James Forsyth James Forsyth

Donald Trump turns on Steve Bannon

Steve Bannon fast became the most powerful person in the world you’ve never heard of. The man behind the Breitbart website became Donald Trump’s chief strategist and was credited with both Trump’s presidential victory and his wholehearted embrace of an America First, nationalist position in his first month in office.

But Bannon’s influence has been on the wane in recent weeks. He’s got into a power struggle with the President’s beloved son-in-law Jared Kushner; despite one of the rules of Trump world being that family always wins. The ‘establishment’ have also gained at his expense. As I say in the magazine this week, the Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and the National Security Adviser HR McMaster are now in the ascendancy on national security matters. The result is a far more traditional, and less ideologically driven, foreign policy than Bannon would like.

Now, Trump is publicly distancing himself from Bannon.

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