Bannon flies close to the sun
Via Niall Stanage and the Hill
Could Stephen Bannon be getting too big for the White House?
The controversial counselor to the president has seen his profile soar higher than ever in recent days.
A close-up image of him fills the cover of the current edition of Time magazine. He was portrayed as the Grim Reaper — and also as the real power behind the White House’s Resolute desk — on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” over the weekend.
And any number of stories have focused on his influence over Trump, as well as the power dynamics between him and other top White House players, notably chief of staff Reince Priebus.
How does his boss feel about that, given that the 45th president tends to be suspicious of anyone around him competing for the spotlight?
A tweet from the president early on Monday morning hinted at an answer.
“I call my own shots, largely based on an accumulation of data, and everyone knows it,” Trump said.
According to NBC News Editor Bradd Jaffy, Trump’s tweet was sent about one hour after MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” played a clip of the “Saturday Night Live” skit, showed an image of the Time cover and posed the question of whether Bannon was “calling all the shots.”
The previous day, Madeleine Albright — secretary of State during Bill Clinton's presidency and a close ally of 2016 candidate Hillary Clinton had told CNN that she assumed Bannon was “the person that’s pulling the strings.”
That’s the kind of comment that could rile the president further.
“I assume President Trump was not pleased with the Time cover, because that is reserved for Donald Trump said one White House source granted anonymity to speak candidly.
“At the same time, Steve Bannon cannot necessarily control whether he is on that cover.”
Bannon declined to be interviewed by Time for the story, and the photograph had been shot on an earlier occasion. But it raised eyebrows among Trump supporters nonetheless.
“Any time you have staff members on the cover of Time magazine, that’s a problem,” said John Feehery, a Trump-supporting GOP strategist and longtime Capitol Hill aide.
“It’s fine for family to be on the cover. It’s fine even for political opponents to be on the cover. Staff members shouldn’t be on the cover,” Feehery, who is also a columnist for The Hill, said.
An email to Bannon seeking comment for this column was not returned. Read more HERE
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