Steve Bannon, White House chief strategist and one of the architects of President Trump’s longshot populist victory in November, reportedly has his mojo back after a period of “hibernation” and is now one of the top voices in the Trump White House — just as Trump looks to take the initiative and push back against those in Congress and the media looking to stifle his agenda.
Bannon, Breitbart News’s former executive chairman, was widely reported to have been on the out in Trump’s inner circle as he disagreed with Gary Cohn, Dina Powell, and other more globalist-minded members of the Trump White House, often putting him at odds with Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner. But it seems those reports may have been overblown or premature.
Axios reported Wednesday that Bannon is back and called him the “happiest person” in Trump’s West Wing.
“Steve Bannon, the proud culture warrior who was briefly and very publicly in the Trump doghouse, is ascendant after what friends call a period of ‘hibernation,’” the outlet reports. It goes on to quote a friend describing his attitude as “not cocky — but comfortable.”
Axios reports that Kushner is no longer warring with Bannon and that Bannon has found his voice in developing a response to Russia and is now pushing ideas unlikely to find resonance with Republican lawmakers, such as a tax hike on the rich, a hardline on immigration, and trade wars with countries gaming the system. Bannon is also reportedly seen as the gatekeeper of Trump’s populist base — something Trump knows he needs.
Bannon, who has a reputation for loving a punch-up with the left-wing media, was recently spotted carrying a New York Post cover calling CNN “the most busted name in news.” CNN, dogged by a number of scandals, including a fake news story that forced the outlet to retract the article, has been in Trump’s sights in recent weeks.
On Sunday, Trump tweeted a short video of himself beating up the CNN logo, triggering paroxysms of rage from CNN and other mainstream outlets. In a sign that Trump has gotten under CNN’s famously thin skin, the outlet tracked down the creator of the original video and appeared to threaten to expose his identity — something CNN later denied.
The move from defense to offense against media outlets could be a sign of Bannon’s ascendancy. Noting that Bannon relishes a fight against the media, Axios quotes a friend of Bannon: “Trump loves the fight, and Bannon loves the fight.”
Ultimately, Axios concludes, Bannon’s resurrection comes from the simple fact that he shares the same worldview as the president: “The biggest reason that Bannon is back is that his worldview is Trump’s worldview. For … all the ups and downs, in-and-out-of-favor drama, Trump is more Bannon than he is Jared or Ivanka.”
Adam Shaw is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in New York. Follow Adam on Twitter: @AdamShawNY.
Well that’s telling me……my comment about your “meds” was merely facetious and thoughtless. On another point I recall reading some months ago, that Sth Korea had been involved in making major preparations for defence, and the article suggested ..against Nth. Korea. Have heard nothing since. Trump may be bluffing, and Kim may be bluffing but sometimes the bluff goes too far and takes on a life of it’s own, like Nasser before the 1967 War, when the hurried and immediate exit of the UN “peacekeepers”, which he certainly didn’t expect, turned his head and caused him to blunder further along, also encouraged by Johnson’s pusillanemous and demonstrably nervous climb down from his “cast-iron” guarantee of keeping the Straits open, to Israel.
We, who know so much, really know so little and are kept going by news releases, and perhaps some inner contacts, which however, never really know much more of pertinence than we do. So all we can do is wait, and scurry around writing learned posts, and hoping for learned answers which however learned never can teach us anything.. I regret that you need that medication, and assure you I knew nothing about it, and may have caused you irritation unwittingly..
@ Edgar G.:
Edgar, with your reference to a “post”, you seem to have been addressing me. If so, your talk about “medication” was inappropriate. I take heart medication, to keep me alive — not psychotropic drugs, which you may be taking to “keep cool” about matters such as nuclear proliferation.
Yes, I know that President Trump has SAID he is “prepared to use force” against North Korea. This is a lie: If he were prepared, he would have told S. Korean President Moon by now, that he needs to get a civil defence system in place in Seoul. As matters stand, hardly any Seoul residents are aware of the location of any bomb shelters near them; and the shelters themselves are largely not stocked with food and water. When I see some movement on that front, I will be convinced that Trump is being honest. Until then, I know he’s bluffing, and Kim Jong Un certainly knows he is bluffing.
Right now, we have an ample window to respond to any N. Korean threats., providing we take care of matters such as I have just noted. Once Kim develops a missle-launch nuclear warhead, however, our president will have ten minutes, at the most, to decide whether or not to launch a full retaliation against Pyongyang — which retaliation will probably affect S. Korea as much as N. Korea:
http://nypost.com/2017/05/16/this-is-what-would-happen-if-north-korea-launched-a-real-attack/?utm_source=zergnet.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=zergnet_1711972
During the Cold War, we had a much wider window; and if we were attacked, we could pretty well decide that the USSR had attacked us. Today, we have no such clarity: Kim, or Putin, or Xi, or Sharif, or some surprize actor can launch an ICBM at us from a container ship. What’s more, we are growing ever-more vulnerable to a massive-casualty EMP attack every year, as microelectronics are becoming ubiquitous. This attack requires only one or two missiles, well within the grasp of Kim; whereas during the Cold War, hundreds of warheads would have been required to produce equivalent results.
Bearing that in mind, it might be wise for some people to get OFF of their meds, and wake up to reality.
As for all this talk about Bannon, Kushner, McMaster, leaks, leaks, leaks and leaks, I have had it up to my chin. There is only one person in charge of this country, namely, Donald J. Trump. Discussions about these others is idle chatter. It is, as I said, unsettling. Trump is bluffing about North Korea; and all his enemies, at least, are well aware of it. THAT is not unsettling; it’s just the way things are.
We need a GREAT healthcare bill first and foremost. As humane as possible while being fully aware that healthcare cost is Unaffordable for a significant % of the population.
You’re asking pressing questions before anyone has time to draw breath…wait for a few days, you already have read that the President will not stand for the behaviour of North Korea, and his UN Ambassador has said they are prepared to use force against them…So what more do you want for your 50 cents…. So vait a droppele….
My own opinion, held from the beginning, was that Bannon’s perceived exile, was dubious and part of a plan between Trump and his inner circle. He was too close and Trump owed him too much for them to really “fall out”… We have no idea what Bannon was working on in the interregnum, obviously, I believe, something for Trump which they are now preparing to reveal..
On re-reading your post, I believe you forgot to take your medication, you sound so harried and worried….
That’s all fine and well. What I want to know is, “What are we Americans supposed to do, living alongside a crazy man in North Korea who wants to kill us?” Does Bannon have the answer? Does Trump? McMaster? Who??? This is actually more unsettling than the Cold War.