In the midst of a furore about a book on the workings of the White House, the Trump Administration has announced major policy changes.Photo / AP
Opinion
With all the news about Steve Bannon unloading in Michael Wolff's book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, I am reminded of the similarities between Bannon and Nick Nolte's character, Four Leaf Tayback, in the film Tropic Thunder.
Tayback looks like a grizzled, seasoned veteran, but
really, he was just a fraud and a kook. Like Bannon, Tayback wasn't a source of inspiration. He was an overacting phony. Similarly, Bannon was never the focal point of the Trump movement. Rather, he was — and continues to be — a crank.
For whatever reason, Donald Trump gave Bannon a shot and the spotlight that came along with it. But according to Trump, Bannon didn't have much impact on the campaign and he couldn't cut it inside the White House for a single year. And now it appears that what Trump giveth, Trump taketh away. Or maybe not. Democrats and the media don't want Bannon to go away or be silenced. They will do whatever they can to keep the fight going. Democrats want Bannon to testify about Russia, and the media would do anything for some interviews.
Even though Bannon has some redeeming qualities in that his daughter went to West Point and he was a successful banker and entrepreneur, he never knew anything about elections or politics. His gut instincts are warped and have never been aligned with the dynamics of the day.
The media has propped Bannon up, making his influence appear larger than it truly is. But Bannon never had the credentials or the temperament to serve as senior adviser to a presidential campaign, let alone as White House chief strategist. His inexperience and incoherence were apparent and had a profoundly negative impact on the Administration's ability to effectively build coalitions and seek counsel from executive-branch agencies and officials.
