Whining about his firing as White House Chief Strategist yesterday, 63-year-old Stephen Bannon showed his Hollywood career and brief stint as editor of Breitbart news didn’t prepare him for politics. Letting 71-year-old President Donald Trump deliver Bannon’s message in the 2016 helped Trump win the White House. Before too much credit is given to Bannon for his populist pro-white-blue-collar-worker, anti-immigrant message, Trump was the one, not Bannon, who connected with American voters. Bannon’s cloistered, behind-the-scenes style worked well for the long-haired, unshaven, unkempt looking strategist, whose voice sounded more like a locker-room jock than a seasoned politician. “The Trump presidency that we fought for, and won, is over,” said Bannon, not admitting that what’s really over is all the unwanted controversy that dragged down the president.
Bannon’s role at Breitbart News, once calling it a voice for the Alt-Right, was so inconsequential, so hyped, so feckless, that it paled in comparison to the right-wing Drudge Report. . Former Democratic nominee Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made Bannon famous blaming him for his next-to-nothing role in White Nationalism. Tying Bannon of skinheads, the KKK and neo-Nazis was Hillary Campaign Chairman John D. Podesta’s pre-election strategy, winning Hillary the minority vote but not white blue-collar voters. Giving Bannon far too much credit in Trump’s campaign was the liberal media’s way of tying Trump to the racist, xenophobic, anti-LBGT community. Editing Breitbart, in truth, wasn’t much different than editing a mediocre college newspaper. Hillary and her friends in the left-leaning media gave Bannon far to much credit to besmirch Trump.
Telling the press after his firing that he’s now free to continue his right wing movement, Bannon’s reveals his wounded ego. He was nothing editing Breitbart and will be nothing pretending to have a following in any serious right-wing movement. “We still have a huge movement, and we will make something of this Trump presidency. But that presidency is over. It’ll be something else. And there’ll be all kinds of fights, and there’ll be good days and bad days, but that presidency is over,” said Bannon, showing why Chief of Staff John Kelly gave him the ax. Bannon has no movement other than a part of Trump’s unprecedented campaign. Bannon knows Trump wasn’t infatuated with any ideological cause, certainly not one that rips minorities and bashes immigrants. Trump’s presidency isn’t over. Bannon’s job is over, no longer having the limelight or any claim-to-fame.
Editing Breitbart News was made into a hubbub during the campaign to tie Trump with White Supremacists. Hillary succeeded in painting Trump as a closeted racist but couldn’t convince enough voters because of her own baggage to trust her for president. Trump wasn’t wed to Bannon’s ideological smoke blowing only to attracting enough swing voters to pull off the victory. When Bannon talks of infighting, it mostly centered around him during Trump’s first eight months in office. Getting rid of Bannon, Kelly recognized he was divisive, more concerned about his agenda than the president’s. “I feel jacked up,” Bannon said. “Now I’m free. I’ve got my hand back on my weapons,” not realizing that without Trump he’s nothing, just another voiceless shot in the dark. No one cared about Breitbart News until Hillary made it a campaign issue to discredit Trump.
Bannon was a true “Wizzard-of-Oz,” a disheveled figure hoping smoke-and-mirrors would give him some clout. How Bannon thinks he’s the head of any right-wing movement is beyond imagination, showing, if nothing else, staying cloistered for too long makes you delusional. Leaving Trump lets the air out of Bannon’s balloon, leaving him with a pile of old worn out ideas. Bannon’s ideas came to life only because he had Trump delivering the message. “I am definitely going to crush the opposition. There’s no doubt. I built a f-king machine at Breitbart. And now I’m about to go back, know what I know and we’re about to rev that machine up. And rev it up we will do,” said Bannon, knowing that Breitbart had no clout before and has no hope now. Bannon can’t crush the opposition, he failed miserably as Chief Strategist to deal with the liberal media’s war on Trump.
Listening to Bannon mirrors a broken man, robbed of his only credibility as Trump’s Chief Strategist. Breitbart News has so little readership, relative the Drudge Report, that it’s only frequented by fringe groups, not a wide audience. Returning to Breitbart shows that Bannon has little going on, believing Hillary’s hype that the Alt-Right news outlet had any real clout. Without Hillary targeting Breitbart to discredit Trump, the news site would have no media presence. Interviewed by the anti-Trump Weekly Standard, Bannon shows he’s publicity-starved after getting fired from the White House. Bannon can’t stomach the fact that Trump wasn’t invested in his economic nationalism or anti-immigration, only beating Hillary. Returning to Breitbart offers Bannon the best place to reinforce his delusion that he’s got any influence fighting liberals and advancing his agenda.
