The Atlantic

Why Trump Turned on Steve Bannon

After his former chief strategist criticized the president and his children in a forthcoming book, Donald Trump said, “When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.”
Source: Evan Vucci / AP

International crises will have to wait. President Trump has a new and even more infuriating nemesis on his hands than even North Korea’s Kim Jong Un: his own former campaign CEO and chief White House strategist Steve Bannon.

Wednesday morning, The Guardian and NBC News published reports based on a book by Michael Wolff, and New York published a juicy, page-turner of an excerpt from the volume. They all add up to a damning image of the Trump administration and especially its leader. The president is depicted as out of touch, borderline illiterate, disrespected by his own closest advisers, sloppy with information, and horrified at winning the election. As I wrote, the most damaging revelations are those that come from Bannon—a Frankenstein’s monster that Trump created, elevating him as an insider and failing to see the danger that posed to himself.

Early Wednesday afternoon, the president fired back at Bannon with some of the more scorching comments he has made publicly—impressive for a

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