Trump comments on Bannon worry populist base

WASHINGTON — President 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.

The president told the New York Post, “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 shakeup. More than any other member of Trump’s orbit, the former media executive and radio host, known as a bare-knuckle 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.

“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 voter 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.”