Keith Koffler writes in the Politico that if Trump keeps pushing against Bannon, he may either try to run for President himself in 2020 or back a challenger to Trump from within the GOP to unseat him. Take a look:
President Donald Trump’s contention Wednesday that Bannon has “lost his mind” and had “very little to do” with his election are not only false statements, but they will come back to haunt the president. Because now he is going to war with perhaps his most critical conduit—other than himself, of course—to the populist Republican base that put him in office. And if he gets too violently at odds with Bannon and his own base, Trump could find himself with a primary challenge from the populist right in 2020.
Given the closeness of the 2016 election, Bannon doesn’t have to persuade all of Trump’s legions of supporters to abandon him. Trump may think he won the popular vote, but he didn’t, and just a few 10 thousand votes changed in this state or that, and Trump would have lost the Electoral College. Bannon just has to damage him with the base, not kill all his support. And Bannon and his mega-traffic website, Breitbart, are perfectly capable of doing just that, at the very least.
Excommunicated from the White House, and with suggestions that the megadonor Rebekah Mercer may be withdrawing her support, Bannon seems finished to many. But take it from someone who’s gotten to know him well: Even after betting on a losing horse in Alabama—failed, scandal-plagued GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore—Steve Bannon is far from done. Washington pundits tend to look at currents, see a low tide and think that’s where the waterline will always be. Bannon, steeped in history, thinks with a much broader, long-term perspective, and not only does he know that he will be back, he believes passionately in his mission and won’t easily give it up.
In fact, by responding to Bannon with such ferocity, Trump has helped resurrect Bannon’s prospects. Fleas are swatted away, not nuked with presidential statements. Bannon is a big personality, a big player, and Trump is mistaken if he thinks he is going to crush him or even wound him without consequence.
