The acrimony surrounding former White House adviser Steve Bannon’s very public spat with Donald Trump is escalating, suggesting a permanent split between the US president and the strategist who helped put him in the Oval Office.
The new fissure in an already fractious Republican Party cast doubt on Mr Bannon’s hopes of fomenting a movement centred on “Trumpism without Trump”.
It has already cost him a key backer – billionaire donor and Breitbart co-owner Rebekah Mercer issued a statement distancing her family from him.
“I support President Trump and the platform upon which he was elected,” she said. “My family and I have not communicated with Steve Bannon in many months and have provided no financial support to his political agenda, nor do we support his recent actions and statements.”
White House officials described the president as furious at Mr Bannon’s criticisms, laid out in an explosive new book which quotes the former aide as questioning Mr Trump’s competence and describing a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between Donald Trump Jr, Trump campaign aides and a Russian lawyer as “treasonous” and “unpatriotic”.
On Twitter on Thursday night, Mr Trump said the book was full of “lies, misrepresentations and sources that don’t exist”. He also came up with a new nickname for Mr Bannon: “Sloppy Steve”.
A parade of administration officials and allies worked to discredit Mr Bannon as a disgruntled has-been. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders went so far as to suggest that he ought to be booted out of Breitbart, the populist website he helps to run.
Mr Bannon had helped Mr Trump form a coalition of anti-establishment Republicans, blue-collar working class and economic nationalists that launched him to the White House, but Mr Trump had long ago grown frustrated that Mr Bannon seemed to be overstepping his role.
The self-appointed keeper of Mr Trump’s nationalist flame during the president’s first six months in office, Mr Bannon had soured on the president even before he was pushed out of the White House for feeding the perception that he was Mr Trump’s puppeteer.
From left, to right, Jared Kushner, Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus in Washington DC (Stefan Rousseau/PA)
None of Mr Bannon’s close associates was willing to speak publicly about the fallout but privately conceded that the explosive comments may forever tarnish his brand.
Mr Bannon’s political appeal had been deeply tied to the perception that he was an ally of Mr Trump. Those close to Mr Bannon feared that the connection had been permanently severed.
Mr Bannon was preparing to launch a non-profit organisation designed to help give Mr Trump’s brand of conservative populism a permanent base. It is unclear how the new rift, and the related impact on major donors, will affect the organisation, dubbed Citizens of the American Republic.
Some Trump allies also expressed satisfaction that Mr Bannon appeared to be finally cast out of the president’s inner circle.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a longtime punchbag for Mr Bannon, revelled in the row. “I’d like to associate myself with what the president had to say about Steve Bannon,” he said mischievously.
Michael Wolff’s book, Fire And Fury: Inside The Trump White House, quickly shot to the top of Amazon’s best-seller list, and the publisher brought its release date forward by four days, to Friday.
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