Back in the halycon days of August, 2016 when Steve Bannon was elevated to his then-new dignity as CEO of the Trump campaign, Bannon compared himself to Thomas Cromwell in the Court of the Tudors, i.e., master Machiavellian manipulator, perhaps not remembering that Cromwell was eventually beheaded for treason. Likewise, Steve Bannon may find his days numbered because now even Fox News' President Rupert Murdoch has counseled Donald Trump that he needs to fire Bannon. New York Times:
Rupert Murdoch has repeatedly urged President Trump to fire him. ... Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, the national security adviser, refused to even say he could work with him. For months, Mr. Trump has considered ousting Stephen K. Bannon…. Mr. Trump has sent Mr. Bannon to a kind of internal exile, and has not met face-to-face for more than a week with a man who was once a fixture in the Oval Office, according to aides and friends of the president.
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From the start, Mr. Bannon, 63, has told people in his orbit that he never expected to last in his current position longer than eight months to a year, and hoped to ram through as much of his agenda as he could while he stood in the president’s favor. More recently he has told friends that he is working in the White House one day at a time, and constantly asks himself whether he could better pursue his to-do list — including cracking down on legal and illegal immigration — on the outside. [...]
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Mr. Kelly has told Mr. Trump’s top staff that he will not tolerate Mr. Bannon’s shadowland machinations, according to a dozen current and former Trump aides and associates with knowledge of the situation. [...]
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Mr. Bannon has not fared well in West Wing politics. His bonds with the president seem to be fraying daily, and Mr. Bannon has told friends his status as “staff” — compared with Mr. Kushner’s familial relationship with the president — will ultimately dictate his departure. But he has been adamant in maintaining that his loyalty to Mr. Trump will survive, and has suggested that he might direct his energies at creating a movement to challenge mainstream Republicans too timid to pursue the president’s agenda, like Speaker Paul D. Ryan. Mr. Bannon’s cause is being damaged, people close to the president say, by a war he is waging against General McMaster. It has taken on a life of its own, with several alt-right websites faithful to Mr. Bannon tearing into the national security adviser.
Going after Paul Ryan sounds like the old Steve Bannon. Bannon’s original plan, stated last Fall was that “Ryan will be gone by Spring.” Apparently the plan has not been abandoned, just postponed.
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People who believe that Bannon is somehow indestructible and invulnerable claim that to do away with Bannon would be to alienate the Trump base, or at least a substantial portion of it. Rep. Steve King (R-IA) says that conservatives would be “crushed” if Bannon is terminated. Freedom Caucus’ Mark Meadows said, “There is a concern among conservatives that Washington, D.C. will influence the president in a way that moves him away from those voters that put him in the White House.”
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But former Trump campaign aide Roger Stone said, “I do think he’s in trouble but it’s trouble of his own making. I don’t know why conservatives would be upset about him being fired. He has not delivered for them.” Controversy reigns and this is a difficult shot to call. What can absolutely be stated is that at the beginning of Summer it was unthinkable that Bannon could be toppled. By the end of Summer in a few weeks, his fate may finally be decided — and if he is gone, it will be no surprise to him. It would be within the eight months to a year deadline that he himself predicted.