Whatever the “alt-right” is or was, it no longer has a spokesman within 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, with the possible exception of the president. A little before noon on Friday, the White House confirmed that Steve Bannon, the embattled “economic nationalist” whose mastery of Breitbart News helped get Donald Trump elected—thus planting the seed of his own demise—had tendered his resignation. Bannon’s exit, while not unexpected, still sent shock waves across the political and media worlds. Would Trump moderate himself in the absence of the self-proclaimed “alt-right” architect, or had he always had such an appreciation for Confederate monuments and affinity for the white nationalists who have rallied around them? With subsequent reports that Bannon allies Sebastian Gorka and Julia Hahn, both former Breitbart employees, might also be on their way out the door, who would be left to counter National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster’s alleged neoconservative plots, or to undermine the “globalist” troika of Gary Cohn, Ivanka Trump, and Dina Powell? Perhaps most important for the president himself: Would Bannon, now unleashed back into the barbarian wilds from whence he came, return to wage war on the administration that ousted him?

Outside the White House, Bannon’s supporters, who had watched him struggle to enact his populist-nationalist agenda, were thrilled at the prospect. “This is good for the movement. This is good for populism,” gloated Lee Stranahan, a former Breitbart reporter, who predicted that once Bannon was gone, Trump would be able to see who was really against his agenda, because if he followed the advice of his remaining staffers, “his general approval will plummet.”

Mike Cernovich, a right-wing muckraker and reformed Pizzagate truther who was one of the main forces behind the #FireMcMaster campaign, told me that he was anticipating the fireworks. “Oh, it’s going to be a lot of fun. People think Bannon will go after Trump, which actually isn’t correct,” he said, hinting that Bannon would focus his ire on his “globalist” enemies instead. “Bannon especially dislikes Gary Cohn and Dina Powell, so you can look for a lot of interesting articles about the two of them,” Cernovich promised.

Bannon seemed to have been preparing for his exit. He has reportedly told people he actually resigned on August 7, effective earlier this week, but that the announcement was delayed by events in Charlottesville (other reporting suggests Trump was still debating the timing of Bannon’s ouster this morning). In that time, he made an unusual media circuit, giving an interview to a progressive magazine (in which he bashed his colleagues, specifically Cohn), and gave on-the-record comments to three others. Both Stranahan and Cernovich pointed out that these interviews came only days before Trump went to Camp David with his national security team. “So Trump might just be mad at the generals and at McMaster this weekend, because they’re going to suggest a troop surge” in Afghanistan, said Cernovich, invoking a prominent fear among some on the far-right. Bannon also reportedly met with Bob Mercer, Breitbart’s wealthiest investor and patron, for four hours on Wednesday to plot his next moves. The source for that news told Axios’s Jonathan Swan that Mercer and Bannon “remain strong supporters of President Trump's and his agenda.”

Hours later, several outlets confirmed that Bannon had, indeed, returned to lead Breitbart, resuming his position as executive chairman. “I feel jacked up,” Bannon told the Weekly Standard. “Now I’m free. I’ve got my hands back on my weapons. Someone said, ‘it’s Bannon the Barbarian.’ I am definitely going to crush the opposition. There’s no doubt. I built a fucking machine at Breitbart. And now I'm about to go back, knowing what I know, and we’re about to rev that machine up. And rev it up we will do.”