President Trump is unlikely to replace White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who left his post Friday after spending a tumultuous seven months waging ideological war against his colleagues, two sources close to the White House told the Washington Examiner, despite allies’ pleas that domestic policy adviser Stephen Miller be thrust into the role.
Bannon leaves Trump’s inner circle just weeks after ousted chief of staff Reince Priebus was dismissed by Trump during a return flight to Washington following an event in New York on July 28. The odd duo had been appointed to lead the White House as “equal partners” but almost immediately clashed as they battled for full control.
“Steve and Reince had their differences but they agreed that it was imperative that Trump stuck to his campaign promises. I’m not sure there are many White House [officials] left who share that goal,” said a source close to the administration.
From the start, Bannon’s inclusion in the West Wing power structure helped appease Trump supporters who worried about the negative influence other officials might have on the president’s populist agenda. The former executive chairman of Breitbart, a far-right website that Bannon severed financial ties with in order to join the administration, was a trusted ally of the president’s base — someone so committed to Trump’s economic nationalism, he maintains a whiteboard of campaign promises in his otherwise drab office.
“What Steve Bannon’s role is, is to reassure those people in the Trump coalition, who are the true believers,” former Reagan chief of staff Kenned Duberstein explained last November. “He is worthy as Lee Atwater was for Bush 41, as Karl Rove was for [Bush] 43, as Valerie Jarrett was.”
A person close to Trump described Bannon as “irreplaceable,” while another source familiar with the situation said the president is unlikely to look for another chief strategist anytime soon.
Several Trump allies, however, eagerly submitted their thoughts on who should succeed Bannon in the top White House role. Senior White House policy adviser Stephen Miller, a fierce advocate of Trump’s strict immigration who some regard as a Bannon protogé, was mentioned by three sources close to Trump who spoke to the Washington Examiner on the condition of anonymity.
Miller declined to respond to a request for comment.
Roger Stone, a longtime friend and informal adviser to Trump, said the president “should recruit Ed Martin or David Urban.” Martin, who served as chairman of the Missouri GOP, has been an ardent supporter of Trump and one of his only public defenders in the wake of the violence in Charlottesville. A veteran Republican lobbyist, Urban was rumored in June to be under consideration to replace Priebus as chief of staff before ultimately being passed over for ex-Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly.
Conservative author Ann Coulter made her own suggestion in a tweet on Friday, urging Trump to bring back his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski “so there’s someone in the White House who isn’t from Goldman Sachs.” It was unclear whether Coulter wanted to see Lewandowski take on Bannon’s old role.
Asked if Trump would consider White House counsel Kellyanne Conway for the role, one source close to the administration said of the president’s former campaign manager: “I don’t think Kellyanne is exactly steeped in policy.”
Those in Bannon’s orbit said the fiery media mogul plans to go “thermonuclear” against senior White House officials whom he has bitterly dubbed “globalists,” Axios reported soon after his departure.
“I can’t definitively tell you what Steve will do but I would be shocked if he didn’t return to Breitbart, talk radio, and public speeches,” Sam Nunberg, an early adviser to the Trump campaign, told the Washington Examiner. “Case-by-case he’ll become a critic and he’ll definitely be a critic of the White House personnel he’s leaving behind.”
Former Breitbart spokesman Kurt Bardella, who parted ways with the website last spring, said Bannon is likely to use Breitbart “to attack his adversaries inside the West Wing [and] relentlessly attack congressional Republican leadership like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell.”
“I would think that in some ways, Steve will want Trump to feel the pain of his departure, and it would not surprise me if Breitbart starts playing up more of the things that they’ve avoided touching to this point — like the Russia investigation,” Bardella said.
Others cheered Bannon’s removal, pointing to his on-the-record endorsement of Trump decision to blame “many sides” for the death of 32-year-old Heather Heyer at last Saturday’s white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. Bannon had described the president’s response as a “defining moment” during an unusual conversation with the left-leaning American Prospect.
“We have pressed the case to administration officials that as long as Bannon’s nexis of anti-Semitism and hate was mere steps from the Oval Office, business would take a backseat to bigotry in the Trump White House,” U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce president Javier Palomarez said in a statement. “This is a much needed first step to begin healing the wounds of this past week.”
Bannon is the eighth official to leave the White House, whether by force or choice, since Trump took office. Others who have departed in recent months include Priebus, press secretary Sean Spicer, communications directors Anthony Scaramucci and Michael Dubke, deputy national security adviser K.T. McFarland, deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh, and national security adviser Mike Flynn.
