If you thought the old Donald Trump campaign was wild and crazy, just wait

By E.J. Dionne Jr. Opinion writer August 17 at 3:27 PM

If you thought the old Donald Trump campaign was wild and crazy, just wait for the new Trump campaign now that Breitbart’s Steve Bannon has taken over as chief executive.

The new leadership — with Bannon and pollster Kellyanne Conway displacing Paul Manafort of the Ukrainian Connection at the top of the heap — is likely to steer Trump even more in the direction of the European far right. It also tells you something that Bannon sees Sarah Palin, about whom he made a laudatory documentary, as a model for anti-establishment politics.

Bannon is close to Nigel Farage, the former head of the right-wing U.K. Independence Party, who offered “massive thanks” to Breitbart News for supporting the party’s successful campaign on behalf of Britain’s departure from the European Union. “Your UKIP team is just incredible,” Bannon told Farage during an interview after the June Brexit vote.

Judging from Bannon’s history, Trump’s campaign will become even harsher in its attacks on Hillary Clinton and work hard to insinuate anti-Clinton stories into the mainstream media. Bloomberg Businessweek’s Joshua Green quoted Bannon proudly declaring in mid-2015: “We’ve got the 15 best investigative reporters at the 15 best newspapers in the country all chasing after Hillary Clinton.”

And count on Trump to ramp up his appeals to Bernie Sanders’s supporters and the left. Pushing his anti-Clinton film “Clinton Cash” in May, Bannon said he wanted progressives to “understand how the Clintons, who proclaim to support all your values, essentially have sold you out for money.” In his conversation with Farage, Bannon expressed great interest in the role played by left-of-center voters in Brexit’s victory.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/if-you-thought-the-old-donald-trump-campaign-was-wild-and-crazy-just-wait/2016/08/17/f2d02ffc-64a0-11e6-96c0-37533479f3f5_story.html