Donald Trump’s team turns against itself as Roger Stone begins viciously attacking Steve Bannon
It’s still unclear how secure Steve Bannon’s job status may be in Donald Trump’s White House, and he’s regularly rumored to be on the verge of getting the ax, and three of his top loyalists were recently fired. It’s equally unclear what Roger Stone’s relationship is with his longtime friend Trump at this point. But this much is clear: Trump’s pals sure seem to be turning against each other.
Roger Stone is regularly so abrasive and abusive on Twitter that he’s been temporarily suspended multiple times for attacks and threats he’s made against other members. In fact he recently launched an obscene tirade degrading John McCain for no particular reason. But now Stone has decided that his enemy is Steve Bannon. His latest tweet reads “A friend I had dinner with in dc ran into Steven K Bannon on the street – mistook him for a homeless bum #CheifStrategistNot” (link). That’s not how you spell “Stephen Bannon” and it’s not how you spell “Chief” either – but even a semi literate Stone was able to get his point across.
It’s unclear why Stone is attacking Bannon so viciously. Perhaps Stone is resentful that Trump never did give him a job in the White House, presumably because the American mainstream finds Stone too repulsive, even while Trump gave a top White House job to the equally repulsive Bannon. Or maybe Trump is now privately complaining about Bannon in his phone calls to Stone, and so Stone is amplifying that publicly.
But it’s just the latest instance of infighting among Trump’s team spilling over into jarring public view. Anthony Scaramucci and Reince Priebus faced off and they both ended up getting fired. H.R. McMaster and Bannon also appear to be locked in a battle that no more than one of them will survive. And Sebastian Gorka is now publicly attacking Rex Tillerson. The Trump team has come to resemble a WWE wrestling match, but without the cool nicknames.
