The Knives Are Out for Steve Bannon: Wall Street Journal Slams Trump Adviser in Scalding Editorial
Hits against President Donald Trump’s senior counselor Steve Bannon are circulating Tuesday morning, with "Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough saying it’s “hard to find a more villainous historical figure this side of Stalin or Hitler.”
In a blistering editorial in the Wall Street Journal Tuesday, Bannon and his protégé Stephen Miller are described as the architects behind the strategy of polarization being seen in Trump’s White House. The editorial board goes on to blame Bannon and Miller for Trump’s “biggest mistakes of the first five weeks,” namely the immigration executive order and constant flubs over Trump’s Russian ties and retired General Michael Flynn.
The Journal explained that Bannon will never be capable of producing the results he and Trump are promising. In the end, Bannon may even undermine Trump’s entire agenda. The paper rejected Trump’s proposed tariffs because they will reduce trade and ultimately slow growth. Similarly, the editorial knocked Trump’s overly severe immigration laws that will ultimately cause a significant labor shortage and force companies to move elsewhere.
Trump’s Bannon-Miller policies are also prompting Republicans to distance themselves, and according to the Journal, prompted senators to abandon his Labor Secretary nominee Andy Puzder. Even bruised Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) announced his support for a special prosecutor to investigate Trump, his White House and his campaign for ties to Russia.
However, the Journal proclaimed Trump’s political future will ultimately live and die by the conservative Republican establishment that Bannon has spent his political career fighting. Trump’s own progress will come not from the determination to return to conservative values but from the successes or failures of the economic prosperity he swears is imminent under his leadership. Trump must also meet the promises he made to his base like repealing and replacing Obamacare, passing a substantial tax cut and breaking ground on his "big beautiful, wall."
If he’s going to make it happen, the Journal explains Trump’s administration must seek out bipartisanship and not the Bannon-Miller polarization seen on the campaign trail.
