Is Bannon in peril? Trump comments worry his populist base

Steve Bannon, the U.S. presidential aide who has been described as everything from a white supremacist to the person who is truly running the country, may soon be out of a job if the rumour mills in Washington are to be believed.

In-fighting between Bannon and Kushner became bad enough last week that Chief of Staff Reince Priebus sat the two men down and ordered them to work it out. But, given what Trump has said about him, it’s increasingly hard to see how he stays there much longer. He is viewed by many in the conservative core as the ideological backbone in a White House run by a president who boasts of his flexibility.

“I think it’s very important in a healthy democracy to have a free and fair press”.

“I like Steve, but you have to remember, he was not involved in my campaign until very late”, Trump said in an interview with the Post’s Michael Goodwin.

“The President is taking the reins on this and wants people to know he’s in charge”, a person close to the White House said Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the ever-percolating tensions inside the administration.

Yet it is also a risky proposition to push Bannon out, given his prominence and popularity among much of Trump’s base and his far-right megaphone that still exists at Breitbart News.

This post led to much of the media including The Jerusalem Post to conclude, “This year, Ivanka and Jared celebrated Passover at America’s first home, the White House, continuing a tradition first started in 2009 by former U.S. president Barack Obama”. A populist revolt that disdained people who allegedly spend too much time at Georgetown cocktail parties may result in a White House run by people who have spent too much time at NY cocktail parties (and Fashion Week events, art shows, Metropolitan Museum of Art galas and celebrity birthday parties).

Ever since Dwight Eisenhower tried to win over New Deal Democrats by promising that Republicans would do a better job keeping the country safe against communism, the GOP has been employing different ways to get this job done. Raskin, whose Maryland district includes Bethesda, Chevy Chase and Silver Spring noted that Trump’s former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was sacked for not disclosing his previous contacts with high-level Russian officials.

Mr. Bannon suffered a first setback last week when he was dismissed from the influential National Security Council, where generals and ministers overturned major defense and foreign policy issues. In meetings, it is the president who makes the final decision and Bannon doesn’t carry any more weight than other top advisers, the officials said.

Bannon’s ideological and stylistic differences with Jared Kushner, Trump’s increasingly influential son-in-law, have led to a number of behind-closed-doors confrontations. And then there was the “Saturday Night Live” send-up of Bannon as the Grim Reaper, operating Trump like a puppet.

Recently, the president has undercut Bannon in front of other senior staffers, including questioning the need for his presence in certain White House meetings. All of them would potentially be subject to softening or reversal in a White House that cares too much about polite opinion.

Mike Cernovich, the alt-right commentator and conspiracy theorist, told Politico that Bannon could leak more salacious stories to the tabloids.

Meanwhile Kushner, a quiet, media-shy 36-year-old who grew up with a millionaire father (not to mention has a billionaire father-in-law), is gaining influence in Trump’s orbit.

Trump has stressed loyalty in his business and political careers and has shown a reluctance to dismiss top aides, even under public pressure.

Steve Bannon, the mercurial mastermind behind Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, has come under fire in recent weeks. He now says of the bank, which supports US exports, “Actually, it’s a very good thing”.