With Bannon Back at Breitbart, a Right-Wing Army Prepares for War
Whatever the “alt-right” is or was, it no longer has a spokesman within 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, with the possible exception of the president. A little before noon on Friday, the White House confirmed that Steve Bannon, the embattled “economic nationalist” whose mastery of Breitbart News helped get Donald Trump elected—thus planting the seed of his own demise—had tendered his resignation. Bannon’s exit, while not unexpected, still sent shock waves across the political and media worlds. Would Trump moderate himself in the absence of the self-proclaimed “alt-right” architect, or had he always had such an appreciation for Confederate monuments and affinity for the white nationalists who have rallied around them? With subsequent reports that Bannon allies Sebastian Gorka and Julia Hahn, both former Breitbart employees, might also be on their way out the door, who would be left to counter National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster’s alleged neoconservative plots, or to undermine the “globalist” troika of Gary Cohn, Ivanka Trump, and Dina Powell? Perhaps most important for the president himself: Would Bannon, now unleashed back into the barbarian wilds from whence he came, return to wage war on the administration that ousted him?
