Bannon is a proponent of the theory that history generally moves in 80-year cycles, with each cycle ending in a crisis that destroys the old order and ushers in something new. It's an idea proposed by Howe in The Fourth Turning.

In widely reported remarks, Bannon believes the United States has had three "turnings"—the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Great Depression/World War II—and is now in the midst of another emanating from the 2008 Financial Crisis.

In an exclusive interview with RiskHedge's Jonathan Roth, Howe confirms he knows Bannon and they have worked together on documentary film projects in the past. "I didn't find anything sort of out of the ordinary about him politically," relates Howe. "Like most other Americans, I didn't know what alt-right was until I read about it in the media."