Steve Bannon has called President Donald Trump’s administration the most divided in history in a candid interview about policy divides in the White House and Republican Party.
‘No administration in history has been so divided among itself about the direction about where it should go,’ Bannon told the Washington Post on Saturday, one day after leaving the White House.
Bannon said that Trump’s base is frustrated by Congressional foot-dragging on his campaign promises, including trade, immigration, and taxes.
‘If the Republican Party on Capitol Hill gets behind the president on his plans and not theirs, it will all be sweetness and light, be one big happy family,’ Bannon said.
Steve Bannon (seen center in a file photo from Februrary) has called President Donald Trump’s administration the most divided in history
Bannon said that Trump’s base is frustrated by Congressional foot-dragging on his campaign promises, including trade, immigration, and taxes
Bannon, who is said to be readying his right-wing news operation Breitbart for ‘war’, noted that he doesn’t believe ‘sweetness’ will be forthcoming.
While he was White House chief strategist, Bannon staked out his bitter opposition to the ‘globalist’ set in the Trump administration, describing himself as an economic nationalist who made fulfilling Trump’s campaign vows a top priority.
But he doesn’t believe that the divide between economic nationalists and the Wall Street wing of the Republican party is quite the same as the divides in the country at large.
‘The tensions in the White House are slightly different than the tensions in the country. It’s still a divided country. Fifty percent of the people did not support President Trump. Most of those people do not support his policies in any way, shape or form,’ Bannon said.
Earlier on Saturday, Trump expressed his gratitude to Bannon on social media.
‘I want to thank Steve Bannon for his service. He came to the campaign during my run against Crooked Hillary Clinton – it was great! Thanks S,’ Trump wrote to his Twitter feed.
Trump’s chief political strategist departed just shy of seven months into the administration.
President Donald Trump sent his appreciation for Steve Bannon in a tweet less than 24 hours after being fired from the administration
Bannon returned to his former post as executive chairman at Breitbart News
Bannon has already returned to lead Brietbart News, a position he held before leaving last year to help the Trump campaign
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement on Friday: ‘White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Steve Bannon have mutually agreed today would be Steve’s last day.’
‘We are grateful for his service and wish him the best,’ she said.
Bannon’s exit is the latest in a string of high-profile departures from the White House, which includes former chief of staff Reince Priebus and ex-White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, among others.
The administration has also seen former National Security Director Michael Flynn depart in January, and Anthony Scaramucci, White House Communications Director, sacked in late July.
The Brietbart News editor did not leave in a whimper, however, telling The Weekly Standard shortly after his dismissal that he’s finally ‘free’ to ‘crush the opposition.’
‘I’ve got my hands back on my weapons,’ Bannon, 63, told the publication. ‘Someone said, ‘it’s Bannon the Barbarian.’ I am definitely going to crush the opposition.’
US President Donald Trump disembarks from Air Force One upon arrival at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, New Jersey
Media reports suggest that the ‘opposition’ consist of senior economic adviser Gary Cohn, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and National Security Adviser HR McMaster, officials Bannon views as moderating forces in the West Wing steering the President away from a nationalist agenda.
Rumors of Bannon’s imminent ouster swirled around Washington for weeks before Friday, with aides in the White House suggesting Bannon’s toxic rapport with McMaster and Cohn was leading to his imminent dismissal.
According to The New York Times, Bannon’s caustic disposition didn’t help either. He who would frequently clash with other senior aides on issues over trade, the war in Afghanistan, taxes, immigration and the role of government.
The Times also reported that Trump had grown weary of Bannon over the past several months, believing that he was a source of leaking in the White House and angry that he was promoting his image in the media.
By Friday night, Bannon was back at an editorial board meeting at Brietbart News, assuming his prior position as head of the company before leaving last year to help Trump run his presidential campaign.