Hell Hath No Fury Like a Bannon Scorned
Former White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon has declared the Trump administration the most divided in history, as reports emerge that he's eyeing the launch of a populist right TV network to rival Fox News.
Speaking to the Washington Post Saturday following his departure from the Trump administration, the populist firebrand described a White House divided.
“No administration in history has been so divided among itself about the direction about where it should go,” Bannon said, adding that Trump’s base is frustrated by a congressional agenda that has pursued traditional Republican priorities than the agenda Trump championed.
In the wake of his departure, Bannon returned to his position as editor of the populist right-wing Breitbart News website, which he held before joining Trump’s campaign a year ago. He has pledged to wage “war” against the enemies of Trump’s agenda, with reports indicating that Breitbart will target White House officials Bannon has branded "globalists" and "Democrats" inside the West Wing.
Bannon told Bloomberg Businessweek's Josh Green on Friday that he's "going to war for Trump against his opponents — on Capitol Hill, in the media, and in corporate America."
He told the Post that “If the Republican Party on Capitol Hill gets behind the president on his plans and not theirs, it will all be sweetness and light, be one big happy family.”
He cautioned not to expect “sweetness” any time soon though.
Bannon reportedly met with Trump backer, Breitbart funder and billionaire Robert Mercer in the days before his White House departure, and according to the New Yorker magazine’s Jane Mayer is considering a TV spin-off of the Breitbart website.
Mayer said in an appearance on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow show that Breitbart TV would go far beyond the video streaming service offered on the Breitbart News website, allowing the brand to extend its influence beyond Twitter.
The station could even position itself as a rival to Fox News, the right-wing news network that has backed Trump’s presidency, but whose CEO, Rupert Murdoch, was reportedly among those with the ear of the president who called for Bannon to be sacked.
Axios reported that Bannon sees a huge opening to the right of Fox, which he says has veered to the center under the control of Murdoch's sons.
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