Steve Bannon is returning to the fiery alt-right website that he led before joining the Trump campaign. And his exit from government to Breitbart speaks to a complicated tug of war, not just within the White House but in conservative media. Josh Robin filed the following report.
Breitbart's top story Friday plays it straight. But a top editor has a warning.
"War," he tweeted, adding in a post, "It may turn out to be the beginning of the end for the Trump administration."
To many, Trump is abandoning the so-called alt-right, the nationalist, populist force.
He is firing the man who, arguably more than anyone else, connected him with that force, delivering him the White House.
"All the senior West Wing officials that have plates at the table are Democrats, people who voted for Clinton, Bushies and generals," said former Trump adviser Sam Nunberg. "You know, Steve went in there, and every day, Steve went in there. They wanted him out."
Top among them, it's believed, is son-in-law and aide Jared Kushner, seen as long pushing for Trump to sideline Bannon.
Bannon may not have a West Wing badge, but at Breitbart, he has a major megaphone. That means Bannon's wars are just shifting battlegrounds.
"Breitbart is going to war with this Trump White House when this Trump White House is wrong on issues," Nunberg said.
The Breitbart friction extends to unusual enemies: other websites considered right-wing, like Drudge Report and The Wall Street Journal, owned by Rupert Murdoch.
As for why he was fired, Trump is known to demand credit, always. Recent interviews played up Bannon as a pupeteer, willing to contradict the president.
The question now is, what kind of a president is Donald Trump without his svengali?
"Donald Trump is the only man that could have won that election the way he won it. But he only could have won it with that message, which are principles that we're going to find out if he actually holds dear to now that Steve's not there, or if he's just going to become a typical politician," Nunberg said.