Today I watched and listened with a sense of dread and even horror to the televised part of the American Conservative Union’s annual meeting which featured Reince Priebus, The White House Chief of Staff , and Steve Bannon, the White House Chief Strategist.  Anyone who has followed the day-to-day events of the present administration's first month in office is well aware of who Bannon and Priebus are, so I won’t comment on what they have been doing during that time.  We all know the rumors that the two men don’t like each other, that they are jealous of each other’s closeness to the President.  Today’s guest place on CPac’s annual meeting was designed to reassure Americans that the two are really good friends, the yin and yang of power in the President’s inner circle. 

I don’t need to know the details of the Bannon-Priebus friendship or of their working relationship, but I won’t rest easy knowing that Bannon said today that he sees himself as part of the team whose job it is to “deconstruct” Washington… In other words he is committed to the task of destroying the institutions that make up the government of The United States. 

We know Reince Priebus' role in the campaign that led to the election of Donald Trump.  We know that Bannon has been given a role in the White House that makes him the second most powerful man in the United States.  In an unprecedented move the President has  given Bannon a place on the National Security Council. Why do I feel less secure with Mr. Bannon in that place of power?  The most unsettling part of this scenario is what Steve Bannon acknowledges himself to be.