It’s been less than two weeks since Donald Trump was sworn in as US President, but the divisive demagogue has already caused enough controversy to make his brief reign feel like an eternity. This past weekend, Trump signed an executive order to temporarily ban immigration from seven Muslim countries, leading to massive protests at various airports throughout the country.
Constantly accused of being a master of distraction, President Trump seems to have taken advantage of the distracted and fragmented nation to sneakily elevating his chief strategist Steve Bannon to the head of the National Security Council (NSC).
On Saturday evening, Trump signed an executive order placing the alt-right icon on the “Principals Committee” of the NSC, a move that will likely give Bannon the most influential role in the entire administration. The decision also downgraded the duties of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the director of national intelligence, who will now have limited participation within the NSC.
Seats on the NSC are generally reserved for the highest-ranking military officers, making the promotion of the estranged right-winger a shocking move even for Trump. Top security officials from both the Obama and Bush administration have blasted the unusual decision, which will now allow Bannon to harness his influence on policy issues that affect national security interests.
Many have speculated that the former Breitbart executive is the one pulling the strings behind Trump’s slew of highly disputed executive orders, leading Twitter users to flood social media with the viral #StopPresidentBannon hashtag. There is definitely reason to fear the quiet rise of Bannon, and his staunch political views could prove to be a major threat to national security in the near future.
According to The Daily Beast writer Ronald Radosh, Bannon had voiced his frightening political goals to him in the past. “I’m a Leninist,” Bannon reportedly proclaimed. “Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that’s my goal too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.”
All in all, as some of Trump's campaign promises come to rotten fruition, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that the country is not being turned upside down by the schismatic president alone, but with the help of the alt-right agitator lurking deviously behind the scenes.
