Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is vowing he will “never turn” on his former boss.
But that doesn’t mean Bannon, who has returned to his role as Breitbart’s executive chairman, will go easy on President Donald Trump.
“We will never turn on him,” Bannon promised in an interview with The Economist published Friday. “But we are never going to let him take a decision that hurts him.”
Bannon rejoined Breitbart the same day he left the White House, having been forced out by the President and his new chief of staff, retired Gen. John Kelly.
Bannon has vowed to use the site — which he has termed a “killing machine” — to target his rivals at the White House and continue to keep up pressure on Trump and the White House to make good on Trump’s campaign promises.
But Bannon has already made clear that his vow to “never turn” on Trump does not extend to criticism of his policies and decisions.
Breitbart has bared its teeth since Bannon returned to the helm, terming the President’s decision to send more troops to Afghanistan a “flip-flop.”
It also has run pieces critical of top White House aides, including the President’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, whom Bannon feuded with.
“I am an ideologue, that’s why I am out,” Bannon told The Economist. “I can rally the base, have his back. The harder he pushes, the more we will be there for him.”
Some of Bannon’s ideological allies still remain at the White House, including his deputy, Julia Hahn, and the President’s senior policy adviser and top speechwriter, Stephen Miller. Both share much of Bannon’s nationalist ideology and hardline views on trade and immigration.
Still, Bannon’s departure from the White House has left an ideological void among the President’s top advisers, giving Kushner and his allies an advantage in influencing the President on policy.
