Donald Trump’s controversial aide Steve Bannon was ‘pushed out’ by his daughter Ivanka and her husband because his far-Right views clashed with their Jewish faith, according to Washington sources
Donald Trump’s controversial aide Steve Bannon was ‘pushed out’ by his daughter Ivanka and her husband because his far-Right views clashed with their Jewish faith, according to Washington sources.
Chief strategist Bannon, 63, helped orchestrate the US President’s stunning election victory but was vilified for his extreme opinions.
Many blamed him for Trump’s failure last week to condemn neo-Nazis after a violent rally in Virginia at which a woman was killed and dozens were injured.
First daughter Ivanka converted to Orthodox Judaism when she wed millionaire businessman Jared Kushner in 2009.
The couple have three children. A source said: ‘Jared and Ivanka helped push him out. They were concerned about how they were being viewed by the Jewish community.’
The couple’s Rabbi Emeritus Haskel Lookstein wrote a letter condemning ‘this resurgence of bigotry and anti-Semitism and the renewed vigour of the neo-Nazis, KKK and alt-Right’ in a letter posted on the Facebook site of the synagogue the pair attend.
Bannon’s ousting was ‘done to save the Presidency’, a source close to Ivanka claimed. ‘Him leaving changes everything.’
Bannon – whose nickname is ‘Bannon the Barbarian’ – is the founder of Right-wing news site Breitbart, which has rallied against Jews and Muslims.
He is widely credited with building Trump’s support with America’s extreme ‘alt-Right’, which helped win the Presidency.
While he has denied being a racist, his website attacked the family of a Muslim soldier who died in Iraq and has advocated a total Muslim immigration ban.
Bannon’s ex-wife, Mary Piccard, claimed he didn’t not want their children to go to an elite Los Angeles school ‘because he didn’t want the girls going to school with Jews… he doesn’t like Jews’.
Ivanka has praised Judaism for creating ‘an amazing blueprint’ for family life and has said she keeps a kosher home and observes the rules of Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, including not working or using electronics.
Many blamed him for Trump’s failure last week to condemn neo-Nazis after a violent rally in Virginia at which a woman was killed and dozens were injured
Trump was attacked last week after he failed to condemn the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, during which an anti-racist protester was killed after being deliberately run over.
Trump claimed there ‘were a lot of bad people’ protesting at the Nazi march, a comment that ‘caused tension among the whole family’, sources say, but which drew praise from a former leader of the Klu Klux Klan.
Bannon returned to his position as head of far-Right news site Breitbart after his firing on Friday.
A bullish Bannon said that he would ‘go to war’ for Trump and ‘crush’ his opponents in politics and the media: ‘I feel pumped up. I’ve got my hands back on my weapons.’
The White House insisted Bannon’s exit was a decision made by President Trump and his chief of staff, General John Kelly.
Heather Heyer, an anti-Nazi protester was killed when James Fields drove his car into the crowd at a white supremacist rally last Saturday. Her mother has refused to accept Trump’s phone calls.