Is Donald Trump laying the groundwork for removing embattled Steve Bannon from the NSC?
The embarrassing leaks pouring out of Donald Trump’s White House are now coming so fast and furious that we have to assume these details are being leaked strategically by senior advisors who are trying to sabotage each other, rather than merely by loose lips who can’t stop talking. And yet so many of these leaks have been given directly to newspaper reporters, it’s safe to assume these leaks are indeed valid. So it raises the question of why Trump is suddenly leaking that he didn’t bother to read the executive order placing Steve Bannon on the National Security Council.
It’s an embarrassing admission that makes Trump look rather bad: he’s not bothering to read the executive orders that his advisors are putting in front of him to sign? He’s a rube who’s just that easily tricked by his own most trusted advisors? And yet based on what he’s now leaked to the New York Times, it’s clear that Trump is publicly trying to sabotage the power and influence that Steve Bannon has swiftly assumed. Which is bizarre, considering how much he relies on the guy. But we’ve seen that Trump will throw any of his own advisors under the bus, including his personal friends like Chris Christie to Rudy Giuliani, as needed. Even as ambitious as Bannon is himself, he’s not automatically immune to being stomped on for the sake of Trump’s endless ambition. These are two piranhas who were inevitably going to end up eating each other.
The question is what Trump is trying to accomplish by risking making himself look bad just so he can make Bannon look worse. Is this simply punishment for how Bannon is suddenly being declared the ‘real president’ by everyone from Time Magazine to Saturday Night Live? Or is Trump sensing that his appointment of Bannon to the NSC is simply too much of a distraction, and he’s now laying the groundwork for revoking that appointment? After all, the public is outraged by it, and the Democrats in Congress are making moves to try to block the appointment, which was illegal without Senate confirmation to begin with.
It sure does look like Donald Trump is laying the groundwork for yanking Steve Bannon from the NSC, either because he doesn’t like Bannon’s newfound popularity, or because he doesn’t like the legal mess it’s made. Bannon will continue to receive increasing attention at Trump’s expense. We’ll see what happens next.
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