It was a shocking move when President Trump appointed former media executive Steve Bannon to the National Security Council back in January. And it was just as shocking to learn this week that Bannon had been removed from said council. What’s going on behind the scenes? Political junkies didn’t have to wait long to find out-sources told the Daily Beast that Bannon and Jared Kushner, the President’s senior advisor and son-in-law, are “fighting nonstop.”
They are both Trump insiders, so what is there to fight about? Apparently Bannon and Kushner disagree about almost everything. “It’s all about policy. There’s tension [between them] on trade, health care, immigration, taxes, [terrorism]-you name it,” said a senior official.
“Here’s the reason there’s no middle ground. You’re a Democrat.”
Two policy efforts led by Bannon-the Muslim travel ban and Trumpcare-were both big, public failures, which is increasing the tension, says the report. Now it seems Bannon has sunk to straight-up name-calling. Bannon “recently vented to us about Jared being a ‘globalist’ and a ‘cuck’… He actually said ‘cuck,’ as in ‘cuckservative,'” the source said. (Per Urban Dictionary, a cuckservative is “a self-styled ‘conservative’ who will cravenly sell out and undermine his home country’s people, culture, and national interest in order to win approval with parties hostile or indifferent to them.)
Despite the fact that cuckservative derives from the word “cuckold” (i.e. the husband of an adultress) it still doesn’t seem to be the nastiest insult Bannon has hurled Kushner’s way. According to the New York Times, there’s been another: Democrat. “Here’s the reason there’s no middle ground. You’re a Democrat,” Bannon said to Kushner this week. And in fairness, the Trump and Kushner families both have long histories of donating to and endorsing Democrats (including Hillary Clinton)… right up until Donald decided to run for president,as a Republican.
No one knows how this cattiness will develop over the coming weeks and months of the Trump administration. But with the many things on the president’s plate, playing referee between his two besties shouldn’t be one of them.
President Donald Trump wavered in his support for White House aide and strategist Steve Bannon in an interview with The New York Post on Tuesday, following stories of a rift forming between Bannon and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
“I like Steve, but you have to remember he was not involved in my campaign until very late,” Trump said. “I had already beaten all the senators and all the governors, and I didn’t know Steve. I’m my own strategist, and it wasn’t like I was going to change strategies because I was facing crooked Hillary.
“Steve is a good guy, but I told them to straighten it out or I will,” Trump said.
Trump “didn’t know Steve”?
That’s an altogether different story than Trump told when he first hired Bannon, a former top editor at the conservative website Breitbart, onto his campaign staff last fall. It also directly contradicts the public record.
Trump announced the hiring of Bannon and adviser Kellyanne Conway as part of the Trump campaign on Aug. 17, 2016. Here’s what he said at that time:
“I have known Steve and Kellyanne both for many years. They are extremely capable, highly qualified people who love to win and know how to win,” Trump said. “I believe we’re adding some of the best talents in politics, with the experience and expertise needed to defeat Hillary Clinton in November and continue to share my message and vision to Make America Great Again. I am committed to doing whatever it takes to win this election, and ultimately become President because our country cannot afford four more years of the failed Obama-Clinton policies which have endangered our financial and physical security.”
So, in Trump’s own words he either “didn’t know Steve,” or he has “known Steve … for many years.”
One of those claims is clearly wrong.
Rebecca Berg of RealClearPolitics provides the answer. She reported the day after Bannon’s hiring by the campaign that Bannon first met Trump in 2011, when Trump was considering whether to challenge President Barack Obama in 2012. In later years, Bannon hosted a radio program in which Trump was a frequent guest, Berg reported.
“As Breitbart grew, Mr. Trump was constantly in touch with Steve about news articles and doing interviews with his reporters,” David Bossie, president of the conservative advocacy nonprofit Citizens United, told RealClearPolitics.
The Washington Post counted nine times that Trump appeared as a guest on Bannon’s radio show.
That version of events is corroborated by The New Yorker. “In 2011, David Bossie, the head of the conservative group Citizens United, introduced Trump to Bannon; at the time, Trump was thinking about running against Obama. Bannon and Trump met at Trump Tower and discussed a possible campaign. Trump decided against the idea, but the two kept in touch, and Bannon gave Trump admiring coverage. Bannon noticed that, when Trump spoke to crowds, people were electrified. Bannon began to think that Trump might be “the one” who could shake up American politics.”
Reporters who covered the Trump campaign were buzzled by Trump’s retelling of events.
“Trump claiming he didn’t know Bannon till late in campaign is flatly untrue,” tweeted Maggie Haberman of the New York Times. Added McKay Coppins of The Atlantic: “Just for the record: Trump is pretty blatantly not telling the truth when he says he didn’t know Bannon until late in the campaign.”
We’ve reached out to the White House and will update this post if we hear back.
Our ruling
Trump said that before the presidential campaign, “I didn’t know Steve,” referring to Steve Bannon.
That’s contradicted by Trump’s own words and independent reporting.
We rate this claim Pants on Fire.
Morning, in truth, bannon really want to use the derogatory words reserve for Jews.
America and its ratchet monarchs 😀
Instead of saying this is untrue just call the ass what he is a LIAR. Trump loves loyalty but is only loyal to himself. Bannon is not only a white supremacists,but he is also an anti-semite(sp?) Jared and his daughters are Jews. No doubt Trump used Bannon to get elected only to kick him to the curb once he is in office. Bannon should start spilling ALL the dirt on Trump, plz Bannon be the pettiest prick ever in politics.
@Terry thats what happens when you have a house infested with rats,mongooses and weasels, not to mention a swamp filled with crocodiles, alligators and other reptiles :ngakak
Kiss ass long enuff u taste shit. Damn fools
Bwoy trump deh pan some oda ting. Str8888 madness…. of course dem naw go feeit but him just a play by feem rules what eva works feem he’s evil anyway…. most of them are trump mentally ill can tell watch an listen when him talk. Dem more dan likely ago kill him cause yea dem nuh really care bout di ppl but dem still have dem rules. But wah a mix fi see dis Madman wah him ago do next dem a get di ppl prepared fi di new.