Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon stepped down Tuesday as executive chairman of Breitbart News, a swift and stunning fall for a leading figure on the American right who was recently rebuked by President Donald Trump and abandoned by his key financial backer.
Trump publicly broke with Bannon in dramatic fashion last week, suggesting his former top adviser had “lost his mind” in response to critical comments Bannon made about members of the Trump family and campaign in Michael Wolff’s incendiary new book, “Fire and Fury.”
Breitbart's announcement came on the same day that Trump discussed comprehensive immigration reform at the White House and said he would attend the elite World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, later this month, and just weeks after he signed a bill cutting taxes for corporations and the wealthy — all moves that cut against Bannon’s nationalist, populist vision and show how his influence has waned since he was hailed as the mastermind behind Trump's 2016 victory.
“I’m proud of what the Breitbart team has accomplished in so short a period of time in building out a world-class news platform," Bannon said in a statement on Tuesday. Breitbart CEO Larry Solov said Bannon “is a valued part of our legacy, and we will always be grateful for his contributions, and what he has helped us to accomplish.”
Bannon also lost his Sirius radio show and seems to be completely without a job at this point.
And without his ties to the White House, his money from the Mercer family, or his Breitbart media platform, Bannon is now essentially a non-entity whose his former political influence is now just a memory.
This has to please the Republican establishment to no end, as Bannon was a huge supporter of Right Wing challengers.
I think this is only the first casualty from Michael Wolff's book, and the final casualty may be Donald Trump himself.
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