White House

A week after declaring that he is “going to war” to try and save President Donald Trump’s agenda from being co-opted by Trump’s more moderate advisors, "Bannon the Barbarian" – who returned to his post as executive chairman of Breitbart almost immediately after leaving the administration – laid into his political enemies while fleshing out his plan for helping the Trump administration from the outside in greater detail during an interview with the Economist.

Global markets are stuck in a holding pattern with S&P futures up modestly after fluctuating overnight, as European and Asian shares rise with oil while the dollar has dipped lower ahead of the biggest central bank event of the year: the Fed's Jackson Hole symposium where Janet Yellen and Mario Draghi will speak at 10am and 3pm ET, respectively. Meanwhile, world stocks drifted toward their best week in six on Friday, as a near three-year high in emerging markets shares and a roaring rally in industrial metals bolstered the year’s global bull run.

In what appears to be the first major concession to Congressional Republican (and Democrat) leaders from the confrontational, "post-Phoenix rally" Trump, whose vow to "build that Wall" even if it means shutting down the government has spooked markets and sent Oct 12 T-Bill yields surging, Politico reports that the president is quietly organizing a meeting with McConnell and Ryan as well as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi shortly after the August recess ends.

Last Friday Bannon boldly declared: "I’m leaving the White House and going to war for Trump against his opponents... on Capitol Hill, in the media, and in corporate America." 

But, according to a new note from Vanity Fair, that "war" could end up ensnaring the President himself should he decide to succumb to what Bannon views as intense internal White House pressure, from the likes of Jared Kushner, Ivanka and Gary Cohn, among others, to move to the Left on key policy issues.

In his first interview shortly after the White House announced that it was parting ways with Trump's chief strategist, Steve Bannon told the Weekly Standard on Friday afternoon that "the Trump presidency that we fought for, and won, is over." After confirming his departure Bannon said that “we still have a huge movement, and we will make something of this Trump presidency. But that presidency is over. It’ll be something else. And there’ll be all kinds of fights, and there’ll be good days and bad days, but that presidency is over.”