General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSteve Bannon Is Out of Trumps Doghouse and Leading the Charge Against Mueller
On May 22, just as a strange photo of President Trump, Saudi king Salman, and Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi touching a glowing orb reached the apex of its memehood, Steve Bannon, who was lurking somewhere beyond the orbs glow, got on a plane in Riyadh and flew back to his book-stuffed apartment in a glass high-rise in Arlington, Virginia.
For Bannon, the presidents chief strategist, the months leading up to the trip had been difficult ones. When Trump became president, Bannon quickly entered the popular imagination as both the dark mastermind of Trumps upset victory and an ethno-nationalist ideologue who, with Trump, would lay siege to the administrative state and remake American government in Trumps image. That agenda brought an early flurry of activity followed by a series of embarrassing upsets: Federal courts blocked Trumps travel ban from seven Muslim countries, his national-security adviser Michael Flynn left under a cloud of suspicion, and the White House quickly descended into knife-fighting disarray.
Worse for Bannon was that his portrayal as Trumps puppet-master as #PresidentBannon on Saturday Night Live and elsewhere infuriated a boss sharply attuned to his media image and allergic to sharing the stage, especially with someone thought to be controlling him. The killer blow was a February 13 Timecover featuring Bannons menacing visage above the headline The Great Manipulator.
Soon after the Time cover, encouraged by his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, Trump humiliated Bannon by stripping him of his position on the National Security Council, cutting him out of key meetings, and declining to voice his faith in Bannon, who he pointedly toldThe Wall Street Journal was just a guy who works for me. He later added that he was his own strategist. Even Bannons old friend Matt Drudge turned on him, fanning stories on the Drudge Report that highlighted his fall from power. Drudge and Bannon have been close forever, says one outside Bannon ally. That was a big stab in the back for Steve. Meanwhile, rumors spread that Kushner was trying to force Bannon out, a claim longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone amplified on Alex Joness radio show. Bannon griped to a White House colleague that Kushner was trying to shiv him and push him out the door, according to the Daily Beast.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/steve-bannon-is-out-of-trump%e2%80%99s-doghouse-and-leading-the-charge-against-mueller/ar-BBE6YL6?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=edgsp
samnsara
(17,615 posts)emulatorloo
(44,097 posts)rusty fender
(3,428 posts)I'm the only one who can save you! Say it!
Trump: You're the only one who can save me!
MineralMan
(146,281 posts)interrogation or deposition. He's not going to enjoy the meeting one little bit, I'm sure.
Nasty little man, he is. Smelly, too, I'll bet. I look forward to seeing him squirm.