So, recently there has been some pressure put on by the Left (like, I guess, some Democratic activists) for Steve Bannon to be 86'd from Team Trump because of all the White Supremacist stuff going down in some of these rallies. And of course, former Press Office guy Anthony Scaramucci also wanted Bannon gone, for, um, reasons. But here's the funny old thing about Trump--he doesn't ever do things because he was told to do them. In fact, he'll double-down on "don't wanna" if he feels pressured. So if he's pressured to dump Bannon, well, he's likely to become Bannon's biggest backer--
And if he worries what happens to his rep if Breitbart turns on him, if you know what I mean? You would think Steve Bannon is a very safe WH adviser.
But then along comes a phone call to Robert Kuttner of The American Prospect at I guess what you might call "not a great time". And he wanted to rap about foreign policy, describe his critics at different agencies as "wetting themselves", and simultaneously back off of Trump's military promises about North Korea while talking up the possibility of a trade war with China. Oh--oh yeah, and he also wanted to talk some smack about identity politics, because that's not a sensitive topic at all, lately.
This is a really weird thing, because for starters: Why Kuttner at The American Prospect when Steve Bannon ran Breitbart dot com. (No flies on Kuttner, just, it was an oddly progressive choice for a right-wing nationalist to make, no?)
And then there's this Axios piece that suggests someone like Steve Bannon, who should be pretty media-savvy, didn't realize he was talking to a reporter on a call he initiated and it basically constituted an interview.
That's totally cray, right? I would almost have to think he knew what he was doing. Maybe he has friends who want to spare him a bad opinion, but my thinking is, maybe he thinks his exit is just about due, and this is his way of "Leroy Jenkins" ing his way onto the veritable sword, because apparently you can't demonstrate anything to Trump at all without it being filtered through the media.
What's worse is--I don't know if my theory just gave Bannon credit for being awfully people-smart, or just described the most dysfunctional and stupid WH dynamic possible. But maybe this means Bannon got himself fired, and if not, I guess he can try, try again.
2 comments:
I have some eastern European in-laws. Stubborn Stubborn Stubborn.
The joke in the family is when you want them to do something, you emphatically tell them, "do NOT do this thing, it's very important to me".
Within a short time, the will do that thing, and will tell you "Sorry, it had to do it".
As long as Bannon has Trump's ear, he's fine. He's involved in a war with Kushner in the media, an undertaking that is fraught considering the family ties. But if he can still walk in the Oval Office, he can tell Trump that Kushner and Kelly MEAN well but they're old-style Republicans, the kind that couldn't get elected running against a BLACK guy.
Bannon knows how to work the room, and Trump knows (true or not) that Bannon's guidance made the campaign successful. And at least at SOME level that actually has the benefit of being true.
I like the report I read on Monday. Some West Wing insider said if Bannon's going, it's going to be right now. If he's still there come Monday, he'll be there for a long time....
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