Former top White House advisor Steve Bannon has had quite a few life altering shakeups lately. Not only was he fired from the Trump administration, but he also abdicated his position at the conservative website he helped bring into prominence.
Bannon no longer holds a position at Breitbart News, a post that he held for many years. It could be argued that Bannon was the single most important person in helping to bring the current wave of true conservatism into the mainstream.
Before any critique, Bannon’s accomplishments must be recognized. There are far too many people who are delighting in his fall, and we are not talking about liberals. We’re not even talking about mainstream middle of the road conservatives. It seems that for some reason, Bannon is being thrown to the wolves by his own kind – staunch right wingers with a patriotic bend and a love for capitalism, Christianity and good business.
Writer Michael Wolff is in the middle of this controversy, as his book Fire and Fury reported some unsavory comments that Bannon had made about President Trump and his family. The fallout was tremendous, even for a man who had supported Trump publicly since the beginning of his presidential campaign. Breitbart even turned its back on Bannon, publishing articles focusing on the insults that Trump and his allies threw back at him as retaliation for the comments in the book.
John Nolte, another writer who had been known to gin up his fair share of controversy, added fuel to the fire. Donald Trump, Jr., it seems, blamed Bannon specifically for the loss that conservatives took in the special Senate election that recently took place in Alabama. The former communications chief was characterized as a backstabber, a harasser and a person who leaked confidential information about the President and the administration.
Many other writers took to the trend, including Paul Joseph Watson of InfoWars fame. Watson, well-known to uphold views that Bannon pushed into the mainstream, seemed to take a great deal of delight in destroying Bannon in his vlog op-ed piece.
Notably, Reddit also turned on Bannon under the absolutely notorious subreddit “The_Donald.” Once hailed as a hero there, Bannon was the target of incredible backlash. About the only thing these faceless typists gave Bannon credit for was having a truly America first agenda; however, everything else about his character was decimated.
The Mercer family, huge conservative supporters in this cycle, may have actually been the catalyst for the frequency and the volume of the negative feedback. Somewhere along the line, Bannon and the Mercers diverged in their positions. Because the Mercers have their hands in virtually everything, there is very little that will not be affected if they decided to destroy someone. That is really the only way that Breitbart, the website that Bannon made famous, so quickly and eagerly turned on him.
Perhaps Bannon is too rebellious and bullheaded for the modern conservative movement. Perhaps he is not. The problem that all conservatives should have with the crucifixion of Bannon is that it was not populist in nature. It came down from an elite few who Bannon had somehow insulted. We do not really even know the reason for the fallout between Bannon and Trump, nor Bannon and the Mercer family. This is a fight that is truly not ours, especially when Bannon still basically holds the banner for radical conservatism that put the fire behind the Trump campaign.
If the elite who control the conservative movement excommunicates Bannon for personal reasons, then where does that leave the rest of us? Who will hold the banner of America first and self reliance WITH the level headed plans to actually see these ideas through to fruition? It is one thing to be a figurehead for the movement – this is what President Trump is. However, we as conservatives need the brains behind the image. That is what Bannon was to us.
Before we throw Bannon to the birds just because some popular writers did so, let us stop and see if the ideas that Bannon continues to espouse have any merit to us. “You’re fired” is a powerful phrase that Trump made quite popular, but let’s not overuse it for the hell of it.
~ Conservative Zone
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Bannon turned on Trump suddenly from out of nowhere. That’s loyalty for you. Everyone knows that Trump is volatile, unpredictable, brash, overly proud, and even downright stupid at times. He needs to take his finger off the Twitter trigger; but right now he is the greatest hope for preserving freedom and guiding the US in the right direction, away from its suicidal path under Obama. We don’t need supposedly conservative folks acting like Never Trumpers. Let’s overlook the trivial quirks of the President and major on getting things accomplished. Spit out the pits, but enjoy the fruit. Bannon should publicly apologize and explain why he turned against the President.
Bannon. hurt himself. He’s probably going broke and will say anything to save his hide from going to a grand jury.
He’s already been subpoenaed by the grand jury.
Letting Bannon take the reins of the conservative mvement was probably a tactical mistake to begin with. He’s just too mercurial, but the RHINOs in the senate should share equal blame. The never Trumpers amongst them hung on too long. Perhaps it is time for term limits. Our so called representatives are sheilded from their constituancy by the Washington bubble of elites. Trump’s election should have proved that his agenda is in favor with the majority of Americans. Republicans better wise up, improve their message and gain some party discipline or a disaster at the polls will fall on their own heads for their ignorance and infighting.
The Dims are in just as bad of shape with the infighting, & scandals. I WISH we had a decent 3rd party that we could elect from instead of these 2. It’s getting to where NOBODY wants ANY of these guys in office.
He is a big question mark! First he supports Trump. And then out of the blue he wright a book and attacks Trump and his family. Is he trying to get revenge for some supposed wrong that he feel he suffered from Trump? What will he say to Mueller. Will Mueller accept whatever he says so long as it supports a case against Trump. Or will Mueller require actual facts supported by documentation? Or will Bannon decide to tell the truth?
Well, while Bannon may not be a silver tongued speaker like some are, neither is our President. Right now, we conservatives need men like Bannon & even Scarimucci. Men who aren’t afraid to get dirty, to speak their minds no matter who gets offended. And, Steve Bannon did NOT cost Roy Moore the election in Al. I lay the blame for that squarely at Mitch McConnell’s feet. He couldn’t handle the humiliation of pouring $38 MILLION behind Luther Strange, only to have Moore come from behind, & beat Strange. So, I believe, & always WILL believe, that McConnell was the one who got these lying harpies to come out of nowhere to make accusations against Judge Moore. And, there was more than ONE video made of people in the street, going to vote, bragging that they were from other states. So tell me WHO is to blame? Dims are partly, but, would’ve gotten nowhere if McConnell hadn’t helped them. Just like the dossier on the President, I believe REPUBLICAN elites are behind both issues.
Bannon said publicly that he was going to get every RINO replace in the next primary election. That’s what should happen, and that’s what’s getting him blackballed.
I agree with sharon. The rnc big wigs have eleminated the republican voters to insure cheap/free labor. McConnel and ryan are bought and paid for messagers.