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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-bannon-analysis-idUSKCN1AV2MZ

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - For months, U.S. President Donald Trump's national security adviser and his chief strategist have battled for influence behind the scenes, and their feud may force another shake-up at the White House.

The dispute between Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster and political strategist Stephen Bannon has reached a level of animosity that is destabilizing Trump's team of top advisers just as the administration tries to regain lost momentum, three senior officials said.

Under pressure from moderate Republicans to fire Bannon, Trump declined to publicly back him on Tuesday, although he left his options open. "We'll see what happens with Mr. Bannon," he told reporters at Trump Tower in New York.

Whatever Trump decides could chart the fate of a nuclear-weapons deal with Iran, U.S. troop deployments to Afghanistan and White House staffing decisions - all issues over which Bannon and McMaster have sparred.

Bannon has been in a precarious position before but Trump has opted to keep him, in part because his chief strategist played a major role in his election victory and is backed by many of the president's most loyal rank-and-file supporters.

"The president obviously is very nervous and afraid of firing him," a source close to the White House told Reuters.

The source floated the possibility that Bannon could be demoted instead of fired, noting that he might turn into a harsh critic of the administration if he is forced out of the inner circle.

Two other senior officials, both supporters of McMaster who asked not to be identified, said he blames Bannon for a series of attacks against him by right-wing website Breitbart News, which Bannon used to lead, and other far-right conservative groups.

In recent weeks, Breitbart has published a series of articles making a case for McMaster's ouster on the basis that he is not a strong ally of Israel and that he has staffed the National Security Council with holdovers from the Obama administration.

One of the senior officials said McMaster’s anger over the campaign “is known to the president” but declined to say whether the national security adviser had told Trump directly or through General John Kelly, an ally and the president's new chief of staff.

"McMaster isn't saying Bannon is the mastermind behind the campaign, but he does think Bannon could stop it if he wanted to,” said one of McMaster's defenders.

In a television interview on Sunday, McMaster repeatedly declined to answer when asked if he could work with Bannon.

About their feud, Bannon declined to comment and McMaster was unavailable for comment.

The two senior officials who support McMaster said Kelly is angry that the anti-McMaster campaign has made the White House appear chaotic, reflecting badly on him as he was brought in as chief of staff two weeks ago to restore order and discipline.

Bannon sees himself as the defender of Trump's nationalist base and has advocated for both an end or renegotiation of trade deals and a more isolationist approach to foreign affairs than McMaster.

He has pushed to scrap the 2015 nuclear-weapons agreement with Iran, which McMaster argues should remain in place, and has also proposed using contractors to fight the war in Afghanistan rather than expanding U.S. forces there, as McMaster has advocated.

McMaster is part of a more pragmatic group that Bannon likes to label "globalists."

He drew the fury of Bannon's supporters by recently overhauling the White House's National Security Council, pushing out four staffers who were seen as close to Bannon.

Conservative commentator Mike Cernovich is a Bannon ally and has been a vocal critic of McMaster, even leveling personal attacks against him.

Cernovich says he does not talk directly to Bannon but praises him as an important counterweight to McMaster.

He also warns that the president would alienate his most loyal supporters if he fires Bannon.

"I don't think that people who like Trump are suddenly going to say, 'We're going to fight Trump.' Instead they'll say, 'What's the point of supporting him?'" Cernovich told Reuters.

The conservative Jewish-American and pro-Israel group Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), which also has close ties to Bannon, has been one of McMaster’s sharpest critics, urging Trump to reassign him away from policy areas dealing with Israel and Iran.

Trump has himself backed McMaster, saying he was a "good man and very pro-Israel".

A source close to the ZOA bristled at the suggestion that Bannon was influencing its approach and said it would not tone down the campaign against McMaster, despite entreaties by Bannon to do so.

“We find it remarkably offensive that anyone would suggest that Steve Bannon or anyone else tells us what to say or what not to say,” the source said. “It makes me feel awful that he’s getting blamed for this, but there’s nothing I can do about it.”

 

[Guevara]

...McMaster is part of a more pragmatic group that Bannon likes to label "globalists."​

mjpls

 

[Oersted]

Imagine having to think about firing a Nazi. Imagine living that life.

 

[Steel]

Why would he want to fire Bannon at this point? He's all but embraced Bannon's talking points to the point where only single celled organisms would accept any walking back of the terminology. There's no benefit to him removing Bannon anymore.

 

[VendettaRed07]

He can't do it. Bannon is too well liked by too much of his base who will think this means the Jared wing, that they can't stand, will take over.

He's already defended the Nazis. So what's the point. There's no going back. Firing Bannon isn't going to get the liberals who hate his guts to get off his back and start to like him. That ship has sailed long ago.

 

[captive]

I saw people like Shaun King and others freaking out when Trump was announcing more and more military people for these roles that no one else wants. This is why I was less concerned about it, these people aren't going to put up with fucking Nazi Bannon.

 

[Savitar]

Whoever is left........is still part of one big shit sandwich.

 

[mnannola]

Why would Trump fire Bannon? Bannon won the presidency for him and is the most likely person there that can help connect Trump to the only people still on his side (White Nationalists). If he losses them, he is done.

 

[Quixzlizx]

I wonder how much of the ZOA is actually evangelical Christians trying to set up Armageddon.

It's pretty bizarro otherwise.

 

[Blizzard]

I wonder how much of the ZOA is actually evangelical Christians trying to set up Armageddon.

It's pretty bizarro otherwise.

Isn't that the ISIS thing -- the ultimate goal is to bring about an Islamic equivalent of Armageddon and/or a massive war against ISIS?

I grew up around tons of ultra-conservative Christian / Catholic people in the south and I've literally never heard of anyone from those groups (or Jewish groups) who thought that was a thing to aim for. If anything, people would believe Armageddon was something unstoppable that would happen in the future, but you wouldn't want anything to do with it. Maybe I was just lucky though.

 

[Yoshimitsu126]

Was wondering when a new leak would occur. Nah Trump isn't going to fire his friend who he think is a good person.

 

[To Far Away Times]

See the problem is that Trump really likes Bannon's nazi bullshit.

 

[Man Called Aerodynamics]

This seems like an unlikely time for Bannon to go. Trump JUST took a major turn toward Bannon's worldview.

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

I'll believe it when it happens.

 

[cirrhosis]

It's not going to happen. Anything saying this is clickbait in the age of Trump. Would love to be proven wrong.

 

[slider]

Trump, you evil fuckwit, you've made your bed now lie in it.

Alternatively, make a deal with the devil... What do you expect to happen?

I didn't like the second one as it makes Trump seem like an "ingénue".

Ideally he fires Bannon and then they turn on each other precipitating Trump's own demise!

 

[Ithil]

This seems like an unlikely time for Bannon to go. Trump JUST took a major turn toward Bannon's worldview.

Which he's under fire for. There's a lot of calls for him to fire Bannon.
We have to wait a few weeks to see the extended blowback from this weekend, it may end up aimed directly at Bannon.

 

[cakely]

Let's see. Should I fire the white supremacist? Wow. Gosh, I just don't know.

 

[BronsonLee]

McMaster can probably win out if he really wants to. Bannon doesn't have enough juice

 

[MMarston]

When he is finally out is the only time I will believe he is finally out.

.

 

[Flo_Evans]

I wonder if yesterday was completely Bannon's idea.

Like "hey trust me buddy I got you elected. Go say this and if doesn't work you can fire me!"

Thats the only scenario I can think of that makes any sense for Trump to do what he did. Not that Trump is big on logic or making sense.

 

[Beer Monkey]

Bannon likely has bad dirt on Trump, don't forget it.

 

[Quixzlizx]

Isn't that the ISIS thing -- the ultimate goal is to bring about an Islamic equivalent of Armageddon and/or a massive war against ISIS?

I grew up around tons of ultra-conservative Christian / Catholic people in the south and I've literally never heard of anyone from those groups (or Jewish groups) who thought that was a thing to aim for. If anything, people would believe Armageddon was something unstoppable that would happen in the future, but you wouldn't want anything to do with it. Maybe I was just lucky though.

No, that's why many evangelical Christians are so pro-Israel in the US. The second coming can't happen until Israel can fully rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, or something.

It's not because they love Jews so much, I can tell you that.

 

[Respect]

Won't happen considering he just double downed on his support of his neo nazi base, would love to be wrong though.

 

[L Thammy]

Launch him into the Sun.

 

[KojiKnight]

Which he's under fire for. There's a lot of calls for him to fire Bannon.
We have to wait a few weeks to see the extended blowback from this weekend, it may end up aimed directly at Bannon.

I think a lot of moderates are saying "get rid of Bannon, or we won't support you going forward." He knows if he keeps Bannon, he's not going to get any support if those impeachment articles do ever appear.

 

[gutshot]

I wonder if yesterday was completely Bannon's idea.

Like "hey trust me buddy I got you elected. Go say this and if doesn't work you can fire me!"

Thats the only scenario I can think of that makes any sense for Trump to do what he did. Not that Trump is big on logic or making sense.

Trump did it because he is an insecure man-baby who can't take any sort of criticism whatsoever. Instead of saying "y'know what, maybe I should have been more harsh on the Nazis in my original statement?" he plays the victim, says the media is being mean to him and doubles down on his original stance.

 

[theWB27]

Next time on dbz....

 

[capitalCORN]

I rather imagine Trump is terrified of Bannon. There's no such thing as honour among thieves.

 

[radios shipping overview]

He can fire Bannon, but Miller is in tight with Kushner and Sessions and would still be around drive his fuckboy policy and write speeches. Maybe firing Bannon would get rid of Gorka too, I dunno. The hydra has a lot of heads right now.

 

[yanipheonu]

Next time on dbz....

Will Bannon finally be fired?
Find out on the next episode: Bannon Fired

 

[Lunar15]

He also warns that the president would alienate his most loyal supporters if he fires Bannon.

You mean nationalists, nazis, and white supremacists?

 

[dickroach]

yeah... we've been hearing about Trump dumping Bannon for like six months now, since he was on the cover of Time as "The Great Manipulator" or whatever
this is a non-story

 

[L Thammy]

Next time on dbz....

the resemblance is uncanny

 

[Damaniel]

Trump has the Nazi stink on him already, and no amount of firing his cabinet will wash that off.

 

[Slayven]

Isn't this the cycle? Talk about trump kicking someone out and and on a weird day boom he does it

 

[Locke562]

Isn't that the ISIS thing -- the ultimate goal is to bring about an Islamic equivalent of Armageddon and/or a massive war against ISIS?

I grew up around tons of ultra-conservative Christian / Catholic people in the south and I've literally never heard of anyone from those groups (or Jewish groups) who thought that was a thing to aim for. If anything, people would believe Armageddon was something unstoppable that would happen in the future, but you wouldn't want anything to do with it. Maybe I was just lucky though.

Many evangelicals believe that a majority of Jews need to be in Israel for the end-times to occur. In fact they're actively funding immigration of Jewish people to Israel so the majority of them can be killed in the lead up to the return of Jesus.

 

[L Thammy]

Isn't that the ISIS thing -- the ultimate goal is to bring about an Islamic equivalent of Armageddon and/or a massive war against ISIS?

I grew up around tons of ultra-conservative Christian / Catholic people in the south and I've literally never heard of anyone from those groups (or Jewish groups) who thought that was a thing to aim for. If anything, people would believe Armageddon was something unstoppable that would happen in the future, but you wouldn't want anything to do with it. Maybe I was just lucky though.

Well, for one thing, Catholics have a totally different view on the apocalypse than Evangelicals.

 

[Zubz]

Trump has the Nazi stink on him already, and no amount of firing his cabinet will wash that off.

Yup. That's why this's be beautiful; he'll piss of the people that stuck around for that stench.

 

[Extra Sauce]

Bannon is the most powerful link to the only people who still support Trump. Trump would never be dumb enough to fire him.

 

[III-V]

So much anti-semitism right now. Its rampant and not even vaguely disguised. Watching that Vice vid I can't even recall them spewing hate words like N-word but damn if they are not going to do some Jew-bashing. Bannon is right there with them.

 

[bggrthnjsus]

Bannon is the most powerful link to the only people who still support Trump. Trump would never be dumb enough to fire him.

i think this is the strongest evidence that trump will fire him

 

[StrategyFan]

probably pacing how quickly he's going to burn through his scapegoats

can't last 4 years if he replaces them all in the first few months

 

[LiK]

Afraid to fire Bannon? What does he have on Trump anyway.

 

[Slayven]

i think this is the strongest evidence that trump will fire him

Can we retire "Trump will never be dumb enough too....".

 

[Nafai1123]

I hope he fires Bannon as it's one of the only things that will actually hurt him with his deplorable supporters. Probably why he won't do it.

(Tomorrow)

"Breaking News: Trump Fires Bannon"

 

[Biggest-Geek-Ever]

I would not be surprised if white supremacists choose Trump over Bannon if Trump ends up firing him.

 

[Afrodium]

I find it hard to believe all the articles about Bannon being on the outs lately. It seems so incongruous to the behavior Trump has been exhibiting. Bannon of all staffers is probably the most supportive of Trump's actions this week.

 

[Blizzard]

No, that's why many evangelical Christians are so pro-Israel in the US. The second coming can't happen until Israel can fully rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, or something.

It's not because they love Jews so much, I can tell you that.

Maybe I was fortunate then. My super evangelical Christian father even read Jewish intellectual magazines. He had a lot of issues but anti-semitism wasn't one that I'm aware of. The idea of helping a prophecy along is also really weird to me, and again I don't remember being around anyone who was trying to do that.

What area did you grow up in out of curiosity? Could it be a regional thing?

*edit* The NPR article suggests it's a megachurch thing which admittedly I was never around growing up.

 

[Akuun]

Hopefully Trump fires Bannon and then runs it through his whole "no I didn't do it, someone else did it > I did it but it was an accident > I did it and it was totally planned > I DID NOTHING WRONG FUCK YOU GUYS WAHH" cycle.