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Trump's chief strategist thinks too many tech CEOs are Asian?

Technically Incorrect: In comments unearthed by the Washington Post, Breitbart Executive Steve Bannon implies that Silicon Valley isn't quite up his racial alley.

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.


Steve Bannon. Not a fan of Asian tech CEOs?

Drew Angerer, Getty Images

Perhaps you, like me, are worried about civic society.

Perhaps you're concerned that it's lost a little of the civility that always seemed to be at its core.

Donald Trump's new chief strategist Steve Bannon is also concerned about civic society. He gives the impression, however, that the tech industry might be undermining it.

The Washington Post unearthed a radio talk show recording of a conversation from last year between Bannon -- formerly the head of severely white-, right-wing Breitbart News -- and Trump when he was running for president.

Talk drifted to the subject of immigration. Trump mentioned that he wasn't in favor of sending home foreign students who come to the US to study.

"We have to be careful of that, Steve," said Trump. "You know, we have to keep our talented people in this country." He seemed to expect that Bannon would agree that foreign students were "our talented people."

Bannon appeared to demur.

"When two-thirds or three-quarters of the CEOs in Silicon Valley are from South Asia or from Asia, I think..." he began. He then offered this thought: "A country is more than an economy. We're a civic society."

Some might see the tiniest implication that if too many tech CEOs are from some part of Asia, civic society might be threatened. Disrupted, even.

The Trump campaign didn't immediately respond to a request for clarification.

Many in the tech world might feel a slight chill on hearing Bannon's words. Microsoft's Satya Nadella and Google's Sundar Pichai are two prominent tech CEOs who hail from India.

Might Bannon fear that Nadella's and Pichai's fondness for cricket will cause America's most civilized sport, baseball, to wither?

Neither Google nor Microsoft immediately responded to a request for comment.

Bannon has claimed that Breitbart is the leading voice of the so-called alt-Right. He has admitted that some white nationalists are indeed attracted to that sphere, as are some anti-Semites.

America, though, has always fancied itself a meritocracy, one that invites people from all over the world to come here and be free to show their skills.

Could it be that any Asians who reached the top were simply better at their jobs? Might this be frightening to some extremists?

Moreover, the notion that the vast majority of tech CEOs are Asian might feel to many like hoary old racially-tinged white-riot of the mouth.

After all, Silicon Valley has a diversity problem. As PBS recently reported, 60 percent of tech employees are white. A mere 29 percent are women, and 23 percent Asian.

But, as so many have pointed out -- even the Oxford Dictionaries -- facts are, these days, mere passengers in the politically-charged self-driving car.

I wonder when it will have an accident and who the casualties will be.