After his removal as chief strategist, Steve Bannon declared the presidency of Donald Trump – which he claims credit for – over. Although he said that the Trump presidency he fought for and won is over, the alt-right group they represent is still a huge movement, and he vowed to make something of the Trump presidency.
Bannon said on Friday that he would go back and head Breitbart News, a right-wing website. “I feel jacked up,” the former chief strategist said. “Now I’m free. I’ve got my hands on my weapons,” The New York Post quoted Bannon as saying.
Crackdown on bickering and infighting
Reuters reported that the dismissal of Bannon – the fourth top White House to leave in weeks after Press Secretary Sean Spicer, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, and Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci – is part of the crackdown on bickering and infighting by new Chief of Staff John Kelly. The comments that Bannon made on Wednesday in American Prospect, a liberal magazine, that he would target his enemies within the Trump administration, triggered his removal from office.
Bannon was known for his anti-Semitic and white nationalist stance. Because of it, Trump even faced calls from Republicans to boot him out from the Oval Office. The chief strategist and many Americans doubted Trump’s capacity to lead the country.
Besides his failure to pass his legislative agenda, the last trigger was when Trump failed to condemn white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, last Saturday.
Alt-right shift of Breitbart
Before Bannon joined Trump’s campaign, as executive chairman of Breitbart News, he was behind the shift of the website into a forum for groups that considered themselves the alt-right, made up of anti-Semites, white supremacists, and neo-Nazis.
He held the position of chief strategist for less than eight months during which he pushed protectionist and isolationist policies that Trump acted upon. According to the New York Post, Trump suspected that Bannon was one of the main leakers in his administration and the president did not like it that Bannon claimed to be the brains behind Trump’s win in the 2016 election.
On Tuesday, three days before Trump fired his chief strategist, the president said he liked Bannon but noted that the Breitbart News head came on very late because Trump went through 17 senators and governors and won all the primaries, while Bannon joined his campaign much later.
