Like peanut butter and jelly, if Breitbart News is on the front burner of the 24-hour news cycle, Kurt Bardella, the site’s former spokesman, will appear on your TV set.
Bardella quit the site back in February after he was disgusted by a number of things going on there, including the site’s sycophantic attitude toward then-candidate Donald Trump and the way in which the site’s management treated Michelle Fields after she said she was assaulted by then-Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski at a campaign event.
Now that Breitbart News and ex-White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon (a.k.a. “Sloppy Steve”) are splashing around in the news, so, too, is Bardella, who goes on cable news to provide translation for the American public.
“There are entanglements that make it logistically difficult to move Steve Bannon out overnight,” he told The Mirror exclusively, mentioning Breitbart‘s SiriusXM show. “There’s still the question that the Mercers haven’t said that in order for us to keep supporting you, you have to get rid of Steve Bannon. They are very deliberate people about everything they do. It’s heads or tails about what will happen next. With Bannon, [CEO and co-founder] Larry Solov is a key decision maker in this case. To this point, Larry always seems to yield to Steve. History tells us Larry is not strong enough to move Steve out. There are some unknown variables and Susie [Breitbart] is certainly one of them.”
Bardella compared Bannon to a “cockroach that can survive nuclear holocaust.”
In an op-ed for USA TODAY Friday, Bardella said Bannon’s job security at Breitbart News is in serious jeopardy.
Perhaps the most consequential development is Rebekah Mercer’s statement Thursday that she has cut ties with Bannon. It’s the Mercer family that funds Bannon’s enterprises, including Breitbart. Mercer said she has provided “no financial support” to Bannon’s political agenda and does not support his “recent actions and statements.”
This is a catastrophic blow to Steve Bannon and his job security at Breitbart News. Having a billionaire backer gave Bannon a certain degree of power and influence because Mercer’s deep pockets potentially gave him the ability to influence the political process. Candidates wanted Bannon’s backing because they expected there would be significant financial support from the Mercers.
Bardella went on to say that Breitbart News has lost 3,000 advertisers in the past year.
He concluded with an eye-popping suggestion that we may be looking at the end of Steve Bannon.
“The Mercers and Breitbart management apparently are recognizing how toxic Bannon has become,” he wrote. “If Bannon loses Breitbart, that could well be the end of his political crusade.”
NYT reporter Ken Vogel, however, told MSNBC Friday that Bannon still enjoys loyalty within the Breitbart News staff, many of whom feel he plucked them and the site from obscurity.
“They still like him,” Vogel said of the reporters Bannon employs.
