Steve Bannon vows to go “thermonuclear” against everyone, including Donald Trump’s family
Steve Bannon has been ejected from Donald Trump’s White House today. Now it’s a matter of whom he decides to take down with him. Bannon is already letting it be known that he plans to go “thermonuclear” against pretty much everyone remaining in the White House – and that includes Donald Trump’s family.
Bannon’s allies have informed political news site Axios that he’ll be using his propaganda Breitbart to destroy everyone he considers to be “globalists” – which include “HR McMaster, Dina Powell, Gary Cohn, and Jared and Ivanka” (link). So now we’re entering into a situation in which Bannon plans to get his revenge for his ouster by taking down Donald Trump’s own daughter and son-in-law.
And this makes strategic sense. It would be too easy, and perhaps too on the nose, for Steve Bannon and Breitbart to simply begin wailing on Trump himself. It might be seen as little more than retaliatory for Trump’s firing of Bannon. But if Bannon can take down everyone who’s left surrounding Trump, it’ll serve to undermine the direction that they try to take Trump in. And if he can take down the only offspring whom Trump seems to care about, it’ll serve as a gut punch. But it’s a risky proposition.
Once Donald Trump figures out that Steve Bannon and Breitbart are engaging in a campaign to destroy Ivanka Trump, then what? Will come out swinging at Bannon in response? If so, Trump and Breitbart could each risk losing the support of portions of the lunatic far-right, as everyone in that base is forced to choose sides. Over the past week it’s very much appeared Trump has lost interest in succeeding as president, and he’s instead been content to go down in flames his way. But with Bannon now an enemy, those flames could take down Trump’s family as well.
