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Morning Briefing: Steve Bannon Basically Calls Trump a Blustering Idiot

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | August 17, 2017 |

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | August 17, 2017 |


On Tuesday, after Trump’s disastrous little press conference, it appeared that Steve Bannon’s job was safe. The President had said he was a good man and a friend, said he wasn’t racist, etc., etc.

Then Bannon gave an interview to the liberal publication, The Prospect, and like Scaramucci, Bannon says that he didn’t know it was on the record, but I think the media savvy Bannon knew exactly what he was doing when he basically called the President an idiot, calling his own boss’s bluff on North Korea:

“There’s no military solution, forget it. Until somebody solves the part of the equation that shows me that 10 million people in Seoul don’t die in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons, I don’t know what you’re talking about, there’s no military solution here, they got us.”

“On Korea,” he said, “they’re just tapping us along. It’s just a sideshow.”

So, the “fire and fury” remarks were just blustering bullshit? OK. Good of Bannon to call his boss out on that. I guess North Korea knows that now, too. Cool, cool, cool.

He also rightfully called the white nationalists clowns.

“Ethno-nationalism — it’s losers. It’s a fringe element. I think the media plays it up too much, and we gotta help crush it, you know, eh, help crush it more. These guys are a collection of clowns.”

He’s not wrong about that, although that’s not exactly going to help Trump with his base of white supremacists.

But, he added, “The longer they talk about identity politics, I got ‘em. I want them to talk about racism every day. If the left is focused on race and identity, and we go with economic nationalism, we can crush the Democrats.”

Seems like that message of “economic nationalism” is getting completely drowned out by talk of racism, but what do I know? I’m no Steve Bannon.

The President’s senior advisor also suggested that some in the White House — like Gary Cohn — are “wetting themselves,” and that he was going to remove those in the Administration who are not more aggressive on China re: trade policy:

“I’m changing out people at East Asian Defense; I’m getting hawks in. I’m getting Susan Thornton out at State.”

To sum: Bannon undermined the President on North Korea; he called the alt-white a bunch of “clowns,” and he threatened to oust several members of the White House staff. Should be an interesting day.

— Meanwhile, Trump also took to Twitter this morning to lambaste two Republican Senators and the news media.

Quick. Someone ask Donald Trump if he knows what “moral equivalency” means.

Dude. We watched the press conference. No misrepresentation necessary.

— Oh, and now he’s expressing sadness about the removal of Confederate statues, because of course he is.

So. Much. Beauty.

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— Trump has no friends left. His staff is dispirited. World leaders have denounced him. The business community has abandoned him. Congress wants nothing to do with him. He’s going to be super effective now!

— Here’s the cover of this week’s The Economist. Devastating.

The article also says that Trump is completely unfit for the job, which we already knew.

— Elsewhere, USA Today is the first major newspaper to call for Trump’s censure. God, I would love to see that, if only because being chastened by people he considers below him would set the f**ker off.

— Maybe this statement would’ve sounded OK a few months ago, but the idea of having to wait around until 2020? Good God, no. Can the GOP primary him now?

— But let’s end on a positive note. Here’s sounds from a Charlottesville vigil last night to pay tribute to Heather Heyer.

There’s your “violent” alt-left, Trump.