Stephen K. Bannon, former Trump Administration Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor, said in 2016 that I was “one of the top two or three experts in the world on this great war…against fundamental Islam.”
Now, in my new book Confessions of an Islamophobe (pre-order here), I tell the story of how and why anyone would want to become such a thing. Both Steve Bannon and I, of course, have been relentlessly vilified as “Islamophobes” for calling attention to and attempting to deal with the threat of jihad terror. The establishment media and many people in the government swamp insist that Islam is a religion of peace, and that jihad terror is the province only of a few “extremists,” of the type that can be and are found in any religious tradition. Indeed, that is the majority view among Americans who have been regularly admonished to shun “Islamophobia” since 9/11 and before.
So are Bannon and I hate-filled kooks, or are we on to something? In Confessions of an Islamophobe, I make the case that there are numerous reasons to be concerned about Islam, and set out the evidence.
Do I prove the case? You be the judge. Pre-order Confessions of an Islamophobe here now.
Guy Macher says
Mr Bannon is 100% correct!
RichardL says
agreed! And he is also the most successful meta politician in the US! That bodes well for Robert.
Patrick Sookdheo also belongs into the top 3 list for me. His Global Jihad and the hierarchy of radicalisation is the best book I have read on the topic.
eduardo odraude says
Mark Durie is up there too. See his The Third Choice.
gravenimage says
Agree with Richard and Eduardo. Everyone should read their work.
John Forbes says
WHY WAS HE SACKED BY TRUMP THEN ??? DID MCMASTER HAVE A BIG HAND IN THIS ???
John Forbes says
I think that the Muslim Brotherhood Plans are actually BRILLIANT & little understood or believed in almost ALL western Democracies .
OUR COWARDS simply will not & do not want to believe this but there are also those who openly support Islamization & do not care if we lose Free Speech & eventually lose Democracy & have to live under the tender SHARIA Legal Code as run by Clerics .
The LEFT as an EXAMPLE in CANADA states there is noting to fear from SHARIA !
Ask a woman in the SUDAN or Saudi Arabia or IRAN or Pakistan how feminine this is & see what answers come forth !
BANNON Knows all of this & should at least in my view never have been sacked ! Mc Master should have been sacked & I hope that he is & Bannon Returns !
jule says
Isn’t the main reason behind Media and Economics. Corporations denial of the danger of Islam because of the money & Corporate sales to Mid East. Now that Dems are into Big money as well old Republicans, they want to keep the markets open and buzzing.?? (with no real competition)
It seems to me that the Corporate mind cannot conceive of fundamental Belief of fanatic Religions…they just think no one could possibly go for that and all they need is to see the money and everything will be OK. They cannot see Islam is just like Capitalism is today in the fact of being always HUNGRY for more countries to feed on just to survive and they mean to survive and grow grow grow.. But the Corporate mind cannot compute this. The Denial is as bad as peoples Climate/Pollution denial. It is and is creeping but to see it means a re arrangement these guys cannot imagine.
gravenimage says
Capitalism has brought many people out of poverty. The idea that this is the same as Islam is absurd.
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
I’ve always liked Bannon. A lot. He’s brutally honest, both to himself and to other people. Notice that he’s endorsed Spencer’s work at a time when he’s launching a fund raising campaign to primary RINO congressmen. Bannon knows that there is growing support out there for a more honest approach about Islam, both to ourselves and to everybody else.
gravenimage says
+1
Dawn says
I am Canadian and please tell me why Trump got rid of Bannon if he straight forward about Islam ?
Kevin says
Perhaps you don’t understand the dynamics of White House? Trump didn’t ‘get rid’ of Bannon. Bannon himself got out owing to the stiffing environment in the WH because of Obama holdovers (people who are still in the system appointed by Barrack Hussein) In fact, you should watch, Bannon’s recent video, on Youtube, where he clearly explains why and how he and others like Dr. Sebastian Gorka (another gentleman I admire tremendously) had to get away. This build-up of oligarchs didn’t happen yesterday, last year or 5 years ago. This is a swamp that was created since the days of Bill Clinton and Donald J, simply cannot get rid of them just like that. It takes time to clean up the White House swamp. And being sidelined, Bannon & Dr. Gorka felt that they were simply wasting their time and that they could serve the President better from outside. To answer your latter part of the question, I believe, Trump is as committed and determined to eradicate Islam as he promised. But there is tremendous pressure on him to look the other way from the Obama appointees.
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
Good question. We don’t know how Trump really feels about Bannon, but his departure resulted in clearing the controversy magnet Bannon makes, cleared the way for Gen John Kelly to calm things down, and released Bannon to hammer on issues without constraint. Hopefully, he’s collaborating with Trump.
awake says
Bannon is far more effective out of the WH, where he can properly criticize Trump and warn against those trying to manipulate him off his campaign promises. He is also engaging an a war against the GOPe, who also are openly trying to thwart Trump’s agenda.
Bannon’s comments on Robert are of course, entirely and irrefutably correct.
Voytek Gagalka says
Everything bad started since McMaster got his nomination as the chief of NSC. Since he was in, it was only matter of time when people like Bannon will be forced out. So one million dollar question is WHY McMaster got his access to Trump?
BlueRaven says
I guess the President was forced to take him on. Anyway, Mr. Bennon is a lot more effective as an independent thinker outside the WH than he has been inside, because he found it tough to handle his viewed downgraded by other influencial and experienced WH staff. I am not stating his opinions were bad. It is the majority rules inside the WH.
Ren says
Robert Spencer is not only one of the top experts on islamic doctrine against non-muslims, he is also accurate on facts, an excellent educator, and funny!
gravenimage says
🙂
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
… one of the top experts on islamic doctrine against non-muslims, he is also accurate on facts…
A main problem with modern policy is that most, nearly all, “top experts” in various fields are not accurate on facts, maybe intentionally. Every year we get the processing of new top experts who present slightly updated versions of previous top experts that weren’t based on facts to begin with. These guys usually come out of Harvard, MIT, Yale, Columbia, Princeton and a few other vaunted esteemed revered halls of higher learning on economics, foreign affairs, and now most importantly on Islam. It takes a severed break from conventional wisdom to see the accurate facts of Islam and its Moslems. Never been a Tar Heel fan, but this one’s coming from Chapel Hill NC.
Ren says
It is our duty as people to get educated so we don’t rely on phony experts. Only self-education allows us to recognize true experts such as Robert Spencer and to rebut the phony ones.
gravenimage says
Yes–I had to seek out the truth about Islam myself after 9/11.
Charles says
I wish I could find the venues to see Richard Spencer speak. I’m not politically active, but maybe I should be. Great job Steve. The leftist rocks are being overturned one at a time, exposing the poisonous creatures that lay beneath. Great to see you two together.
Robert Spencer says
Charles: I don’t know where Richard Spencer speaks, and must emphasize that he holds views that I abhor, and he has nothing whatsoever to do with me or this site.
eduardo odraude says
Robert, perhaps you should add a little note somewhere at Jihad Watch, not too obtrusive, but visible, noting this all-too-common mix-up and clarifying it.
dk black says
I too, would be interested in attending any function at which ROBERT Spencer is scheduled to speak. I’m afraid that security concerns may be constraining the dissemination of that information
dsinc says
ROBERT, not Richard Spencer.
gravenimage says
Charles, Richard Spencer is a racist and white supremacist.
Jihad Watch’s *Robert Spencer* is neither–he just opposes the savagery of Jihad.
PRCS says
“The establishment media and many people in the government swamp insist that Islam is a religion of peace, and that jihad terror is the province only of a few “extremists,” ”
For those who still believe Islam is “a religion of peace”, why do Muslim “extremists” cause them so much concern? If it really is a peaceful ideology, the more extreme “Allah’s slaves” are the better, one would think.
Cornelius says
Integrity. That’s why Robert took a stand….and chose to position himself to be hated, vilified, and to become the object of death threats.
gravenimage says
All true, Cornelius.
And great to see you posting again. You have been missed.
Cornelius says
Thanks so much Graven.
gravenimage says
🙂
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
Integrity. That’s why Robert took a stand…
Integrity and the willingness to put in the work necessary to fully understand. It couldn’t have been easy to learn spoken and written Arabic. Almost nobody at State has that, Marie Harf for example, which may explain why most at State are pro-Moslem.
There is willful ignorance, and then there is lazy ignorance.
mariam rove says
Good for you Robert! Keep up the good work. M
Nader Fahmy says
it sound unrealistic, and may be will never happen in America… But I think departing all three generation extended family of a Jihadi, would make them take their activities somewhere else. At the end of the day, the attacker DOES care for his child to REMAIN in America and have better life, or for his father to remain here in America and get better care as he ages
gravenimage says
Steve Bannon: Robert Spencer “one of the top two or three experts in the world on this war against fundamental Islam”
…………………..
Hear, hear!
BlueRaven says
Wow.. Mr. Bannon has very similar opinion about you Mr. Spencer as I do. I happy to learn that.
jewdog says
I’m waiting for a brave Muslim to write “Confessions of an Infidelophobe” – might be a long wait.
Of course, such an individual would not really be a bigot. just someone who is calling attention to the heresy in infidel religions and their calls for love and peace and reconciliation with unbelievers.
Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY) says
From what rogues’ gallery did you find the photograph above? The man on the right has unkempt hair and a Harvey Weinstein-like growth of facial hair. The man on the left is more dapper, but has styled his hair into a topknot. Is this the new fashion among Islamophobes?
gravenimage says
No “topknot” there. This is just a causal photograph that was not particularly carefully framed. The “topknot” is actually just something on the television screen behind Mr. Spencer.
Lydia says
Yes, if you look close enough you can see it is behind him in the background.
To bring Weinstein into this is in bad taste.
Besides, Robert is cute! He has that patriarch look, like Abraham or someone.
So don’t you guys be messing with him!
( ;
gravenimage says
Yes–I think Robert is kind of cute, as well. 🙂
tim gallagher says
The “establishment media” shouldn’t be so ignorant about the evil content of Islam, nor should they be afraid to speak up and tell the truth about Islam. I know that the majority of people in the media seem to lean to the left. The far left obviously are happy to work with Islam to try to destroy western civilisation. But it is amazing that the not so far left “establishment media” also lie and tell us that Islam is peaceful, etc. I think that maybe these media types are just too damned lazy to even bother to learn anything about Islam’s nature (like, say, reading at least some of the Koran), and so they just spout total garbage about Islam. Or maybe they just want a peaceful life. You know, just don’t rock the boat. It takes a lot of courage for people like Robert Spencer to tell the truth and face hatred from the leftie, PC liars. Keep telling the unvarnished truth, Robert. Good to see Bannon realises how important you are.
More Ham Ed says
Robert your new mohawk hairstyle is really hip. It will really help maybe win over the younger antifa crowd! (parody people).
neversink says
The establishment mainstream media and the left media despise Bannon becasue they hate the truth if it unveils their prejudices. The media has successfully labeled Bannon a racist, and of course they try to label Spencer a racist. None of this is true, but Spencer needs people in the mainstream media to start telling the truth. The biggest news story is how mainstream media has gone from reporting the news to making the news, making up the news and obfuscating the news to support their political and social agendas.
so many college educated fools are influenced by the mainstream media and believe all the lies.
Dec Uman says
It seems that the British gov would rather import radical hate speech imams from Pakistan than allow the likes of Islamic experts such as Robert Spencer and Dave Wood to take part in debates about the Koran etc
anti jihad says
Please, someone create a wikipedia topic about ‘terrorism expert’. Counter terrorism is already there. And a university certificate program about analyse,observation, statistics, geopolitics, tactics, methods, solution etc .useful for next generation.
scherado says
Agreed. Though I, and I suspect many of us, knew that before Mr. Bannon’s remarks; and I welcome him to the fray.
Savvy Kafir says
He’s right about Robert Spencer. For sure.
But when will people stop using terms such as “fundamental Islam”? That just adds to the confusion for the general public. The problem is “Islam”, which is at war with the the non-Islamic world — just as it’s designed to be.
Welcome Black Carter says
True. Some have marked “peaceful” islam as “deceptive islam” , those who do not follow islam as written. Then you have the moslems who follow mohammad’s teachings as written… this is islam.
I prefer to take Erdogon at his word on this one – “There is no moderate or immoderate Islam. Islam is Islam and that’s it.”
common sense says
Take down the rinos, Robert go to advise nat’l security. We’ll do our part with the vote.
We have a 2018 candidate (Cox) for CA governor who is anti sanctuary city/state. The left and gop establishment have no idea what’s about to hit them, at least they have not demonstrated it thus far.
gravenimage says
Thanks for the information about Cox. I will look up more on him.