Was right back at breitbart and full of action word quotes for the reporters who talked to him. He was greeted at his old shop with the headline, populist hero steven k. Bannon returns to breitbart. And trump was annoyed that he landed a Time Magazine cover which called him the great manipulator and told the wall street, im see saying that he is a guy that works for me. He is a good guy. And it was told the president didnt like the photo on the cover or the fact that bannons name was above his. Then the new chief of staff arrived, john kelly, the discipline and button down former four star marine general despite bannons years in the navy, the two didnt mesh. Politico said kelly didnt understand what bannon did and why he had a pr portfolio and why he seemed to cause so much trouble with colleagues and so widely disliked. And with then rumors swirling about his position, listen how the president responded when asked about them. I like mr. Brannon. He is a friend of mine. But he came on very late. You know that. I went through 17 senators, governors and i won all of the primaries. Mr. Bannon came on very much later than. And i like him, hes a good man. He is not a racist. I can tell you that. Hes a good person. He actually gets a very unfair press in that regard. But well see what happens with mr. Bannon. We all know how that ended up to mr. Brannon and in the business of politics where they do eat their young, there is already intense speculation over whether two other kind of bannonites, Sebastian Gorka and Steven Miller will be long for the west wing under general kelly. Immediately after todays bannon news, followed quickly by breitbart announcing the former boss was returning, bannon, who does not suffer from low selfesteem told a reporter, i feel jacked up, now im free. Ive got my hands back on my weapons. Someone said its bannon the barbarian. And im going to crush the opposition. No doubt i built a fing machine and were about to rev the machine up and rev it up we will do. He added this ominous claim. The Trump Presidency that we fought for and won is over. We still have a huge movement. And we will make something of this Trump Presidency but that presidency is over. It will be something else. And there will be all kinds of fights and there will be good days and bad days but that presidency is over. Who said friday night lights, much to discuss on a friday night and lets bring in tonights leadoff panel. Kristen welker, who spent the day reporting from new jersey where the president had been staying during his working vacation. Hes already in camp david for the weekend. Jonathan la mere. White house reporter for the associated press. Philip rucker, for the Washington Post and jonathan swan, National Political reporter for axios. He reported early this morning long before bannon was gone that officials indeed expected him to be gone. Jonathan swan, i have to tell you, two nights ago you were here with us when bannon had given those two odd print interviews. Oddly empowered. And you were the first to make a point that looking at his quotes, he sounded like a president to you. You noted that the president didnt like that. It is unbecoming on other people that are not president , and walk us through today and the anatomy of this story for you. Well this was done long before today. Donald trump, we reported it on saturday. Last saturday, that donald trump is telling people that steve bannon was a leaker. He told multiple people that. I was told a few days later, he even told steve bannon that in front of at least one other person. And donald trump was fed up with steve bannon. He was saying things like who does this guy think he is. And he thought that steve bannon was a selfindulgent and had created this myth that he had built the election victory and that he was the architect and he very much resented that book that you discussed, the josh green book, that people close to trump believes it was a biography of steve bannon. And all of these things came together with a senior staff in the west wing that was entirely united against steve bannon. You described earlier Steven Miller as a bannonite. No way, it was Steven Miller at the end of bannonites. His loyalties were no longer with steve bannon. Steve bannon had two people in the white house that remained loyal to him by the end and none of them at the top ranks. So all of those things came together and people then, when john kelly came in, told steve bannon told john kelly that steve bannon was encouraging the outside campaign against general h. R. Mcmaster, kelly was stunned by that and horrified by that. Steve bannon told people he wasnt involved in that but nobody in the west wing believed that. But all of these things came together. He was fired. You hear the resignation. That was a facesaving conversation but he was told his time was up. And lets not forget, i remember that bannon said there is no military option in north korea. Said the man with no stars on his shoulder. That interview was [ inaudible ]. To be clear, though. I was still stick by my reporting on that story. That was the one interview that he really did not intend that to be on the record. That was purely bannon excited about a china ally and it was truly a blunder. That interview. It was on the phone with a veteran journalist with a progressive leaning website. Kristen welker in the flesh. I thought you lived in the television for a couple of months there. It is good to see you. And im reminded camp david with a day trip for an afghanistan meeting. President is back in bedminster tonight. So talk about bannons baliwick, chief strategist was an interesting title. A lot of people agreed he had no business on the National Security counsel, and he was kind of eased off on that early on. But how big of a gulf does he leave. Is the other way of asking. In one sense, brian, that was the president s touch tone to his base. He was the person who was there reminding the president of all of the reasons that he got elected and all of those promises on the campaign trail whether over trade or when he announced he was pulling out of the paris climate agreement and that was opposed by Jared Kushner and ivanka trump and the question is how much matter. And look at what we saw this week. The fact that he came out and made this very controversial comments about charlottesville, if you believe the timing of this, then steve bannon was already out when the president made those comments. When after the attack in madrid, you had the president come out and revive that debunked myth. That is all donald trump. That is not steve bannon. You cant point the finger at him for those actions. Again, if you believe the time line that he was already out. So i think that the gulf that he leaves is a big question mark. What will we see from the president s base . Will some of the support start to erode, but i dont think you will see a big shift in this president. Donald trump is donald trump. And you are reminding readers, the role during the campaign. He came in at a low. He and Kellyanne Conway came in late august and trump was trailing in the polls. And he encouraged trump to fight, fight and fight. And even harder than he did before and he shaped it is much more honed it as a populist nationalist view. And injected what some suggested were conspiracy before bankers and the elites. Some of it vaguely antisemitic, according to some. And he really honed the president s attacks on Hillary Clinton. That at the time trump was still sort of rewaging the primary and the attacking of the republican establishment. Bannon got him to focus on his democrat opponent and pretty effective at changing the narrative and i will never forget a week or so after the access Hollywood Tape dropped and women came forward and suggested that donald trump, what he had done he had done to them. Before the second president ial debate with Hillary Clinton. They had a surprise press conference from all of the women in a accused bill clinton of sexual abusing them. And i was part of the crew that day. There is footage of me and other reporters with our mouths open and hard to believe. Philip rucker, you get in many ways the hardest question. This verbiage from bannon about the fight and his weapons and about the presidency being over. This is a guy referred to the west wing democrats, very der e derivesively, and tell me what that means and who has the most to lose and worry about with him on the outside, keep your fre d friends close and enemies closer. Well, i believe that general john kelly removed bannon, and fired him in order to instill order and discipline in this white house. I dont know how long that is going to last. Because bannon is signaling that he will wage war with his former colleagues from the outside. And we know that for months now hes been feuding with Jared Kushner, the president s soninlaw and Senior Adviser with gary cohn and with hr mcmaster and another general and the National Security adviser and i think he will continue to do this from the outside, his allegations with telling me and my colleagues and other panelists here that bannon is going to go to war over this agenda and fight to try to keep trump honest with his Campaign Promises and to encourage his fascist impulses from the outside and we should remember that bannon will still have a connection to trump. Remember cory lewandowski, the campaign manager, he was fired from the campaign but he continues to talk to the president to advise him and formally he has his cell phone number. I expect bannon will continue to have some link into trump himself personally. Mr. Swan, i know you dont work for the culture section at the newspaper, but this attack from the outside and bannon mentioned cnn, singling out a network and corporate and political types and he is going after the president s sitting soninlaw, and Senior Adviser. Wont that make for such an increased toxic environment just generally as we go about the next few months . Well, yes. On the outside it will. There wont be as much toxicity inside of the west wing. But absolutely. Steve bannon gave this quote, i cant remember which publication. Im going to war for donald trump against the media the corporates and capitol hill. He left out the people in the white house. Hes going to war against. I expect breitbart will go even more Thermo Nuclear against mcmaster, gary cohn and dina powell and jared and ivanka were a third rail and breitbart didnt touch them even though privately they would call them the west wing democrats, they didnt touch them but they started to hit them in the last few weeks and it will only be turned out. And i expect they will engage very quickly in a campaign to remove paul ryan from the speakership. They will go full on against paul ryan. And i expect that there will be a big investment in breitbart, an extra investment there the from the mercers. This is all just dialed up and up. And philip, back to you, the world is upside down. A. , how will the president take those attacks on his remaining people and b. , guess who you need to get legislation through . The speaker of the house. It is a big point that you raised about the agenda which frankly is in shambles at this point and the departure of steve bannon has an impact on the hill. Close to a congressman named mark meadows house of the Freedom Caucus and that is the group of antiestablishment and hardline republicans who very much need to be a part of any coalition to pass tax reform or to pass infrastructure or anything that trump wants to get accomplished and without bannon in the white house, those lawmakers dont have a natural ally to advocate for them and to smooth to smooth out the negotiations. Jonathan la mer ooe the New York Times, you may know her, maggie haberman, writes about the bannon firing. Some close to bannon are fuming, wow, what is wrng with me. Seeing him as the distraction to switch topics for the day. Just reporting as to just say, dont shoot the messenger. As shiny objects go, this would be a big one on a friday. That is. People have been talking about steve bannon for a long time. Democrats have made him enemy number one and in many cases more than the president for a long time. This is a this is a loss that will resonate. This is a significant blow to the imagery of this white house going forward. Having said that, charlottesville is not going anywhere. There are more protests planned this weekend by white supremacist groups in cities across this country. The president s words, were seeing more and more of his counsel disbanded, Business Councils leave and as the ceo and chief, that is a devastating blow for him. We still have major Foreign Policy decisions on horizon. But this is something here, charlottesville, that is going to stick with this president for a long time. And we will see if more and more republicans, who we started to see yesterday with bob corker being the hardest hitting suggesting didnt have the temperament for the job and will more members of his own party defect . And for the sake of two strike a blow for press freedom and saying the white house is not allowing the media near the bedminster golf resort. They are in a separate town, 20 minutes from the area if traffic is good. So if we see kristen welker, it has nothing to do with the man you are covering any hoo, and military action, and potential military action for venezuela and now charlottesville. And there was a big discussion about the strategy moving forward in afghanistan today. This is the working vacation. We thought it would be slower. We were of course wrong. To the point that jonathan is making though about charlottesville, even though our reporting shows that that is not the reason that bannon was ousted, you did have a lot of republicans saying that it is time for him to go. That he represents this alt right factor of the white house and it was time to get that out. So the question becomes will the president be able to mend some of those fences because as phil was talking about his legislative agenda is failed. One senior telling me if they cant get tax reform done it is devastating for republicans and one more point i will make. This speaks to the fact that general john kelly is making it clear, there is a new sheriff in town. How much influence will he be able to continue to have in the wake of this bannon ouster, this is his decision, he recommended this to the president. The president accepted the recommendation, but this was very much driven by john kelly. Let me say to our viewers from you are watching from a Vacation Home in august. Join us in silent thanks for our topflight initial panel tonight on a friday night in august. Kristen welker, jonathan la mere, philip rucker, and john swan, our great thanks to you for giving us part of your friday night in august. Coming up after the first break. Remember when nothing ever happened in washington on friday in august. We dont either. Our nightly chronicle of the new normal, the late night endeavor we like to call the 11th hour will be right back after this. Welcome back to our friday night broadcast. Another shake up in the west wing and another of the president s top advisers to leave his side. The core around this president has dwindled to what you might call friends and family now. And a general. This is the gathering around the resolute desk in the oval office on january 28th. President was on phone with putin. All of the people in the photo are gone. Except for the president and vice president. Theyve all joined the list of the vaporized. Two great columnists are with us to talk about it. Clarence page, Chicago Tribune is back with us tonight and endeara loxman on boston globe, chair of journalism ethics at the pointer institute. And good evening to you both. And clarence, what does the Organization Chart look like at this place these days and is chaos just going to be the norm . Im imagining a bowl of spaghetti right now, brian, as far as the organizational chart goes. Weve become accustomed to the stories of chaos coming out of the white house and i cant imagine anything different now but im happy to see john kelly asserting himself if that is what is happening and it looks like it has. He looked quite forlorn the other day on the side lines while President Trump went on and on with his argument that both sides were at fault for the violence in charlottesville. This is a sort of thing that kelly and the Trump White House really dont need right now. But President Trump sort of enjoys it and so did steve bannon. And that is the sort of thing that i dont see much of a change coming ahead with that. The discussion you just had was very illuminating in regard to bannon wanting to wage war against his rivals, foes, adversaries over in congress and in the white house and in the media. But that is what hes been doing all along and you see the results. The administration is not getting much done. So i dont see much of a change from that in the coming months. And endura, josh green who wrote the book about bannon that rocketed to number one on amazon and has enjoyed a good run prior to the departure of mr. Bannon, wrote about bannon on bloomberg today. Before i ask you a question, i want to read you. Holiday banons path from trusted attack dog to toxic liability, the cost of bannons failure to adapt from campaigns to governing became evident on friday. Ignoring by john kelly to cease the warfare through the Trump Presidency and bannon gave a rare interview to a liberal policy journal in which he vowed to out. The state and Defense Department who he claimed were wetting themselves over some of his plans. And how can you govern this way and was this ever going to end any other way . Well, look, brian, i want to say that i think that trump is always going to be trump. And for people to think that john kelly is going in there and somehow cleaning house, i just i think it is the wrong frame through which to be looking at this. I think you can