If You are Pro-Trump, Bannon is Bad News

Politics

If You are Pro Trump, Bannon is Bad News

FACTS ONLY: Trump has reorganized the National Security Council by elevating his chief political strategist Steve Bannon, and demoting the Director of National Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Bannon will join the NSC's principals committee, the top inter-agency group advising the President on national security. And the Director of National Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will now attend meetings only when "issues pertaining to their responsibilities and expertise are to be discussed," according to the presidential memorandum issued yesterday.- Robert Reich (not fans of his economics policies adn made an effort to not include his spin here)

EDIT- While MSM is waking up to the EO giving Bannon more authority than the Jt Chiefs on the NSC Principals committee we wrote this last night. For us: there are facts and conjecture. Combining these 2 one can induce risk and probability.

MSM will be debating precedent, validity, constitutionality, and risks. Already done last night here. This is enough info and analysis for readers to form their own opinion and further their own understanding. Most of what is out there is partisan tripe, and half-assed analysis. The facts are all here for you to form your own opinion. And there is always bias, which we acknowledge in our analysis. We fear and want Bannon removed now. But that conclusion was made after the analysis.

DNI and Chairman of Joint Chiefs no longer automatic NSC Principals Committee

The Story:

Originally published Jan 28th , 10:08 PM on MarketSlant FaceBook Page

While people were protesting Trumps Wall and Refugee Ban, most of the press missed this..

A New Executive Order from Trump removes Director of National Intelligence & Joint Chiefs of Staff from National Security Council
The President removed the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Director of National Intelligence from the NSC and added Bannon to it along with Kushner, KellyAnne Conway as attendees.
Bannon given permanent member status.

TheExecutive Order

Note the 3rd paragraph. Steve Bannon's WH title is "Counselor to the President" for reference.- Soren K.

"..one person who is indispensable would be the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in my view."- sanity returns for John McCain?

ANALYSIS AND OPINIONPotentially a very big deal. Here's a quick overview.

Constitutionality Issue?Not a violation in any way.The constitution presumes benevolence from all parties to it. This isn't that. This is more like a stacked deck being put in place in an area that has a ton of discretion.

Trump's Doing?He signed the order. But Trump's status is still debatable within his own party in this area. Whether "he's the man with the plan" or "being played the fool by his own" remains to be seen. Assuming Trump fully sees the angles, it still smells like Bannon's doing to us.

When one notes that DHS, DOJ, and DOS are not being consulted on EOs, and Bannon/Conway have been closest to Trump lately, it is kind of creepy.

President Bannon

Based on Info and History:We'd bet Bannon, Pence etc have been planning/ researching this for a while now.

This is when you start hearing things like "President Bannon"..in response to the question "Who's in charge here?"

And Pence couldn't get re-elected in Indiana. But look where he is now. These guys are no dummies.

To That Effect:Note that Bannon has a higher status on the new NSC than the Director of National Intelligence and the Joint Chiefs. That to us is insane.If you had to open a Schrodinger box with Bannon in it, the probability wave would collapse as BLOG HATE MONGER for the guy.If you did not like Cheney, you'll despise Bannon.

The Likely Partisan Debate:

Democrats will point fingers saying these positions are historically off limits to "political hacks".
GOP would correctly remind Dems that Axelrod attended meetings when Obama was Potus. And Bannon is Axelrod's counterpart for Trump.
But... Axelrod had national security credentials prior to becoming a "political hack". Bannon? He ran Breitbart.

Conclusions:1-the Bannon/Axelrod comparison is not valid.

2- this is Trump ignoring another traditional practice and putting his guy "in charge"

OR..

2.1- this is trump being led by the nose by Bannon, as some people believe Trump is easily lead if it means he'll be more liked.If 2.1 it is dangerous. As in coup dangerous in the wrong hands. Paranoia aside, the Bannon/Joint Chief swap is extending executive power and weakening checks. That's IF Bannon is Trump's boy.And to spice it up, this should fan flames on the Russian angle.-Soren K.