Since leaving the White House, Bannon spent much of his time courting donors to help finance his self-declared war on the Republican establishment. “I’d like to associate myself with what the president had to say about Steve Bannon yesterday,” he said mischievously Thursday. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a longtime punching bag for Bannon, reveled in the aide’s break with the president. On Thursday, Gingrich echoed Trump’s charge that Bannon had “lost his mind.” “Bannon has no contingent,” former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Wednesday between media interviews to defend Trump. Some Trump allies also expressed satisfaction that Bannon appeared to be finally cast out of the president’s inner circle. Much of Bannon’s political clout, they argue, stemmed from the assumption that he was acting with the imprimatur of the president, even if Trump wasn’t visibly in lockstep. It’s unclear how Bannon’s new rift with the president, and the related impact on major donors, will affect the organization, dubbed Citizens of the American Republic.Ĭurrent and former White House officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations, said Bannon had miscalculated by attacking the president and his family. Those close to Bannon feared that the connection had been permanently severed.īannon was preparing to launch a nonprofit organization designed to help give Trump’s brand of conservatism populism a permanent base. Bannon’s political appeal had been deeply tied to the perception that he was an ally of Trump’s. None of Bannon’s close associates was willing to speak publicly about the fallout but privately conceded that the explosive comments may forever tarnish his brand. The self-appointed keeper of Trump’s nationalist flame during the president’s first six months in office, Bannon had soured on the president even before he was pushed out of the White House for feeding the perception that he was Trump’s puppeteer. This book is about Donald Trump.”īannon had helped Trump form a coalition of anti-establishment Republicans, blue-collar working class and economic nationalists that launched him to the White House, but Trump had long ago grown frustrated that Bannon seemed to be overstepping his role as a staffer. So let me say very forthrightly: This book is not about Steve Bannon. Michael Wolff, author of “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” spoke on NBC’s “Today Show” Friday, defending his reporting and saying the president’s efforts to halt publication have been good for sales.Īsked about Bannon’s comments in the book and in recent days, Wolff said: “The president has tried to put this, this book is about Steve Bannon. “I certainly think that it’s something they should look at and consider,” she said.
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