Fired White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, tired of having to be seen as a White House outsider fighting on President Donald Trump's behalf in the White House, reportedly temporarily gave up, saying "I'm sick of being a wet nurse to a 71-year-old man."
"One of the stories I tell in my book ["Devil's Bargain"] is the day that Bannon was pushed out – and this wasn't public at the time – but he was very angry about it, refused to take Trump's phone calls, and said at one point, 'You know, I'm sick of being a wet nurse to a 71-year-old man,'" author Joshua Green told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.
"[Bannon] had as many doubts and frustrations I think about Trump's fitness to be president as a lot of other advisers around Trump did," he added.
After a short period of time, though, Bannon relented he needed Trump to maintain a political cachet.
"If he were going to continue to have a voice in national politics, if he were to be able to lead this nationalist movement – which has been his project all along – he had to be seen as a Trump ally, and so he positioned himself as this outside resistance leader, supposedly fighting on Trump's behalf," Green told host Jake Tapper.
"I think Bannon, despite all his flaws, is a shrewd analyst of American politics, and particularly national anxieties."