President Donald Trump is not happy that he’s being portrayed as a puppet to top adviser Steve Bannon.
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According to a report in The New York Times:
Mr. Bannon’s Svengali-style reputation has chafed on a president who sees himself as the West Wing’s only leading man. Several associates said the president had quietly expressed annoyance over the credit Mr. Bannon had received for setting the agenda — and Mr. Trump was not pleased by the “President Bannon” puppet-master theme promoted by magazines, late-night talk shows and Twitter.
The publication also suggested that Bannon’s removal from the National Security Council was, in part, due to the view that the former head of Breitbart News is actually running the White House.
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The “President Bannon” theme started with memes on social media depicting Bannon controlling Trump.
Don't RT this because according to the @nytimes Trump doesn't like the “President Bannon” puppet-master memes pic.twitter.com/KJunVLAfNa
— No War🗽🇺🇦🌻 (@GopSux2) April 6, 2017
Soon, the theme spread to magazines and late night television. “Saturday Night Live” famously depicted Trump being controlled by Bannon as the Grim Reaper.
Even Time Magazine featured a photo of Bannon on its cover with the caption, “The Great Manipulator.”
TIME’s new cover: How Steve Bannon became the second most powerful man in the world https://t.co/EJpO6Qqg9K pic.twitter.com/BdpY4Hw9Xb
— TIME (@TIME) February 2, 2017
The suggestion that Bannon was controlling Trump, apparently, started to get under the president’s skin, which is exactly what the anti-Trump movement hoped would happen when they started circulating the theme. Not long after the Times’ article was published, liberals started celebrating on social media.
https://twitter.com/delrayser/status/849806810722828288
https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/849802939036315649
https://twitter.com/ATPacy/status/849799725733773312
H/T: Mic