Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon put on a show of unity during their panel on White House operations at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday, attacking the media, not Democrats, as President Donald Trump’s primary hurdle to success.
The pair, who have been professing their love for one another over and over again in the media in recent weeks, said that divisions within the White House senior staff were a fabrication, and assailed the national news media for its laser-like focus on Trump’s failures.
“In regards to us, I think the biggest misconception is everything that you’re reading,” Priebus told the crowd. “We are basically together from 6:30 in the morning to 11 o’clock every night.”
Calling Bannon a representative of the “conservative movement,” Priebus likened the duo’s congenial relationship to the party and the grassroots working in harmony.
It may have helped their “harmony” that the two seem to have a common enemy—the media—and see it as the biggest obstruction to what they believe is an otherwise wildly successful first month for Trump.
Bannon, especially, did not mince words. “The corporatist globalist media is adamantly opposed to an economic agenda like Trump has,” the senior White House strategist said.
“If you look at the opposition party and how they portrayed the campaign … it’s always wrong,” he said. “The campaign was the most chaotic, most disorganized, most unprofessional … Then you all saw them crying and weeping [when Trump won].”
He finished by saying that Trump was “maniacally focused” on implementing his campaign agenda, something he’s sure the media won’t like. “And the mainstream media better understand something—all those promises are going to be implemented.”
The two best friends then embraced for the cameras. Because, of course they did.
