Bannon, Kushner and Priebus: rivals for power at the heart of Trump’s team

Trump has to be very careful how close in he has someone and the advice hes taking from someone who has no real background or appreciation or understanding of the obvious stuff, let alone the nuances of policy and government.

Kushner and 62-year-old Bannon are, in many respects, polar opposites. One is clean cut and favours crew-neck sweaters; the other is dishevelled and looks in need of a shave. One is the son of a multimillionaire; the other was born into a working-class family. One is an Orthodox Jew (Ivanka converted before their marriage), the other a Catholic who has been accused of antisemitism.

Jared Kushners the most interesting to me, said Rick Tyler, a former member of Ted Cruzs campaign team. Billionaires dont trust everyone who walks through the door but Trump trusts Kushner and Kushner trusts Bannon. They believe in Bannon and the advice hes given. People can complain about it, then get over it.

All week Trump has hunkered down at his headquarters, with journalists gathered at 8am each morning in the atrium, clad with 2,400 tons of salmon-coloured marble, to watch his guests come and go.

Among the parade of luminaries come to honour the new king was 93-year-old Henry Kissinger, secretary of state under Richard Nixon; Rupert Murdoch, 85, the media tycoon and another bete noire of the liberal left; Bill de Blasio, mayor of New York, worrying about traffic snarl-ups in central Manhattan; even an impromptu turn by the naked cowboy, best known for his performances in Times Square.

The president-elect continued to break with precedents, as he had throughout his campaign. One night, reporters assigned to monitor his movements on behalf of the media were told he would be staying at home, only to later discover that he had nipped out to a steakhouse, where he promised to lower taxes and received a standing ovation.

Rumours flew that the likes of Rudy Giuliani and Ted Cruz were in contention for top jobs, and sources described the process as a knife fight. Trump became the first president-elect to respond via Twitter. Very organized process taking place as I decide on Cabinet and many other positions, he posted, from the skyscraper that had served as the set of The Apprentice for a decade. I am the only one who knows who the finalists are!

On Friday, he announced three winners of the ultimate reality contest, nominating Sessions as attorney general, congressman Mike Pompeo as CIA director and retired lieutenant-general Michael Flynn as national security adviser. The hawkish trio, with a chequered past on issues of civil liberties, race relations and surveillance, was condemned by liberal groups as a nightmare come true.

The rest of the world watched the unfolding soap opera with trepidation. Months after Britains vote to leave the European Union, commentators pronounced the death of neoliberalism and an irresistible wave of populism. The postwar certainties were gone. Obama travelled to the cradle of democracy, Greece, and its potential new standard bearer, Germany, having spent months assuring world leaders that Trump wouldnt win. Now he suddenly found himself trying to normalise a proven liar whom he recently warned could not be trusted with the nuclear codes.

Before setting off, Obama, perhaps clutching at straws, told reporters at the White House that Trump was a pragmatist, not an ideologue. The same could be said of Kushner and Priebus, both of whom are valued for organisational sense. But Bannon is different.

After careers as an investment banker and naval officer, and before becoming Trumps campaign chief executive, Bannon ran Breitbart, notorious for rightwing dog-whistles and anti-globalist themes that surfaced in Trump speeches and ads. Its headlines have included Hoist it high and proud: The Confederate flag proclaims a glorious heritage, Birth control makes women unattractive and crazy, and Clinton aide Huma Abedin most likely a Saudi spy.

Bannon denied allegations of racism in the Hollywood Reporter interview. Im not a white nationalist, Im a nationalist, he said. Im an economic nationalist. The globalists gutted the American working class and created a middle class in Asia. The issue now is about Americans looking to not get fucked over.

He then claimed that. if we deliver, Trumps team would win most white voters and a near majority of black and Hispanic voters. Well govern for 50 years. Democrats, he said, had lost sight of what the world is about.

Dan Cassino, a political scientist at Fairleigh Dickinson University, said it was unclear whether business or ideology was Bannons priority at Breitbart. Hes willing to use racist and antisemitic content to make money off it, whether or not hes racist or antisemitic himself. Hes willing to tolerate it.

Cassino argued that whereas Fox News covers familiar issues from a conservative perspective, Breitbart pursues an entirely different agenda. We should be concerned to the extent Steve Bannon controls what information goes in and goes out of the White House. Traditionally information is controlled by the chief of staff but every administration is different.

He noted that Breitbart typically gives official figures no credence, and that Trump appeared surprised, in a recent TV interview, to learn about actual hate crime totals. If hes getting facts from Breitbart just as Bush got facts from Fox News, we have a problem, Cassino said. We want a president to make data-based decisions.

It may then fall to Priebus, a 44-year-old whom Trump called a superstar on election night, to provide a reality check. Henry Barbour, who helped run his 2010 campaign to chair the RNC, said the committee was in so much debt at the time that Priebus had to make payments on his personal credit card.

He was an easy guy to work with even when we didnt agree on everything, he recalled. His ability to work with people and cut through the crap will serve him well. He does not have a big ego. Hes not interested in self-promotion and will be interested in giving good, candid advice to the president. Hes not a yes-man but he will be loyal.

Barbour, now a lobbyist with Capitol Resources, insisted: Reince has told me directly he has developed a good working relationship with Bannon and gets on well with him. I have no doubts Reince will work well with Jared Kushner.

Terry Sullivan, a Republican strategist, said Priebus was Wisconsin nice but also a smart hire.

He can bring multiple factions together, he said. He might be the only figure who is still liked by the establishment of the party who spent so much time defending Trump.

Priebus was with the president-elect en route from Trump Tower to a golf club in New Jersey for more meetings this weekend, and Kushner and Bannon presumed close by. For now, the court of Trump with its peculiar composition is at peace. But for how long?

Bill Galston, a former policy adviser to President Bill Clinton, refused to hazard a guess. Im prepared to believe that an administrative arrangement that wouldnt work for anyone else might just work for Donald Trump, he said. One of the most ramshackle campaigns in American political history tore up the rule book and somehow wended its way into government. All of my normal assumptions have been upended.