It is being reported that White House Chief of Staff John Kelly is nearly the end of his review of Trump’s chief strategist Steve Bannon, and it is expected that Bannon could be fired from the White House as soon as today.
Axios reported:
A decision is imminent from White House chief of staff John Kelly on whether Steve Bannon will keep his job, according to administration officials with knowledge of the situation:
Bannon, who has run afoul of Trump in the past, is now suspected by the president of leaking about his West Wing colleagues. And Trump resents the publicity Bannon has been getting as mastermind of the campaign.
Many West Wing officials are now asking “when,” not “if,” Bannon goes.
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Chief of Staff General John Kelly has been reviewing Bannon’s position.
A recent deluge of media coverage of Bannon — including Bannon’s explosive conversation with the American Prospect — have not escaped either the president’s or Kelly’s attention.
Someone is going to have to take the fall for Trump’s comments elevating racists after the violence in Charlottesville, and it isn’t going to be the President. Bannon also has sounded like a guy who is on his way out the door in the media interviews that he has given this week.
Trump’s downplaying of Bannon’s importance to his presidential victory was a signal that his ego is bruised by all of the credit that Bannon has been getting for being the power behind the throne.
It will be interesting to see whether or not Bannon and his Breitbart machine continue to support Trump if he is booted out of the White House. There is a possibility that Trump goes straight to his billionaire roots while ditching all pretense of populism after Bannon departs. If this happens, Bannon/Breitbart will go ballistic on Trump, and a third front will open in the Republican civil war.
Either way, at some point, it looks like Steve Bannon will be gone, after committing the one sin that Trump can’t forgive. He got more and better press than the President Of The United States.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
