Almost everyone in president trump's orbit seems to think stephen bannon is a goner

Stephen Bannon, President Trump's chief strategist, apparently had a rough day at the office on Wednesday. The night before, Trump had told the _New York Post_, "I like Steve, but

you have to remember he was not involved in my campaign until very late," and before that, "I didn't know Steve." (They met in 2011.) "I'm my own

strategist," he added, a phrase he repeated to _The Wall Street Journal_ on Wednesday, when he also called Bannon "a guy who works for me." Some of Bannon's associates

characterized Trump's public dressing-down as a paternal "love tap," _The Washington Post_ reports, while others fear it was "an indirect firing." Bannon "is a

marked man — diminished by weeks of battles with the bloc of centrists led by Trump's daughter and son-in-law and cut down by the president himself," _The Washington Post_ said,

basing its assessment on "interviews Wednesday with 21 of Trump's aides, confidants, and allies." One Bannon friend likened him to "a terminally ill family member who had

been moved into hospice care," the _Post_ said, while others suggested Bannon might survive for a little longer. "Bannon is a brilliant pirate who has had a huge impact,"

said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. "But White Houses, in the end, are like the U.S. Navy — corporate structures and very hard on pirates." A "person with firsthand

knowledge of internal White House dynamics" told _The New York Times_ that while no change is imminent, Trump's comments and Bannon's recent demotions have made it very hard

for the chief strategist to keep his job and his stature. SUBSCRIBE TO THE WEEK Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives. SUBSCRIBE

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morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. Not every Trump insider is numbering Bannon's days. Thomas Barrack

Jr., a close Trump friend and business associate, spent Tuesday and Wednesday meeting with Trump and his senior team in Washington. He told CNN's Erin Burnett Wednesday night that

things have never been better at the Trump White House and Bannon isn't going anywhere. Still, Bannon's supporters are watching the situation warily, including his main political

patron, Rebekah Mercer, who views Bannon as her main conduit to Trump. Mercer is reportedly already looking for opportunities for Bannon should he leave the White House early, but her

family's ties to Bannon are one of the things that might keep him employed at the White House. "While the president has grown weary of directives from donors like the

Mercers," _The New York Times_ reports, "he is mindful that they are among his major financial backers, and he is said to be conscious of the need to keep it that way."

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