Be Your Own Man

One of the defining characteristics of Donald Trump is that he created and cultivated his own image. He controls the narrative because he doesn’t rely on consultants to tell him how to “spin” what he says. There are many stories of Trump acting as his own public relations agent (John Miller, for example). That assumes Trump either didn’t trust anyone to act in that capacity, or couldn’t find someone who was willing to brag about Trump’s romantic life or the destruction of his enemies.

Steve Bannon was the opposite of that in many ways. Bannon served in the military. He worked in the investment business at Goldman Sachs and helped to produce films and TV shows. Still, Bannon remained behind the scenes. Between the time he became the Executive Chair of Breitbart News until he became the Executive Chair of the Trump Campaign, most stories about Bannon were exposes of him as an unseen force behind the “alt-right.”

I expect that Bannon did not want to outshine Trump as much as he wanted to control the president. Bannon had lists of “promises” to the American people. He was likely the leaker of stories meant to keep Trump in line or disparage his opponents (Ivanka and Jared come to mind). Donald Trump is easily influenced, but his actions are largely dictated by how they will look and how they affect his public image. If that sounds bad, Obama and Clinton operated the same way, only they had other people telling them how to spin the events of the day.

I’ve already predicted that Trump will betray many people before this term is over. Bannon learned that he was a useful tool for Trump, but had no power of his own. His plan to run a series of crazy Roy Moores in nearly every GOP Senate primary is in tatters. He lost the support of megadonor Rebekah Mercer when he supported Moore. This week, he had to step down from Breitbart News when his leaking became more public.

Donald Trump is his own man, Steve Bannon merely tried to benefit off the work of other men.

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