Trump Fires His Highest-Ranked Loyalist--who then seems to begin his life of crime
On This Day In 2017
Steve Bannon led Trump’s successful 2016 campaign down the home stretch, and eventually wrote the infamous phrase “American Carnage” into his inaugural address. For his efforts, Bannon scored the position of “chief strategist” once Trump entered the White House.
However, Bannon’s not the most diplomatic guy, and after a few months he was skating on increasingly thin ice. OTDI 2017, finally Trump kicked him out, with a tepid pat on the back via Twitter.
Trump was annoyed that Bannon took too much credit for his Electoral College win, and his displeasure lingered. Bannon wasn't thrilled either; after his axing, he was quoted talking about Trump’s relations with Russians during the 2016 campaign. Trump was furious: "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," he retorted.
Remarkably enough, Bannon still continued to grovel for Trump. He and some buddies then developed a scheme to grab money from thousands of unsuspecting Trump fans, claiming they would help build Trump’s pet wall themselves and that all the funds raised would go towards the wall. Bannon, not surprisingly, was indicted on fraud charges. Trump, also not surprisingly, pardoned him (even before the trial began)---as Trump did for several of his fellow felons and criminals who worked under him. The ol’ softie. (Bannon's co-conspirators, who weren't so lucky to get blessed with a Trump pardon, ended up sentenced to jail for up to 4+ years).
Bannon, though, refused to stay out of lockup. He’s currently serving a four-month sentence in the Danbury Federal Correctional Institution for contempt of Congress—and even Trump couldn’t pardon him out of that one. And when he gets out this time? He's going back on trial -- this time on state charges -- for that pet wall business.
* The men in this pic — Bannon and Priebus — were two of Trump’s picks for the very most important positions in the White House. Those two lasted in the White House only a combined 13 months.
The existence of JD Vance on the national stage has reminded us that, as with these two, Trump has truly terrible hiring skills. Trump also has truly terrible people skills: It seems Priebus got fired and was immediately kicked out – literally – from the presidential motorcade he was sitting in.
Get Weirder; Dive Deeper
CNN has the report on Bannon’s firing
The BBC chronicles Bannon’s relationship with Trump
The AP has the report on Bannon’s pardon
Vox has the Priebus story
Pic: by Gage Skidmore