It looks like open warfare has erupted between Trump and his former chief strategist. But only one person is shooting. The other’s on a contrition tour to save himself.
Steve Bannon’s contrition tour began this week with nothing but praise for Donald Trump. “The president of the United States is a great man. You know I support him day in and day out,” Bannon said Wednesday night on SiriusXM radio. “Nothing will ever come between us and President Trump and his agenda,” he added Thursday morning on Breitbart radio. “We’re as tight on this agenda as we’ve ever been.”
That’s quite a turnaround from the blistering quotes Bannon fed Michael Wolff for his salacious upcoming book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, in which Bannon accuses the president’s family of committing treason.
In the past 24 hours, Trump has not only released a scathing statementsuggesting his former chief strategist has “lost his mind,” he also took the extraordinary step of sending Bannon a cease-and-desist letter that threatened “imminent” litigation
It appeared as if open warfare had erupted. But if you look closely, only one person is doing the shooting.
Some might have expected or even hoped for Bannon to respond to Trump’s tantrum in kind — to give Trump the Breitbart treatment, which usually consists of a blitz of negative stories and commentaries on its homepage.
That’s not happening.
Perhaps the most consequential development is Rebekah Mercer’s statement Thursday that she has cut ties with Bannon. It’s the Mercer family that funds Bannon’s enterprises, including Breitbart. Mercer said she has provided “no financial support” to Bannon’s political agenda and does not support his “recent actions and statements.”
This is a catastrophic blow to Steve Bannon and his job security at Breitbart News. Having a billionaire backer gave Bannon a certain degree of power and influence because Mercer’s deep pockets potentially gave him the ability to influence the political process. Candidates wanted Bannon’s backing because they expected there would be significant financial support from the Mercers.
Breitbart itself has lost more than 3,000 of its advertisers throughout the past year. If Bannon stays and the Mercers go, the news website is in a very precarious financial position that could be unrecoverable in the long run
Bannon is now isolated. He and his platform face an uncertain financial future. He might even be spending some time over the next few weeks and months answering questions under oath.
While it is possible for Bannon to hit the nuclear button and explicitly turn on Trump, I think it’s more likely that he will do everything he can to try to get back into the president’s good graces.
Time and again we have seen Trump publicly attack aides, Cabinet members and people in his own party, then realign with them.
Bannon might also think that the Mueller investigation will be the downfall of the Trump presidency and through Wolff’s book has positioned himself to say “I told you so” and get another lease on life.
Ultimately though, it’s the loss of the Mercer money — not Trump’s goodwill — that could have the larger impact on Steve Bannon’s future with Breitbart News. And without that money, Bannon’s ambitions to challenge the Republican establishment with outsider candidates in 2018 will not be realized
In light of Mercer’s public statement, Bannon’s time at Breitbart could be coming to an abrupt halt. Even White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday that Breitbart should “consider and look at” firing him. And Matt Drudge tweeted about new leaders and a “fresh future” for the news site
The Mercers and Breitbart management apparently are recognizing how toxic Bannon has become. If Bannon loses Breitbart, that could well be the end of his political crusade.
Kurt Bardella, a political commentator who recently became a Democrat, is a former spokesman for Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Calif., Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and Breitbart News.
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