Steve Bannon and Olavo de Carvalho Together: Two Occultists Promoting an Occult “Conservatism”
By Julio
Severo
Last Thursday, Steve Bannon visited Olavo
de Carvalho at home. Carvalho’s adherents in Brazil celebrated such visit as an
evidence that he is getting close to the White House, because they think that
Bannon is very close to Trump.
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| Olavo de Carvalho visiting Steve Bannon |
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| Steve Bannon visiting Olavo de Carvalho |
Is Carvalho actually getting closer to
Trump by getting closer to Bannon? What does Trump have to do with Bannon?
According to Trump himself, nothing. Trump said,
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.
This is the official
letter of Trump about Bannon published last year. In sum, with his
experience Trump defined Bannon as a treacherous opportunist.
With my experience, I can do just as Trump
did and also define Carvalho as a treacherous opportunist. There is no other
proper definition for Bannon and Carvalho. There is no other proper definition
for Guenonians and other occultists.
Even though Carvalho and Bannon portray
themselves as “Catholic,” their activities and ideas betray their Catholic
appearances. But they do not betray their Guenonian nature.
When Carvalho visited Bannon at home,
their dinner began with the traditional Christian prayer “Our Father.” The
pictures of the meetings were taken by Josias Teófilo, who in his Twitter account said:
“A great moment in the dinner at the Breitbart
Embassy was when Steve Bannon (a Catholic) asked Olavo de Carvalho to say a
prayer before the meal, and Olavo began to pray Our Father, which was followed
by all. I took this picture of this moment. THIS IS THE NEW AGE.”
Is the prayer “Our Father” an evidence
that Bannon and Carvalho are Christian? Is the prayer “Our Father” a sign that
those praying it are Christian? Not in Brazil. Brazil is the largest Catholic
nation in the world, and its Catholicism is syncretic. In their syncretism,
Brazilian Catholics attend the Catholic Mass at Sunday and attend overtly and
not so overtly Satanic rituals at other days.
Brazilian spiritualistic medium “John of
God” also often prayed the “Our Father,” as confirmed by one of his sexual victims
in the Brazilian newspaper Metropoles in a report titled
“John of God prayed Our Father full of evil intentions.” Years ago he
was praised by Oprah Winfrey and now he has become a police case as over 500
women, so far, report they were victims of his sex abuses.
He did his spiritualistic operations and
sexual abuses in the facilities of his organization, called “Saint Ignatius of
Loyola House,” a distinctly Catholic name, just as “John of God” is a Catholic
name. So in a syncretic Catholic Brazil, where a spiritualistic medium rapes
hundreds of women, Catholic names and the “Our Father” are not evidence of real
Christianity. On the contrary, they are evidence that occultists know how to
use Catholic names and practices to fool the gullible.
“John of God,” who was praised by two
Brazilian presidents and many Brazilian celebrities, knew how to pray the “Our
Father” and abuse girls and women at the same time.
Brazilian
presidents, who are traditionally Catholic, and Brazilian celebrities traditionally
value occultists. All of them have their favorite “Catholic” occultist.
Vulnerability
to syncretism is a part of the Brazilian Catholic culture. In fact, it is
impossible to understand Brazilian Catholicism without understanding
syncretism. Josias Teófilo himself is an adherent of Theosophy, which is a
mixture of philosophy and occultism. He produced the movie “The Garden of Afflictions,” whose
premier in New York in 2017 did not draw the presence of an American audience. The movie is an effort to offer a
cinematographic personality cult to Carvalho.
So when Teófilo said that the dinner of
Bannon with Carvalho “is the New Age,” he said exactly what he meant. Theosophy
and all kind of occult philosophy are an integral part of the occult movement
that came to be known as New Age.
Bannon is not the only adherent of Guénon
in America in contact with Carvalho. Wolfgang Smith is another contact. All of
them have in common a “Catholic” appearance and they are adherents of Guénon,
who had also been a Catholic, but converted to Islamic esotericism.
Therefore, no one more qualified to define
their meetings as New Age than Teófilo is.
New Age, with its cloak of traditionalism,
is mesmerizing Catholic leaders and hijacking conservative and nationalist
movements around the world.
Jair Bolsonaro, the new Brazilian
president, is an example. According to the American, Brazilian and Israeli
press, his victory was thanks especially to evangelicals — a phenomenon
that also happened in Trump’s election. But Bolsonaro is mesmerized.
He and his sons have propagandized Carvalho as vital for his election, as only
adherents of a cult could do, even though some adherents of Carvalho have
publicly admitted that the current conservative wave in Brazil is evangelical.
J.R. Guzzo, a journalist at Veja magazine
(the Brazilian counterpart of Time magazine), said on a 13 January 2019 tweet:
“The
plain, simple and unadorned fact is this: evangelicals are today the greatest
anti-leftist force in Brazil. They are stronger, more numerous and more active
than the Army, Air Force and Navy combined. There has never been such force in
Brazil. The left has no idea how to defeat it.”
While Bolsonaro and many other Catholics
are unable to see the treacherous opportunists who are hijacking conservative
and nationalist movements around the world, let us compare some traits that
make the adherents of Guénon so treacherous and opportunistic. Specifically,
let us compare Bannon, called by Trump as a treacherous opportunist, with
Carvalho, to see if they are different.
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 it “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 authored 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. newspaper had this headline, “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.
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| Slogan of the Italian fascism: Mussolini is always right |
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| Jair Bolsonaro holding a “Olavo Tem Razão” (Olavo Is Right) shirt |
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
has been in contact with Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of Jair Bolsonaro.
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| Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of the Brazilian president, with Steve Bannon |
The
meeting between Bannon and Carvalho can catapult Carvalho to national fame, in
the U.S., among traditionalist and other occultist groups, but not among
conservative Christian groups.
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.”
Carvalho’s fear is justified: Where
evangelicalism is strong, Guenonianism is weak. The
strong evangelical influence on Trump was decisive to expel Guenonianism from
the White House.
With Trump, a Guenonian almost achieved
huge political power, but with Bolsonaro, a Guenonian is achieving it. The last
time a traditionalist (another term for a Guenonian) got as close to political
power, says author Mark Sedgwick, “it was Evola with Mussolini.”
The best treatment to Guenonians came
exactly through Trump’s letter to Bannon. Let us review it.
Trump said, “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…”
Guenonians just love to exalt themselves,
but Trump put Bannon in his due place: He had been just a staffer. And to
those, especially Carvalho’s adherents, who love to say that Trump’s victory
was thanks to Bannon, Trump’s words are clear: “Steve Bannon has nothing to do
with me or my Presidency.” And Trump noticed the obvious about Bannon: “he lost
his mind.”
I have pity of any president, especially
Bolsonaro, who behaves contrary to Trump by propagandizing Guenonians insinuating
that they have everything with him and his presidency. Guenonians have lost
minds.
Trump said about Bannon, “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.”
Trump
is right. Now that Bannon is alone, he is achieving no political progress or
victory for himself. Perhaps he hopes that by connecting himself to Carvalho he
may do just as Carvalho did: To surf on Carvalho just as Carvalho has been
surfing on the massive conservative evangelical wave in Brazil. Trump saw a
Guenonian as an opportunist — a surfer who exploits the influence of others.
Bolsonaro, as a syncretic Catholic, has had a hard time to discern his own
Guenonian, seeming to love to let an opportunist surf on his fame.
Trump said, “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.”
Here very clearly Trump describes
Guenonian Bannon as a man who pretends to be at war with the media — just as
Carvalho does by attacking the liberal media, but all the time being
interviewed and promoted by it. I could say that Carvalho follows Bannon’s
approach, but this is not so. Both follow Guenon’s approach of chaos,
contradictions and subversion.
Trump said that Bannon “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.” While
Carvalho’s adherents portray Bannon as an important celebrity in the right-wing
movement, Trump portrayed Bannon as a producer of fake news to exalt himself.
Guenonians do anything to make themselves seem far more important than they
are.
Trump said that Bannon “only pretends to
have had influence to fool a few people with no access and no clue.” He just
perfectly described Guenonians.
So while Carvalho’s adherents in Brazil
are praising him as if his meeting with Bannon were a big conservative event
because they were misled to believe that Trump became president thanks to
Bannon, Trump showed exactly who Bannon is.
Trump has had many kind words to
evangelicals, recognized by him as representing his real base that gave him the
victory. And Trump made it very clear: “Steve doesn’t represent my base.”
About
the pictures where Carvalho poses haughtily with Bannon, only a treacherous
opportunist could have an arrogant pleasure to be with another treacherous
opportunist, especially because Bannon was not only fired from the White House,
but he was described, by the U.S. president himself, as a treacherous
opportunist. I would have a huge pleasure to pose in a picture with Trump, but
no with Bannon.
I would like Bolsonaro to be similar
to Trump — without the neocon pressures on him — to identify and expel
Guenonians.
Yet, Bolsonaro of Brazil is very different
from Trump because while Bolsonaro is mesmerized by a Guenonian, Trump is not.
Perhaps Trump could invite Bolsonaro and give him some advice on how to
identify an opportunist Guenonian — um redundancy, of course, but not
unnecessary, considering how Guenonians are able to fool so many Catholics in
Brazil, including Bolsonaro and his sons.
Portuguese
version of this article: Steve Bannon e Olavo de Carvalho juntos: dois
ocultistas promovendo um “conservadorismo” ocultista
Recommended
Reading:
How the Powerful Union of Trump with
Evangelicals Saved the U.S. from Steve Bannon and His Occult Plan of a
“Traditionalist” Government
Right
Wing Watch, of People for the American Way, Attacks Jair Bolsonaro: “U.S. Right
Helps, Cheers Rise of Brazilian Authoritarian”
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