Bannon’s loss of clout worries supporters
Trump’s criticism of him concerns populist base
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump has declared: “I am my own strategist.” That would seem to bode poorly for his actual strategist, Steve Bannon.
And Trump now appears to have begun publicly distancing himself.
In an interview with The New York Post, the president said “I like Steve” and called his adviser “a good guy” — but one who wasn’t really all that involved with his winning election campaign. He said his warring senior officials, including Bannon, must “straighten it out or I will.”
The unusual public, lukewarm support from the boss has Bannon’s friends and advisers worried he will soon be out of a job. But shedding Bannon would be no simple staff shake-up. More than any other member of Trump’s orbit, the former media executive and radio host, known as a bareknuckle political fighter, has a following all his own. 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 important to recognize the value of the base. It’s important to recognize the base sees their advocate in Steve Bannon,” said Michael Caputo, a former Trump campaign adviser who has known the president for decades.
Before joining the campaign last summer as its chief executive officer, Bannon was informally advising Trump. And as leader of the conservative Breitbart News, he spent the better part of a year connecting Trump with the populist, nationalist voters who would propel him to victory over 16 Republican opponents and Democrat Hillary Clinton.
In more than half a dozen interviews during the campaign with Bannon on Breitbart’s radio show, Trump laid out his vision for leading the country, with Bannon sometimes playing the role of coach.
Bannon, more than any other White House aide, speaks the language of Trump’s populist base. He spoke in February of “our sovereignty” as a country and about the new administration’s aim for “deconstruction of the administrative state.” He also helped write many of Trump’s hardest-line speeches.
“It would be a terrible signal if Trump were to either force Bannon out or let him go because he is the face of the national populism that inspired a lot of voters to vote for Trump,” said Ned Ryun, founder of the conservative group American Majority and a longtime friend of Bannon’s.
“And what makes it even worse right now,” Ryun added, “is that people have deep concerns about liberal New York Democrats associated with Goldman Sachs coming in and making strong moves at the White House.”
That view cuts to the core of why Bannon might be on the outs at the White House.
He’s feuded with Trump’s son-inlaw-turned-senior-adviser, Jared Kushner, and with economic chief Gary Cohn. Both are New Yorkers who have voted for Democrats. Cohn, the former No. 2 at Goldman Sachs, and fellow Goldman executive Dina Powell, one of Trump’s top national security advisers, have been gaining favor with the president.
Last week, Trump removed Bannon from the National Security Council, while Powell appears to be ascendant.
Recently, the president has undercut Bannon in front of other senior staffers, including questioning the need for his presence in certain White House meetings.
Bannon’s supporters say Kushner’s importance doesn’t erase Bannon’s. Caputo said that Bannon must “fix things” in White House relationships but dismissed as “hype” the belief that he is about to lose his job.
Says Ryun: “Kushner is family. He’s not going anywhere,” But he adds, “Bannon should not go anywhere either because of what he represents to the voter.”
In the end, whoever is advising in the White House, “this will be a Trump presidency,” says former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, an informal Trump adviser.
“Trump has been Trump for a long time. And he will continue to be Trump.”