Manafort's ouster extinguished the last vestige of hope for Republicans praying that Trump would at last pivot to a more statesmanlike approach. No one believed he had any chance of winning in November; their desperation, at this point, was driven purely by the desire to limit the scope of the expected GOP losses down the ticket. Bannon's elevation was simply unimaginable, the Republican establishment's worst nightmare come to life. "This is the bunker scene in Downfall, only the Trump crowd won't tell Hitler the truth. It's utter madness," said Stuart Stevens, who ran Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign. "Trump is a nut, and he likes to surround himself with nuts. It's a disaster for the Republican Party." Although few Republicans knew Bannon personally, many were acquainted with Breitbart's aggressive, hard-edged populism, often because they had been on the receiving end of one of its journalistic assaults. Bannon, they understood, would pay no heed at all to the sensitivities of down-ballot Republicans, and indeed would gladly indulge Trump's impulse to burn everything down. "If you were looking for a tone or pivot, Bannon will pivot you in a dark, racist, and divisive direction," said the GOP consultant Rick Wilson. "It'll be a nationalist, hateful campaign. Republicans should run away.
( Joshua Green )
[ Devil's Bargain: Steve Bannon, ]
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