PHOTO: Donald Trump with Steve Bannon, November 16, 2016

Amid the furor over Donald Trump’s “Muslim ban” on citizens of seven countries, the President carried out an unprecedented move, marking the leading influence of alt-right ideologue Steve Bannon within his Administration.

In an order published on Saturday, Trump placed Bannon on the Principals Committee of the National Security Council, the highest body for US foreign policy and operations. Bannon — along with Chief of Staff Reinze Priebus and Presidential Counsel Kelly Conway — is also invited as a regular attendee of NSC meetings.

I explained the initial significance of the step in a series of tweets:

Driving home the unprecedented step, Trump effectively promoted Bannon above the Director of National Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Both of those men will only “attend where issues pertaining to their responsibilities and expertise are to be discussed”.

The New York Times summarizes:

In theory, the move put Mr. Bannon, a former Navy surface warfare officer, admiral’s aide, investment banker, Hollywood producer and Breitbart News firebrand on the same level as his friend, Michael T. Flynn, the national security adviser, a former Pentagon intelligence chief who was Mr. Trump’s top adviser on national security issues before a series of missteps reduced his influence.

But in terms of real influence, Mr. Bannon looms above almost everyone except the president’s son-in-law, Jared D. Kushner, in the Trumpian pecking order, according to interviews with two dozen Trump insiders and current and former national security officials.

Bannon Leads The “Muslim Ban”

Bannon’s central policy position has also been revealed in the executive order — and subsequent confusion — barring Syrian refugees for 120 days and suspending visas for nationals of seven mainly-Muslim countries for 90.

Bannon and the 30-year-old Stephen Miller — now described as a “senior advisor” — were instrumental in drafting the order, as well as others put out by Trump in his first week. They did so with little consultation with any Government agency: the Department of Homeland Security was only told of the edict just before Trump’s signature, and there was no contact with Defense Secretary James Mattis or the State Department. Bannon and Miller also overruled DHS when it initially said that US permanent residents — “green card” holders — were exempt from the order.

Equally important, Bannon and Miller have been at the forefront of holding the line, even as the order descended into chaos and drew massive protests. Although unnamed, they are likely to be the two officials who insisted in a 45-minute defense on Sunday that detentions and flight bans affecting thousands “are a massive success story in terms of implementation on every single level”.

The officials denied that they had applied the ban to green card holders on Friday, as they asserted — amid ongoing confusion — that permanent residents can apply for and receive a waiver.

Bannon Takes Over the NSC?

Further acts in the “Muslim ban” drama are awaited. Meanwhile, Bannon and his allies appear to be setting him up to overtake his “friend” Michael Flynn, the National Security Advisor.

Those allies briefed The New York Times that Bannon “is not accumulating power for power’s sake, but is instead helping to fill a staff leadership vacuum created, in part, by Mr. Flynn’s stumbling performance as national security adviser”.

Unnamed sources said Flynn “still communicates with Mr. Trump frequently”, but Bannon’s allies — or other enemies of Flynn, who was effectively pushed out of the military in 2014 because of his controversial behavior — said the former general “has gotten on the nerves of Mr. Trump and other administration officials because of his sometimes overbearing demeanor”, and by presiding over a “chaotic and opaque National Security Council transition process that prioritized the hiring of military officials over civilian experts recommended to him by his own team”.

Two sources said, “Mr. Flynn’s penchant for talking too much was on display on Friday in a meeting with Theresa May, the British Prime Minister.”

Another official said Bannon and Trump’s son-in-law Kushner had met two weeks ago with Trump’s nominees as Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, and CIA Director, Mike Pompeo, “to discuss concerns” about Flynn.