Steve Bannon’s revenge: Breitbart News and other conservatives swiftly declare “war” on Donald Trump

August 18, 2017
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Steve Bannon; Donald Trump

Steve Bannon; Donald Trump (Credit: AP/Gerald Herbert/GettyDrew Angerer/Salon)

As with many senior advisers of President Donald Trump, leaks about Steve Bannon’s impending firing were in the news for months. More recently, several outlets reported that Trump had been reluctant to remove his nationalist adviser from his post because he was afraid of what Bannon and his allies might do in retaliation.

“The president obviously is very nervous and afraid of firing him,” a White House insider told Reuters earlier this week. As Trump’s popularity tanks, he could be hesitant to alienate his hard-right base by firing one of their own.

Conservative groups are not taking the forced departure of Trump’s White House chief strategist lightly. After the news was broken by conservative powerhouse Matt Drudge on Friday, many on the right reacted angrily.

Bannon’s ouster was not on “friendly” terms, according to CBS reporter Margaret Brennan:

Before Bannon was ousted, many conservatives issued public and private warnings that they would be displeased with such an outcome. When the word broke on Friday, many Trump fans took to Twitter to blast the decision. Senior Breitbart editor Joel Pollack was among them, declaring “war” and saying that the president was on the path to becoming a liberal now.

Now that he’s departing the White House, Bannon is expected to return to Breitbart, the publication he ran before formally joining up with Trump in 2016. Once safely ensconced within his old haunts, he may pursue a feud against Drudge, his one-time ally, according to a Buzzfeed report:

Sources who have spoken to Bannon say the nationalist firebrand is expected to return to his old news site Breitbart. And one person close to Bannon says he has his eye on who he believes helped accelerate his ouster: Matt Drudge.

“Matt Drudge worked to remove Steve Bannon, that is the reality,” said former Trump campaign adviser Sam Nunberg, who regularly talks with Bannon. “And I hope Matt is happy because his work helped Bannon not be in the West Wing, but it helped Democrats and people that didn’t vote for Trump be in the West Wing.”

Nunberg is specifically frustrated with the continued presence and influence of chief economic adviser Gary Cohn, National Security Adviser HR McMaster, and the duo he derisively calls Javanka, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. Bannon has openly feuded with Cohn, and Breitbart has for weeks been waging a battle against McMaster.

Kushner developed a relationship with Drudge dating back to the campaign, and Bannon allies also blame the son-in-law for his ouster. People close to Bannon say Bannon privately hoped Kushner would “go down” over the intensifying Russia investigation.

Former Breitbart editor Ben Shapiro previewed what a White House war with Breitbart and Bannon may play out on Friday:

Bannon is deeply vengeful, and supremely ambitious. He has already held the most powerful job he will ever have — unless, of course, his new job is to destroy Trump from the outside. And he set the groundwork for that job over the past week.

[…]

Bannon’s play for Trump’s populist and alt-right bases will be partially successful. Outside the White House, Bannon can be more powerful than he was inside: if Trump doesn’t do what Bannon likes, Bannon will declare that he was ousted because the globalist insiders have taken over, and Trump has sold out the base. Bannon will attempt to claim the leadership of the movement he believes he built.

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