Steve Bannon has largely disappeared from the White House’s most sensitive policy debates — a dramatic about-face for an operative once characterized as the most powerful man in Washington.

Bannon, chastened by internal rivalries and by President Donald Trump’s growing suspicion that he is looking out for his own interests, is in a self-imposed exile, having chosen to step back from Trump’s inner circle for the sake of self-preservation, according to several White House advisers who spoke to POLITICO on the condition of anonymity to avoid angering a colleague.


He was absent from Trump’s recent trips to Europe for the G-20 summit and from his visit with French President Emmanuel Macron. Bannon’s non-attendance is all the more noteworthy given his interest in European history and politics, particularly his antipathy to the European Union.

And while Trump’s rousing call in Warsaw for the defense of Western civilization echoed the populist ideology Bannon promoted as chief of the right-wing website Breitbart News, two senior White House aides said Bannon had no hand in crafting Trump’s populist address. He did not participate in administration conference calls planning the remarks, they say, which were largely written by chief speechwriter Stephen Miller, national security adviser H.R. McMaster and speechwriters Ross Worthington and Vince Haley.

“His name wasn’t even mentioned,” said a senior White House aide involved in the speechwriting process.

Whereas Bannon was, not long ago, a near-constant presence in the Oval Office — often seen standing over Trump’s shoulder or sitting in on calls with world leaders — he now spends hours camped out at the conference table in the office of White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, reading the news or working on his phone, according to a senior White House aide.

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Senior administration officials say a lower profile might suit a man once derided by critics as “President Bannon,” whose growing fame, including an appearance on the cover of Time magazine as “The Great Manipulator” and a spoofing by "Saturday Night Live" as a Grim Reaper shadowing the president reportedly irritated Trump. The president resented Bannon’s mythical status as the Svengali behind his improbable election, and called several reporters and television personalities complaining that Bannon was stealing credit for his victory.

Bannon is more comfortable operating in the shadows between government, big money and right-wing media, according to senior administration officials, who describe Bannon as “invisible,” “AWOL,” and “missing in action.”

That said, he continues to play an important role as a foul-weather friend to Trump, coaching his boss through the nonstop crises buffeting the West Wing. When Bannon returned early from Trump’s first foreign trip in May, for example, it was to quarterback the White House's response to the metastasizing Russia scandal — which consumes his time and energy.

“He's falling under the weight of it," said a Washington-based insider who recently spoke to Bannon.

Neither Bannon nor a White House spokesman responded to a request for comment.

But he now plays a surprisingly minor role in key administration policy debates. White House aides speculate about whether Bannon is trying to protect his job amid long-running talk of a White House staff purge. Several West Wing advisers said they expect Trump to decide once and for all on a White House shakeup during his planned vacation next month, when he is expected to consult with friends beyond the Beltway. “If there is a big staff shakeup, it will be in August,” said a senior White House aide. “My guess is that Bannon probably sees that and doesn’t want to be in the press.”

For Bannon, reduced visibility has brought reduced influence. On trade, his protectionist views are well known; though he initially joined a series of White House meetings begun in the spring to resolve disagreements between advisers with disparate views on the subject, from free-traders like economic adviser Gary Cohn to protectionists like National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro, he has not shown up at one in six weeks.

Nor did Bannon attend a major policy meeting on Tuesday on trade policy toward China, even though he is known to favor tough economic measures toward Beijing. He did, however, have time for a meeting with former Trump campaign aides David Bossie and Corey Lewandowski that focused on political issues, including how to woo back Republican senators who had abandoned Trump on health care.

Bannon has not been entirely absent from the West Wing’s heftiest policy discussions. On Monday, he attended a meeting of the NSC’s Principals Committee, which includes top officials from throughout the government, according to a senior White House aide. Though the president removed Bannon from the NSC in April, the aide estimated that Bannon has been at approximately 20 percent of the Principals Committee meetings since then. Bannon has reportedly dueled with McMaster over troop levels in Afghanistan and Iraq and Syria, in each case warning against deeper U.S. involvement.

“He follows everything closely. He knows what’s going on. I don’t know if he has a feeling that strategically it’s better if his hands aren’t directly on things, but he’s definitely in the fold on the legislative agenda,” said Sam Nunberg, a former Trump political adviser.

Bannon’s internal retreat has coincided with distance from other White House aides — most surprisingly Miller, a personal and ideological ally of many years. The two are “no longer working together in any substantive way,” according to a top White House aide.

Miller has followed a divergent path, integrating himself into the White House’s staff and building a strong relationship with less-ideological figures like McMaster and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, with whom he has developed an increasingly close relationship as the two have collaborated on dozens of presidential speeches and policy initiatives.

Kushner and Bannon, by contrast, have a rocky relationship that bottomed in April when the Daily Beast reported that Bannon had described Kushner as a “globalist” and a “cuck” who was “trying to shiv him and push him out the door.”

One White House aide said Kushner’s embrace of Miller has been fueled in large part by Kushner’s desire to further isolate Bannon. A spokesman for Kushner declined to comment.

But no one threatens Bannon’s job security more than the man whose winning campaign he managed, particularly now that Bannon is back in the headlines thanks to the publication this week of Bloomberg Businessweek reporter Joshua Green’s book, “The Devil’s Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency,” which depicts Bannon as a driving force behind Trump’s campaign and the early stages of his administration.

The president is "livid" about the book, according to the Washington-based insider, who said that he is "back to giving Bannon the cold shoulder" as a result.

Bannon, said the same source, is simply exhausted: "He doesn't look well."

CORRECTION: The initial version of this story incorrectly attributed partial authorship of remarks President Trump delivered in Warsaw to NSC spokesman Michael Anton.