The president may be planning to not only boot Bannon from his job as chief strategist, but may also replace chief of staff Reince Priebus, according to a report from Axios. Although Axios received this tip from a number of aides and advisers, one of them cautioned that "it's very unclear the president's willing to pull that trigger."
While there aren't any indications about who Trump would choose as his new chief strategist, a number of high-profile Republicanshave been reported to be under consideration for chief of staff. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California is perhaps the most prominent name on that list, followed by the director of the National Economic Council (and former Goldman Sachs banker) Gary Cohn. The list is rounded out by David Urban, who helped Trump win Pennsylvania during the 2016 presidential election, and Wayne Berman, who was assistant secretary of commerce under President George H. W. Bush and has extensive experience working on presidential campaigns.
If Trump kicks out Priebus and Bannon, this will merely confirm that the ongoing internal clash between Trump loyalists and more establishment thinkers has reached a critical mass. While this has even trickled down to individual Cabinet departments, it is perhaps best exemplified in the ongoing feud between Bannon and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and adviser. Bannon has told Kushner to his face that he believes Kushner is still a Democrat, while a senior White House official told The Atlantic that Kushner is a "liberal Democrat." In general the conflict boils down to ideology: Bannon and his supporters in the White House want to openly push for the deregulatory and anti-establishment ideology that they argue got Trump elected, while Kushner and his supporters advocate a more pragmatic approach to governing.
By Matthew Rozsa
Matthew Rozsa is a professional writer whose work has appeared in multiple national media outlets since 2012 and exclusively at Salon since 2016. He received a Master's Degree in History from Rutgers-Newark in 2012, was a guest on Fox Business in 2019, repeatedly warned of Trump's impending refusal to concede during the 2020 election, spoke at the Commonwealth Club of California in 2021, was awarded a science journalism fellowship from the Metcalf Institute in 2022 and appeared on NPR in 2023. His diverse interests are reflected in his interviews including: President Jimmy Carter (1977-1981), Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak (1999-2001), animal scientist and autism activist Temple Grandin, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (1997-2001), director Jason Reitman ("The Front Runner"), inventor Ernő Rubik, comedian Bill Burr ("F Is for Family"), novelist James Patterson ("The President's Daughter"), epidemiologist Monica Gandhi, theoretical cosmologist Janna Levin, voice actor Rob Paulsen ("Animaniacs"), mRNA vaccine pioneer Katalin Karikó, philosopher of science Vinciane Despret, actor George Takei ("Star Trek"), climatologist Michael E. Mann, World War II historian Joshua Levine (consultant to "Dunkirk"), Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (2013-present), dog cognition researcher Alexandra Horowitz, Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson (2012, 2016), comedian and writer Larry Charles ("Seinfeld"), seismologist John Vidale, Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Lieberman (2000), Ambassador Michael McFaul (2012-2014), economist Richard Wolff, director Kevin Greutert ("Saw VI"), model Liskula Cohen, actor Rodger Bumpass ("SpongeBob Squarepants"), Senator John Hickenlooper (2021-present), Senator Martin Heinrich (2013-present), Egyptologist Richard Parkinson, Rep. Eric Swalwell (2013-present), Fox News host Tucker Carlson, actor R. J. Mitte ("Breaking Bad"), theoretical physicist Avi Loeb, biologist and genomics entrepreneur William Haseltine, comedian David Cross ("Scary Movie 2"), linguistics consultant Paul Frommer ("Avatar"), Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (2007-2015), computer engineer and Internet co-inventor Leonard Kleinrock and right-wing insurrectionist Roger Stone.
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