Top lieutenants deny tensions
UNITED STATES: White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon appeared onstage together yesterday to jointly insist everything is running smoothly in the nascent Trump administration – including their relationship, which has been the subject of much speculation.
Despite several weeks of oftenrough headlines for the administration and rampant chatter about tensions between Bannon and Priebus, the two men sought to project unity during an appearance together at the Conservative Political Action Conference, held at a conference centre right outside Washington, DC.
‘‘In regard to us two, the biggest misconception is everything you’re reading,’’ Priebus said. ‘‘We share an office suite together, we’re basically together from 6.30 in the morning until about 11 at night.’’
And during their 25-minute panel, they often found common ground in their open distaste for the media – though they differed over the extent of their mistrust of the press.
‘‘They’re corporatist, globalist media. They’re adamantly opposed to the economic nationalist agenda President Trump has.’’ The crowd cheered Bannon’s assessment. ’’Every day is going to be a fight.’’
The pair had been asked by American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp what the press was missing about the Trump phenomenon, and whether in their view there was hope for improvement.
Priebus – whose own RNC was privately pessimistic about Trump’s chances days before the election – said he believed the press coverage might get better.
’’I think there’s hope it’s going to change. We sit here every day, the president pumps out all this work, executive orders . . . we’re hoping the media will catch up eventually.’’
After hearing out Priebus, Bannon remarked, ‘‘the reason Reince and I are good partners is because we can disagree’’.
Their joint appearance was a marquee event of the first day of CPAC, an annual event that attracts conservative activists and lawmakers from across the country.
Past events have had a strongly libertarian flavour, but this year – the first in more than eight years that a Republican has held the White House – is highly reflective of the new administration, and the gathering was flooded with White House officials.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos spoke before Bannon and Priebus took the stage, and Vice President Mike Pence spoke later. Trump is expected to address the event, and Kellyanne Conway, counsellor to the president, kicked off the conference.
Asked how Trump had affected the conservative movement, Conway joked that the gathering might soon be renamed ‘‘TPAC’’ – for Trump.
That’s a chilling idea to some longtime conservative activists, who say Trump’s ideas – populist economic policy and an often more inward-looking approach to foreign policy – fall well outside mainstream conservative views that have animated the Republican Party for decades.
The audience was staunchly pro-Trump, but during the Priebus-Bannon panel, Schlapp nodded to the tensions between Trumpism and traditional conservatism.
A debate over whether CPAC should have invited Right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos escalated the internecine drama coming into the gathering, even though the organisation ultimately pulled the invitation.
‘‘Can this Trump movement be combined with what’s been happening at CPAC and other conservative movements for 50 years?’’ Schlapp asked. ‘‘Can this be brought together?’’
Priebus said Trump and former President Ronald Reagan did share core values on issues like building up the military and pursuing deregulation. But Bannon was more open about acknowledging the different strains of thought that animate Trump’s movement.
‘‘Whether you’re a populist or you’re a limited government conservative, whether you’re a libertarian or you’re an economic nationalist, we have wide, sometimes divergent views,’’ he said.
‘‘But at the centre core of what we believe, that we’re a nation with an economy not an economy just in some global marketplace with open markets, but we’re a nation with a culture and reason for being and I think that’s what unites us, and what’s going to unite this movement going forward.’’
Bannon is the former chairman of Breitbart News, a hard-Right website he once described as the ‘‘platform for the alt-right’’, a white nationalist movement. Meanwhile, Priebus is the former chairman of the Republican National Committee. The two come from vastly different backgrounds and perspectives on the way Washington works.
But the pair took pains to demonstrate affection for each other yesterday, with Priebus lightly poking fun at Bannon’s outfit – khakis and a collared shirt, in stark contrast to Priebus’ suit and tie – and Bannon interjecting with anecdotes about how closely the pair work together.
As the speaking wound down, Schlapp told the pair: ‘‘You guys have been so kumbaya here. It’s time for a group hug.’’ – TNS