Turncoat

Steve Bannon reportedly has written a book which is harsh on Donald Trump and his family and staff.

Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon has described the Trump Tower meeting between the president’s son and a group of Russians during the 2016 election campaign as “treasonous” and “unpatriotic”, according to an explosive new book seen by the Guardian.

Bannon, speaking to author Michael Wolff, warned that the investigation into alleged collusion with the Kremlin will focus on money laundering and predicted: “They’re going to crack Don Junior like an egg on national TV.”

Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, reportedly based on more than 200 interviews with the president, his inner circle and players in and around the administration, is one of the most eagerly awaited political books of the year. In it, Wolff lifts the lid on a White House lurching from crisis to crisis amid internecine warfare, with even some of Trump’s closest allies expressing contempt for him.

Bannon, speaking to author Michael Wolff, warned that the investigation into alleged collusion with the Kremlin will focus on money laundering and predicted: “They’re going to crack Don Junior like an egg on national TV.”

Donald Trump wasted no time firing back:

“Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my Presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind. Steve was a staffer who worked for me after I had already won the nomination by defeating seventeen candidates, often described as the most talented field ever assembled in the Republican party.

Now that he is on his own, Steve is learning that winning isn’t as easy as I make it look. Steve had very little to do with our historic victory, which was delivered by the forgotten men and women of this country. Yet Steve had everything to do with the loss of a Senate seat in Alabama held for more than thirty years by Republicans. Steve doesn’t represent my base—he’s only in it for himself.

Steve pretends to be at war with the media, which he calls the opposition party, yet he spent his time at the White House leaking false information to the media to make himself seem far more important than he was. It is the only thing he does well. Steve was rarely in a one-on-one meeting with me and only pretends to have had influence to fool a few people with no access and no clue, whom he helped write phony books.

We have many great Republican members of Congress and candidates who are very supportive of the Make America Great Again agenda. Like me, they love the United States of America and are helping to finally take our country back and build it up, rather than simply seeking to burn it all down.”

Trump Jr. piled on:

Steve had the honor of working in the White House & serving the country. Unfortunately, he squandered that privilege & turned that opportunity into a nightmare of backstabbing, harassing, leaking, lying & undermining the President. Steve is not a strategist, he is an opportunist

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) January 3, 2018

Bannon was relieved of his position by Gen, John Kelly, who has brought real order to the White House.  Since then, leaks have been noticeably diminished.

Bannon is a fiery guy, but he is mercurial and wholly self-absorbed. Let’s look back at some of Bannon’s past statements- the ones that tell you a lot about him from his 60 Minutes interview:

• “There’s nothing to the Russia investigation. It’s a waste of time. … I think it’s far from conclusive that the Russians had any impact on this election.”
• “When you side with a man, you side with him,’ okay? The good and the bad. You can criticize him behind, but when you side with him, you have to side with him.”
• Rose: You will not be attacking Donald Trump?Bannon: No, our — our purpose is to support Donald Trump. By the way —

This from CNN

A White House ally who has talked to Bannon said the outgoing chief strategist does not want to go to war with Trump. Bannon is making that clear to close associates in response to Breitbart editor Joel Pollak tweeting #WAR.

“That’s not where Steve’s head is at,” this source said. “He’s been fighting for the exact same things that the President has been fighting for.”

This source quoted Bannon as saying “I want (Trump) to succeed.”

Today things are very different. Today Bannon has become the Tecumseh Sherman of the right, burning down everything that gets under his skin. What we don’t know is which one is/was real. Then again, we do. The real Steve Bannon is the one who gets his way or trashes you.

The fact remains that Bannon almost single-handedly lost the GOP a Senate seat, insisting on his fatally flawed candidate over his party and weakening his President. That pretty much said everything you needed to know about Bannon. He’s not a team player. He cares about one thing- his agenda- not Trump’s. Bannon thought HE was the President.

Tonight on Special Report Byron York said that on political staffs there is always someone who thinks he’s the smartest one in the room, the indispensable one, the real brain. Steve Bannon was that staffer. Trump is right when he said

“Steve doesn’t represent my base—he’s only in it for himself.”

Bannon overestimates his importance, but that’s what the smartest staffer in the room does. It’s political suicide.

The most amusing part of this affair is watching liberals embracing Bannon, the man they so hated like, yesterday.

DrJohn

DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.

DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.

Except for liberals being foolish.