Vanity Fair is out with a lengthy profile of Steve Bannon, and the headline floats a provocative idea: "Is Steve Bannon Running For President?" Reporter Gabriel Sherman writes that Bannon called an adviser in October and said he'd consider a run if Trump opts not to run for re-election himself. What's more, Bannon has privately told people there's a decent chance Trump will not be on the 2020 ticket, according to the story, which says the pair have spoken five times by phone since Bannon left. (After the Vanity Fair article came out, a Bannon spokesperson told CNN that Bannon is "100% not running for president.") Other parts that are drawing attention:
- Trump comparison: Bannon has told advisers that Trump has "lost a step" and joked that "he's like an 11-year-old child."
- Unlikely praise: Bannon has a high opinion of the "Obama model" and plans to borrow it to form a coalition ranging from evangelicals to union members. "Remember when Rudy Giuliani came up on that stage in 2008 and starting mocking Obama and said, 'What’s a community organizer'? And the whole place roared in laughter. Well, we now know—it’s somebody that can kick your ass."
- Javanka: The piece details the nasty infighting between Bannon and the team of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. The president once tried to broker a truce at a meeting, and Sherman's account has Bannon calling her "the queen of leaks" and her shouting back, "You're a f------ liar!" Bannon blames Kushner for much of Trump's Russia problems, saying he unwisely took meetings looking for dirt on Hillary Clinton.
Click for the
full story, in which Bannon seems OK with the notion that his political movement may not succeed. "I’m not a political operative," he tells Sherman. "I’m a revolutionary." (More
Steve Bannon stories.)
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