Alt-right Bannon gets Trumped
THE SPECTATOR’S VIEW
Despite being packed with political dynamite, a new book on Donald Trump won’t, on its own, dislodge a president who is totally unfit to hold such a vital office.
There is, however, enough explosive force in Michael Wolff ’s “Fire and Fury” to demolish another pernicious threat to American democracy — the career of right-wing provocateur Steve Bannon. And that’s a good thing for anyone hoping for a whiff of sanity to fumigate Washington, D.C.
It would be inaccurate to say Wolff’s exposé of a shambolic White House sparked a feud between the hypersensitive president and his former chief strategist, who is also one of the book’s main sources.
In fact, Trump has declared all-out war on Bannon for his scathing criticisms of not only Trump’s family but Trump himself.
“Fire and Fury” quotes Bannon as describing a June 2016 meeting that included Trump’s son, Donald Jr., Trump campaign aides and a Russian lawyer as “treasonous” and “unpatriotic.” Bannon is also quoted as once calling Trump’s daughter and White House adviser Ivanka Trump “dumb as a brick.”
In addition, as if to rub salt in Trump’s wounds, Bannon makes caustic remarks in the book about the president’s ability to follow complex subjects.
For his part, Bannon has collapsed like a house of cards, claiming his words were misunderstood, protesting his undying love for all things Trump and all but publicly grovelling at the feet of his former boss.
The “treasonous” and “unpatriotic” barbs were not aimed at Donald Jr., Bannon insists. Instead, he was referring to Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chair.
It’s doubtful that Trump will be forgiving, after saying on Twitter that “Sloppy Steve” Bannon had “cried” when the president fired him last summer and “begged for his job.” More to the point, he said Bannon has “lost his mind.”
What has just happened is more than a sensational falling-out between two heroes of America’s far right. The Trump-Bannon split represents a defeat for altright extremists and a welcome victory for more moderate conservatives in the U.S.
Today, Bannon is executive chair of Breitbart News, a far-right American news and commentary website that has been called racist, xenophobic and misogynist. Tomorrow, his job status might change. In the wake of last week’s publication of “Fire and Fury,” pressure is mounting from the very rich people who finance Breitbart to oust Bannon.
Whatever happens to Breitbart if he goes, Bannon would be denied this bully-pulpit for promulgating his alt-right gospel of fear and loathing.
The fall from Trump’s grace also comes as Bannon was co-ordinating attempts to unseat mainline Republican legislators in favour of more populist candidates before the congressional elections later this year.
If there is anything the U.S. and the world do not need, it is a more dangerously polarized American political scene.
Without Steve Bannon hogging the limelight, such a future happily seems a little less likely.