Bannon: Trump’s Charlottesville Remarks A Defeat For ‘Globalists’

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By Daniel J. Solomon August 18, 2017

While some of the president’s closest advisers were disgusted with his comments this week on Charlottesville, chief strategist Steve Bannon was thrilled, according to friends and associates who spoke to him afterward.

“Steve was proud of how [Trump] stood up to the braying mob of reporters,” one person who spoke to Bannon told the Axios newsletter. Another said that the press conference, in which the president blamed both sides for the weekend violence in Virginia, was a “defining moment,” when Trump ditched so-called “globalists” in order to line up with “his people.”

Bannon was also said to applaud the dissolution of two corporate advisory councils, which Trump disbanded as chief executives abandoned after the Charlottesville remarks. According to Axios, Bannon dismissed the company leaders as the “Davos” crowd – a reference to the Swiss resort town where global elites gather for conferences.

Still, Bannon remains on the outs within the administration – with constant rumors spreading that he could be ousted from the administration. Asked about Bannon’s status within the White House, Trump was equivocal at the infamous Tuesday presser, telling reporters “We’ll see.”

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at solomon@forward.com or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

Daniel J. Solomon is the former Assistant to the Editor/News Writer at the Forward. Originally from Queens, he attended Harvard as an undergraduate, where he wrote his senior thesis on French-Jewish intellectual history. He is excited to have returned to New York after his time in Massachusetts. Daniel’s passions include folk music, cycling, and pointed argument.

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