White House Confirms Steve Bannon is Out

By Jeralyn, Section Trump Administration
Posted on Fri Aug 18, 2017 at 05:22:50 PM EST
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Sarah Huckabee Sanders today at the press briefing:

“White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly and Steve Bannon have mutually agreed today would be Steve’s last day. We are grateful for his service and wish him the best.”

Am I the only one who sees Jared's and Ivanka's hand in this?

The Washington Post must have been in a hurry to get this news out. It's rare to seem them print a typo like this:[More...]

Rather, Kelly said he wanted to power to drift from Trump to him, period. The president would be given ideas to choose from, rather than hearing a parade of whispers on the phone and in the Oval Office from competing blocs.

Trump, meanwhile, had been upset about Bannon’s participation in a book by Bloomberg News reporter Joshua Green, “Devil’s Bargain” — particularly a cover photo giving equal billing to Trump and his chief strategist. Every time Green was on CNN, where he is now contributor, Trump grew unhappy with his references to Bannon as a thinker and strategist — and upset that the conversation was not instead about Trump.

I assume that was supposed to read, "Kelly said he wanted the power to drift from Trump to him, period." (I make mistakes like that all the time, but I don't have a copy editor.) On the plus side, WAPO's video is not auto-play.

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White House Confirms Steve Bannon is Out | 21 comments (21 topical)

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I see Trump's hand (5.00 / 1) (#2)
by Lora on Sat Aug 19, 2017 at 09:43:50 AM EST

From the above quote:

Every time Green was on CNN, where he is now contributor, Trump grew unhappy with his references to Bannon as a thinker and strategist -- and upset that the conversation was not instead about Trump.

There you have it. It has to be all about Trump, all the time. He can't have anyone upstaging him.

I don't think Javanka had anything to do with it (none / 0) (#1)
by Militarytracy on Sat Aug 19, 2017 at 12:18:28 AM EST

This was Kelly. Kelly seems to solely have firing privileges now as he stayed McMaster's hand in firing even more Flynn holdover staff on the NSC. I don't think Kelly fancies a one day mass firing. He wants all the particulars covered on each firing, one at a time. I expect Miller and Gorka will follow along with the Flynn holdovers at NSC.

Javanka fires people poorly, tells the press before the face of those they fire, no prep, no consideration given to the press cycle that must run and answering the press professionally.

I read something recently - not sure where - (none / 0) (#18)
by Anne on Sun Aug 20, 2017 at 04:16:08 PM EST

that more than anything, Ivanka wants and needs to be the apple of her daddy's eye, so fighting him on matters of policy and/or personnel is not likely to be the hill she will choose to die on.

She's one of those people who seems to be saying important things, but on reflection, it's just generic blather.

Now, she may have learned how to manipulate her father so that his protect-the-family button gets pushed, but I'd be willing to bet that that's all about her and has nothing to do with the country.

The apple probably didn't fall far from that tree.


I have a difficult time sometimes (none / 0) (#20)
by Militarytracy on Mon Aug 21, 2017 at 03:30:08 PM EST

Digesting Ivanka

Is it her fault he's her father? No!

Don't we all have to come to grips with our fathers though? Some are luckier than others. It was a mixed bag for me. I did have to stop enabling my father in some areas about some things. He had an aging severe head injury though. He didn't start out wealthy. In his youth he worked hard for his community, he did sacrifice for others, but I did have to draw a hard line when he got older and he was living with his parents. I didn't enable him to harm others because I was comfortable and it was uncomfortable telling him he would not do certain things or I was going to distance myself from him. And who taught me you have to draw hard lines sometimes because people are being a-holes...oh yeah, my father. Errrrr...what was I talking about again? Oh yeah, the enabler Ivanka :)


: Oh, Lord, Tracy - this is so true... (5.00 / 3) (#21)
by Anne on Mon Aug 21, 2017 at 03:55:32 PM EST

we all carry our parents around in our heads and sometimes deeper inside ourselves than we realize...having children brings a lot of that home, at least it did for me, and it forced me to figure out the dysfunctional behaviors and do what I could to stop perpetuating them.
Guess I will have to check with the kids to see if I was at all successful, lol.
I don't really want to be in Ivanka's head, but one thing I think it's safe to say is that she did not have a normal childhood, doesn't have an idea, probably, what kinds of things the peasants have to deal with on a daily basis.
I think her relationship with her father, or maybe his relationship with her, is a little ooky-feeling. He has objectified her in some really skeevy ways - even if he wasn't her father it would make my skin crawl - and I'm not sure that results in anything good.
I wish my dad hadn't died so young - he was only 63 - and when I think of how I've grown in the 28 year since, I mourn for the lost opportunities to share that growth and share so many life experiences.
For all I know, Trump's kids feel the same way, and their father is alive.

Trump's beautiful tweet, (none / 0) (#3)
by KeysDan on Sat Aug 19, 2017 at 01:37:50 PM EST

"I want to thank Steve Bannon for his service. He came in the campaign during my run against Crooked Hillary Clinton. it was great! Thanks S "

Crooked Hillary (none / 0) (#4)
by Militarytracy on Sat Aug 19, 2017 at 04:09:39 PM EST

I used to wonder how that descriptor was worth anything, anything at all? Trump's projection is not as clear to me at times as it is to others. I'm simply standing there wanting to know how that makes sense? He threw that tweet out though and I smelled the projection easily.

Hillary who? That race is over, has been for a long time in political dog years. Why must he continue on the baiting path of dog whistles? Because his self has no core? He can only sense himself through projections.


It's because he's never going to get over (5.00 / 4) (#5)
by Anne on Sat Aug 19, 2017 at 07:31:41 PM EST

the fact that she won the popular vote, by millions of votes.

It's why he was compelled to form a commission and come up with more vote suppression tactics so he can prove her margin comprised illegal votes.

I mean, this is a man who reportedly bursts into flame over things like Bannon's name preceding his on a book jacket.

He's not fit to run the country.

I read the Michael Lewis piece in Vanity Fair today, and it made me want to get in bed and pull the covers over my head.

A short excerpt:

On the morning after the election, November 9, 2016, the people who ran the U.S. Department of Energy turned up in their offices and waited. They had cleared 30 desks and freed up 30 parking spaces. They didn't know exactly how many people they'd host that day, but whoever won the election would surely be sending a small army into the Department of Energy, and every other federal agency. The morning after he was elected president, eight years earlier, Obama had sent between 30 and 40 people into the Department of Energy. The Department of Energy staff planned to deliver the same talks from the same five-inch-thick three-ring binders, with the Department of Energy seal on them, to the Trump people as they would have given to the Clinton people. "Nothing had to be changed," said one former Department of Energy staffer. "They'd be done always with the intention that, either party wins, nothing changes."
By afternoon the silence was deafening. "Day 1, we're ready to go," says a former senior White House official. "Day 2 it was `Maybe they'll call us?' "
"Teams were going around, `Have you heard from them?' " recalls another staffer who had prepared for the transition. " `Have you gotten anything? I haven't got anything.' "
"The election happened," remembers Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, then deputy secretary of the D.O.E. "And he won. And then there was radio silence. We were prepared for the next day. And nothing happened." Across the federal government the Trump people weren't anywhere to be found. Allegedly, between the election and the inauguration not a single Trump representative set foot inside the Department of Agriculture, for example. The Department of Agriculture has employees or contractors in every county in the United States, and the Trump people seemed simply to be ignoring the place. Where they did turn up inside the federal government, they appeared confused and unprepared. A small group attended a briefing at the State Department, for instance, only to learn that the briefings they needed to hear were classified. None of the Trump people had security clearance--or, for that matter, any experience in foreign policy--and so they weren't allowed to receive an education. On his visits to the White House soon after the election, Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, expressed surprise that so much of its staff seemed to be leaving. "It was like he thought it was a corporate acquisition or something," says an Obama White House staffer. "He thought everyone just stayed."

Read the whole thing: it will make your hair stand on end.


As I never got a chance (5.00 / 3) (#13)
by Nemi on Sun Aug 20, 2017 at 07:58:54 AM EST

to reply to your response to me in a by now "flattened" thread, and to let you know I read and appreciated your response, I hope I'm not breaking too many rules by replying here.

My repetition of your words was not as you perceived it meant to "mock" your words as much as it was to point out the unfairness of chastisen Hillary Clinton for the precise same actions that Bernie Sanders get a pass on. The exact same words and expressions you used to criticize Hillary Clinton could just as well have been used for him and his (non/)actions; and to point out how women are repeatedly held to a different standard than men, doing or saying the exact same things. Exhibit 2 billion ... or something: 'Nevertheless, she persisted' as did HE, but unlike her without being interrupted and silenced for doing so!

Yes, I do remember the anger and disappointment directed at Hillary Clinton in 2008 after her embrace of and campaigning for Obama ... even when he himself took his family on vacation to Hawaii! And I too was disappointed over her choice to not fight back (at the Convention) and the embrace of her former rival. But I did eventually come to admire her for her selfless pragmatism and don't understand how anyone can still hold a grudge for that decision 7-8 years later. I know (of) people who were so angered that they turned from 100% pro Hillary Clinton Democrats into, and still are, hateful, raging rightwingers. Would a John McCain-presidency really have been worth the price for her "purity" back then?

We'll never know if Obama would have won without her succesfull persuasion of her voters, and her, and her husband's, wholehearted campaigning and support, but if Bernie Sanders learned anything from the anger that was directed at her for supporting her rival, I guess he calculated it was better not to support his primary rival too strongly (I don't think he would have in any case) not to risk angering his base? Would we be looking at President Hillary Diana Rodham Clinton today if he had been as selfless as she was back in 2008? We'll never know but it sure didn't take long for him to embrace Donald Tr*mp. It seems like the horseshoe theory is extra strong and convincing when the two "extremes" are represented by white men, and the moderate center by a woman.

Having grown up in a Social Democracy myself I would wish for every child and young person to have those same benefits growing up and people of all ages to live with the "perks" and goals: Universal healthcare, free education, solidarity, equality, a social safety net, etc. -- though I doubt all that many in this time and age would be ready to pay the tax rates necessary to obtain that, I mean just look at the practically worldwide move to the right. But many of those goals were what I recognized Hillary Clinton lay out in her speeches and offer on her website, and I do believe as president she would have been able to reach several of these goals. I doubt Bernie Sanders would have been successfull in providing any of it. What did he ever accomplish? To me he comes across as more loud talk and finger wagging than actual action. YM-obviously-W.

It puzzles me why you keep repeating that Hillary Clinton only talked about Tr*mp at her rallies, when she actually constantly talked about her policies, her plans, her platform. Or that noone cares to read her coming book, when Amazon's numbers of pre-orders clearly contradict that viewpoint. Or that she's been MIA since the election. Contrary to your claims, Hillary Clinton has spoken out and, now as well as during the election although media never acknowledged it, to an always excited and enthusiastic audience. She's spoken out in several talks, interviews, conversations, speeches, she's been tweeting, have launched Onward Together -- in collaboration with Howard Dean -- and she's written a book telling her side of "what happened", which of course will be followed up with a "book tour" where she'll be talking to and with her readers/voters ... so I see and hear a lot both of and from her. Which I also expected as I never believed, as many did, that she would all of a sudden be satisfied just being a grandmother. She's like an engaged energizer bunny-politician, emphasis on politician, so of course she wouldn't fade into oblivion. But being both scolded for being passive and invisible and at the same time being told to sit down, shut up, get lost ... preferably in the woods, she has, as always, had to be careful how she balances on the tightrope that is eternally set up for her to walk.

So although I don't agree with everything you wrote in this particular comment of yours, and there's more I would have liked to comment on, but this is getting far too long, I appreciate your answer. But I don't imagine I will take unjust and sexist criticism of Hillary Clinton lightly anytime soon as it often hits a bit too close to home for my liking.


: This is the wrong thread for this. (5.00 / 1) (#15)
by Anne on Sun Aug 20, 2017 at 09:38:26 AM EST

It puzzles me why you keep repeating that Hillary Clinton only talked about Tr*mp at her rallies, when she actually constantly talked about her policies, her plans, her platform. Or that noone cares to read her coming book
Never said this.

But many of those goals were what I recognized Hillary Clinton lay out in her speeches and offer on her website, and I do believe as president she would have been able to reach several of these goals. I doubt Bernie Sanders would have been successfull in providing any of it. What did he ever accomplish? To me he comes across as more loud talk and finger wagging than actual action. YM-obviously-W.
Sanders and his supporters helped push her there; absent that push, I believe she would have waged an appeal-to-moderate-Republicans campaign.
For what it's worth, that you could ask what Sanders had ever accomplished tells me you didn't bother to look at, didn't care about, weren't interested in, Sanders' history. His history in the Senate, his history as mayor, his history as an activist. In my opinion, however much resistance the GOP put up against Obama, it would have been orders of magnitude greater where Hillary was concerned. These people are STILL wanting and calling for investigations of her, they are STILL convinced they can "get" her on Benghazi. As such, I don't find your conviction that she would get some of these things done to be credible.

But I don't imagine I will take unjust and sexist criticism of Hillary Clinton lightly anytime soon as it often hits a bit too close to home for my liking.
No one asked you to take sexism lightly; I don't take sexism lightly.
I'm done. No one's telling you not to support Clinton, no one's going after you personally because of it. To my mind, Democrats are either going to learn some lessons from the election or they aren't. When put up against the utterly regressive and punishing agenda of the GOP, people may be beginning to see that the strong and unequivocal policies that Sanders - and many others - have been advocating for, may not be as pie-in-the-sky as the Clinton campaign worked hard to make people think they were.

Didn't he make some speech (5.00 / 2) (#6)
by jondee on Sat Aug 19, 2017 at 07:33:38 PM EST

around the time his inauguration in which he said we owe HRC a debt of gratitude for her service and now it it's time to move on and get to work fixing the nation's problems, or some such words?

Now he's taking it back and it's all Hillary's fault that he glories in being a ruthless, self-seeking, idiotic horse's ass who pays to get water boarded by Russian women.


At least he reminded us (5.00 / 1) (#7)
by jondee on Sat Aug 19, 2017 at 08:06:17 PM EST

that it's time for the nation to "heel".


: Rob Reiner I believe Tweeted (5.00 / 2) (#9)
by Militarytracy on Sat Aug 19, 2017 at 08:21:56 PM EST

Heel never heel this nation because he a heal ;)

Yes, he did (5.00 / 1) (#8)
by BackFromOhio on Sat Aug 19, 2017 at 08:12:26 PM EST

but the official vote count -- particularly the large number of voters who voted for Hillary in California -- was not deterined/publicized for days after the election.


My husband watched Bill Maher last night (none / 0) (#11)
by Militarytracy on Sun Aug 20, 2017 at 03:00:53 AM EST

And he texted me a snap from the TV of Bill's proposed Trump fountain. His attempt to get the heritage folks to understand a statue of a past experience can be deeply offensive to some people.


For what it's worth: (none / 0) (#14)
by Nemi on Sun Aug 20, 2017 at 08:11:05 AM EST

Donald Trump Applauds Hillary Clinton At His Inaugural Luncheon.

But as has already been pointed out: This was before the official vote count was out. All that illegal voting in California and what not. [snort]


Because he's sick. (5.00 / 4) (#10)
by desertswine on Sat Aug 19, 2017 at 09:49:11 PM EST

: I believe this is the root of the problem (5.00 / 2) (#12)
by Militarytracy on Sun Aug 20, 2017 at 03:03:29 AM EST

Even in the 80's I remember he had a malformed personality. The age he's reached doesn't improve that.

dailymail (none / 0) (#16)
by linea on Sun Aug 20, 2017 at 11:08:45 AM EST

By Jeralyn
Am I the only one who sees Jared's and Ivanka's hand in this?

Donald Trump's controversial aide Steve Bannon was `pushed out' by his daughter Ivanka and her husband because his far-Right views clashed with their Jewish faith, according to Washington sources.
Read more: How Jewish convert Ivanka got 'Bannon the Barbarian' to go

"Washington sources" - Not buying it (5.00 / 3) (#17)
by Yman on Sun Aug 20, 2017 at 11:17:34 AM EST

"A source close to Ivanka"

If Ivanka had that much influence, Bannon (and Gorka, et. al.) would never have been given positions in the West Wing in the first place. Their ties to the Alt-Right were well documented before Trump took office. Ivanka has no zero power, as exemplified by her notable silence after her father's horrendous Charlottesville statement and defense of neo-Nazis. Not that she should have any power, given that she's not qualified to manage a 7/11.


: Yeah that doesn't make any sense (5.00 / 2) (#19)
by jondee on Sun Aug 20, 2017 at 06:17:17 PM EST

like Ivanka and Jared didn't know anything about Bannon and his "Jews will not replace us!" fanboys until a couple of weeks ago..
That story reads like damage control bs put out there to assuage the fears of folks who are now worried that Trump's stongest base of support is neo-nazis and Russian skinheads.