers of his evangelical advisers helped free him from Bannon.
How are the former “Trump’s Rasputin” and “Bolsonaro’s Rasputin” similar?
The book “Devil’s Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency” (Penguin Publishing Group, 2017), by Joshua Green, may give us some clues.
“Devil’s Bargain” said about Bannon, “Though hardly a moralizing social conservative, he objected bitterly to the secular liberalism encroaching upon the culture.”
Not different from Carvalho, known for his foul mouth, who argues that homosexuality is natural. His “opposition” to the homosexual agenda is a strange idea that just as homosexuality cannot be imposed, so cannot male/female sex.
“Devil’s Bargain” said, “Bannon… brought to Guénon’s Traditionalism a strong dose of Catholic social thought.”
Not different of Carvalho, who has mixed his experience with Guénon’s Traditionalism with a strong dose of Catholic thought.
“Devil’s Bargain” said that Bannon launched “effort to prop up Catholic traditionalists marginalized by the new Pope.”
Not different from Carvalho, who has been successful in drawing to his movement Catholic traditionalists marginalized by Pope Francis.
“Devil’s Bargain” said, “Expounding on this view at the 2014 conference at the Vatican, Bannon knit together Guénon, Evola.”
Not different from Carvalho, who has knit together ideas of Guénon and other traditionalist occultists among traditional Catholics.
“Devil’s Bargain” said, “In the summer of 2016, Bannon described Trump in this publication as a ‘blunt instrument for us.’”
Not different from Carvalho, who has used Bolsonaro and his sons as a blunt instrument for his own movement.
“Devil’s Bargain” said, “Trump also revealed his own nickname for Bannon’s nationalist (and hard-right) ideology: ‘alt-left,’ a riff on the term ‘alt-right.’”
If Trump compared Bannon’s ideology as left-wing, it is not different from Carvalho’s case. Janaína Paschoal, a prominent member of Bolsonaro’s party, voiced concern about extremists among Bolsonaro’s followers, saying, “You do not win an election with a one-sided mindset. And you do not govern a nation with a one-sided mindset.” She had already identified such extremists when she said, “Olavetes are as collective imbeciles as Workers’ Party adherents, Marxists… Wake up!” Olavete is an adherent of Olavo de Carvalho.
“Devil’s Bargain” said, “Bannon represents his own brand of conservative Catholicism.”
Not different from Carvalho, who also represents his own brand of conservative Catholicism.
“Devil’s Bargain” said, “Bannon’s response to the rise of modernity was to set populist, right-wing nationalism against it.”
Not different from Carvalho, who launched his own populist, right-wing nationalism.
Devil’s Bargain” said, “Bannon thrived on the chaos he created and did everything he could to make it spread.”
Not different from Carvalho, who has thrived on the chaos he creates and does everything he can to make it spread.
“Devil’s Bargain” said about Bannon’s fascination with Guénon: “Guénon developed a philosophy often referred to as ‘Traditionalism’ (capital ‘T’), a form of antimodernism with precise connotations. Guénon was a ‘primordial’ Traditionalist, a believer in the idea that certain ancient religions, including the Hindu Vedanta, Sufism, and medieval Catholicism, were repositories of common spiritual truths, revealed in the earliest age of the world, that were being wiped out by the rise of secular modernity in the West.”
Not different from Carvalho, who has similar fascination with Guénon and is an avid advocate of the medieval Catholicism. In fact, he is the most prominent Brazilian advocate of the revisionism of the Inquisition, a hallmark of medieval Catholicism. In this sense, how can Bolsonaro conciliate a pro-Israel administration, to please the mass of his evangelical voters, if the pro-Inquisition stance of his Rasputin is deeply disturbing, dishonest and malicious for Israelis?
While Carvalho obscenely defends the Inquisition by arguing that “condemned individuals (less than ten a year in two dozen nations) died suffocated in a few minutes, before the flames could touch them,” the father of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a massive book of 1,500 pages proving that innocent Jewish victims by thousands died an excruciating death in the same flames. Israel agrees with Netanyahu. How could Israel agree with a Brazilian lunatic?
“Devil’s Bargain” said about Bannon that he was “a voracious autodidact” and he “embarked upon what he described as ‘a systematic study of the world’s religions,’” adding, “Taking up the Roman Catholic history… he moved on to Christian mysticism and from there to Eastern metaphysics… Bannon’s reading eventually led him to the work of René Guénon, an early-twentieth-century early-twentieth-century French occultist and metaphysician who was raised a Roman Catholic, practiced Freemasonry, and later became a Sufi Muslim.”
Not different from Carvalho, who had the same experiences.
The blatant difference is that while Bannon spent a good part of his life making money in Wall Street and Hollywood, Carvalho spent a good part of his life making money with astrology classes. With large experience writing occult books and giving occult classes, he has spent his last years giving non-accredited “philosophy” classes — where his adherents have studied for 2, 3, 7, 10 and more years, always paying the monthly fee, but with no hope of a degree. They are kept mystified by an unending course, which is actually a worship service to the mind of its creator.
While Bannon was at the White House, a U.S. headline said, “The Trump era is turning out to be a golden age for esoteric fascist intellectuals.” This prophecy was never fulfilled because Trump expelled Bannon from the White House.
Yet, some Brazilian headline could rightly say, “The Bolsonaro era is turning out to be a golden age for esoteric fascist intellectuals.” Fascist, as far as Carvalho is concerned in his advices to Bolsonaro, is not an improper title. One of the main slogans of fascism was “Mussolini Is Right.” Interestingly, one of the main slogans of Carvalho, tediously repeated by his adherents, is “Olavo Tem Razão” (Olavo Is Right). Incidentally or not, one of the most prominent advisers of Mussolini was an adherent of Guénon.
Jair Bolsonaro holding a “Olavo Tem Razão” (Olavo Is Right) shirt
I have never seen Trump with a shirt saying: “Steve Bannon Is Right.” But sadly I have seen Bolsonaro with a shirt saying “Olavo Is Right.” An adherent of Guénon has had on Bolsonaro an influence that he has not on Trump.
In his article titled “Steve Bannon Was Never That Smart,” Bill Scher asked, “How could someone so politically reckless get a reputation as a political genius? Bannon had been able to craft that image thanks to this one simple trick: impressing reporters with the fact that he reads books.”
This is the same reality regarding Carvalho.
The Daily Beast said, “Bannon does not identify as libertarian; he self-IDs as a right-wing, anti-globalist ‘nationalist,’ and libertarians widely loathe Bannon. Bannon has, however, once called himself a ‘Leninist,’ in style if not substance or ideology.”
Not different from Carvalho, as far as Lenin is concerned, who said, “Lenin knew that, in politics, he who reviles the most always runs ahead.” Carvalho has used Lenin to justify that his daily dirty comments and foul mouth are just a Lenin’s “strategy.”
There are many apparent contradictions in Bannon: He says that he is a Catholic, but he has a deep fascination with mysticism and Eastern metaphysics. He says that he is against Islamic invasion, but he greatly admires René Guénon, an Islamic occultist. Although he once worked at Goldman Sachs — a powerful capitalist bank —, he also described himself as a “Leninist” who wanted to “destroy the state.” “On the one hand, he critiques capitalism with an almost Marxist fervor; on the other, he’s an advisor to a crony capitalist real estate mogul,” said Jake Romm, of Forward.
Not different from Carvalho, who has similar contradictions, but not in the high-class style of Bannon.
At the same time Bannon praises Guénon and other occultists, he says that he rejects some of their extreme ideas.
Not different from Carvalho, who at the same time he praises Guénon and other occultists, he says that he rejects some of their extreme ideas.
In his article in National Review titled “Who Was Steve Bannon?” author Kevin D. Williamson said that Trump has told “Steve Bannon’s contribution to his rise and his success has been grossly exaggerated. Bannon has posed as many things — media magnate, shrewd political operative, and cold-eyed Svengali to Trump’s undisciplined playboy — but what he actually is is a rich dilettante with a talent for convincing other rich dilettantes that he is a deep-thinking visionary. One of those rich dilettantes was Donald Trump.”
Carvalho has the same contradictions, even though Bannon had an actual academic background, while Carvalho is self-educated.
As far as occult traditionalist connections are involved, Bolsonaro is not far away from Bannon. He has been a propagandist of Carvalho, who has as his source of “traditionalism” and “conservatism” Guénon, who incidentally is also Bannon’s source. In spite of their Guenonian inspiration and involvement, both Bannon and Carvalho equally portray themselves as “traditionalist Catholic.” You could say that Carvalho is a sort of unsophisticated Third World Bannon.
Even though Catholic Bolsonaro has received massive support from evangelicals, who determined his election, he has been unable to disconnect himself from Carvalho’s Guenonian traditionalism, while Trump has fully disconnected himself from Bannon’s Guenonian traditionalism.
A comparison between Bannon and Carvalho is appropriate not only because they are spiritualistically similar, but because both have some connections to Bolsonaro. Carvalho has been extensively recommended by Bolsonaro. And Bannon was contacted by Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of Jair Bolsonaro, last August.
Eduardo Bolsonaro with Steve Bannon
In its report titled “Brazil’s Bolsonaro denies ties to strategist Steve Bannon,” the Associated Press said,
Far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro said Thursday his campaign has no ties to former White House strategist Steve Bannon, contradicting claims by one of Bolsonaro’s sons.
In August, the Brazilian magazine Epoca quoted Eduardo Bolsonaro as saying Bannon “had put himself at our disposal to help.”
In the interview, Bolsonaro said the help would not be financial, but rather “internet tips, sometimes an analysis, interpreting data, those kinds of things.”
Also in August, Eduardo posted on Instagram a picture of himself with Bannon. The caption said that the two had met and that Bannon was an “enthusiast” of his father’s candidacy and they would “unite forces against cultural Marxism.”
Reportedly, Bolsonaro said that connections between him and Bannon are “fake news.”
I do not understand why Bolsonaro has denied connections to Bannon, because the source of this “fake news” is his own son, who in a trip to the U.S. met personally Bannon in New York, assuring his readers that Bannon is “an enthusiast of Bolsonaro’s campaign and we are certainly in touch to join forces,” adding that “we share the same worldview.” If they are certainly in touch, as Bolsonaro said, why now does he treat his own news as “fake news”?
If now Bolsonaro is disavowing Bannon because of his radicalism, why is not he disavowing his Third World Bannon because of his radicalism too? Carvalho is the most prominent Brazilian advocate of the revisionism of the Inquisition. As the Holocaust, the Inquisition sought to destroy the Jews. The revisionism of both is an offense to the Jews, because it understates the crimes and belittles the victims of the Inquisition and the Holocaust.
Even though Bolsonaro has disavowed the First World Rasputin, he has not disavowed the Third World Bannon or the Third World Rasputin. Carvalho’s influence is better seen in his own family, where some of his children are Muslim and another is a toothless astrologer. Could his influence on Bolsonaro and his administration be better than in his own family?
Carvalho has lived as a legal Brazilian immigrant in the United States for over 15 years. He has an institute in the U.S., called the Inter-American Institute (IAI). On November 2017, I had to expose some serious ethical problems in IAI. Immediately after my expose, Carvalho took down the IAI website, which had this appearance, as of May 2018. As of October 2018, the website continues down. Before the taking down, the IAI website had originally this appearance.
IAI had virtually no activity outside the Internet. And one of IAI’s main activities seemed to facilitate visa issues for Carvalho’s family members.
Even though Carvalho is not known among conservative Catholic and evangelical groups in the United States, he is known among U.S. groups that follow the Traditionalism of René Guénon. In fact, it is under production a documentary, by geocentrist Rick Delano, with traditionalists and Carvalho has already been interviewed for the movie. The other traditionalists interviewed are Wolfgang Smith (like Carvalho, a Catholic adherent of Guénon) and Seyyed Hossein Nasr (an Iranian Muslim adherent of Guénon).
Adherents of Guénon see “conservative American evangelicalism as an aberration from historical” Catholicism. Even though Bannon has never voiced openly such disdain for the conservative American evangelicalism, Carvalho has voiced a number of scornful comments against evangelicals, including his latest comment saying: “Evangelical churches have done more harm to Brazil than the entire left.”
Just because a Rasputin enters in the life of a president to offer him alleged traditionalist “Christian” advices on politics it does not follow that the president should keep the adviser. The Russian right-wing tsar kept his adviser, for his own destruction and the destruction of Russia.
Trump expelled his traditionalist Catholic adviser.
There are not many Twitter or Facebook messages by Trump recommending Bannon. At least, I have found nothing. But there are several Twitter and Facebook messages from Bolsonaro recommending Carvalho.
Jair Bolsonaro: We have just made a Skype call with Professor Olavo de Carvalho in a brief chat about Brazil! Many other calls will come, God willing!
If it was improper for the Big Media to say “Trump’s Rasputin,” what about “Bolsonaro’s Rasputin” over Bolsonaro in his untiring efforts to propagandize his own Rasputin?
In his Christian mask and occult connections, Rasputin was a disaster in his influence and advices to the Russian right-wing tsar. Trump perceived that Bannon would be such disaster too.
Will Bolsonaro be able to perceive the disaster of his Rasputin?
The U.S. press called Bannon “The Great Manipulator.” The Brazilian press has not yet called Carvalho “The Great Manipulator,” but obviously this title fits him.
Only evangelicals and their prayers surrounding Trump could save him from an occultist and his manipulation.
Bolsonaro has a disadvantage: He is a Catholic. Catholics are very easy prey to Guénon’s traditionalism and its adherents.
Only evangelicals and their prayers surrounding Bolsonaro can save him from an occultist and his manipulation — if he, as Trump did, allows them to do it.
With information from Devil’s Bargain, Politico magazine, National Review, Associated Press, American Institute for Economic Research, Newsweek, The Atlantic, New Republic and Forward.
Recommended Reading:
Recommended Reading on Olavo de Carvalho:

No comments :