Trump thanks Bannon for helping defeat 'Crooked Hillary' in farewell to rocky 12-monthsPresident Trump on Saturday thanked chief strategist Steve Bannon, who left the White House on Friday after a rocky 12-month relationship in which Bannon helped get Trump elected but appeared to clash with the president and other top administration officials.
“I want to thank Steve Bannon for his service,” Trump tweeted Saturday morning. “He came to the campaign during my run against Crooked Hillary Clinton -- it was great! Thanks S.”
To be sure,
Bannon’s campaign message of economic nationalism, which promised more U.S. jobs and better international trade deals, helped Trump in the final months of his campaign defeat Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in a come-from-behind victory.
However, Bannon apparently clashed with other administration officials and advisers --
including Trump daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner -- who purportedly pushed for a more global agenda.
Bannon is a former executive at Breitbart.com, a news organization that some critics have argued is a platform for white nationalists.
I want to thank Steve Bannon for his service. He came to the campaign during my run against Crooked Hillary Clinton - it was great! Thanks S
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 19, 2017
And
calls for his departure appeared to increase after Trump said “both sides” were to blame for the violent clashes at a rally last weekend in Charlottesville, Va., that was organized by white supremacists and in which a counterprotester was killed.
Trump, who last week also condemned white supremacism and neo Nazism,
said Bannon was not a “racism,” and that he didn’t help him craft his responses to the deadly Charlottesville protests.
Bannon has already returned to Breitbart vowing to help Trump from the outside, reportedly saying: “
Now I'm free. I've got my hands back on my weapons.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/08/19/trump-thanks-bannon-for-helping-defeat-crooked-hillary-in-farewell-to-rocky-12-months.html