“Alex Marlow is probably the most gifted and influential journalist of his generation,” said Yiannopoulos in a text message. “I love his lightness of touch—not many American journalists do subtlety well. And no one has ever heard of him!”
“Steve is something different. He's a freight train. Steve is an unstoppable juggernaut. So obviously Breitbart under Alex and Breitbart under Steve are going to feel a little different. But perhaps not by as much as people think,” Yiannopoulos said, adding that he is “devoted to both men” and is “founding member and life president of the Steve Bannon fan club.”
“Bannon the Barbarian is back! Democrats and establishment Republicans alike should be absolutely fucking terrified. They have no idea of the storm that is coming. Steve is so much more powerful and dangerous outside the White House than in.”
Asked if he would consider rejoining the company if asked, Yiannopolous said “As Alex put it to The New York Times, I was holding Breitbart back and Breitbart was holding me back. I became too big for the masthead. What happened was horrible for 48 hours. But I see it now as a blessing. I'm focused on my bestselling books and sell-out tours for the foreseeable future.”
The return of Bannon will likely further empower Matt Boyle, the site’s combative Washington editor who is close to Bannon and who, more than any other current staffer, embodies the outlet’s ethos. Bannon chastised Boyle after Boyle published a story attacking former chief of staff Reince Priebus earlier this year, and told me the story was “absurd”; but the two working in tandem once more means that instead of having to some extent guess at what Bannon wants, Boyle will know for sure. And there are plenty of Bannon enemies to go after. (Boyle declined to comment for this story.)
“Now that Steve is back, Matt’s his guy,” said one source close to Bannon. “Matt will have a little bit more influence, more leeway.” Instead of CEO Larry Solov, “Steve will be providing adult supervision.”
Things are off to a rip-roaring start, with Breitbart going after Jared and Ivanka this past week. Breitbart’s agenda on this is not a secret. An email prankster who had previously targeted the White House did so to Breitbart, posing as Steve Bannon; he fooled Marlow, who in the emails talked about doing Bannon’s “dirty work” and bashed the couple.
One of the surprising things about Breitbart during the Trump era so far has been that for the amount of access it supposedly has, the site hasn’t broken much news. Yes, Boyle has interviewed Trump, and other administration officials have given interviews to Breitbart. But most of the big leaks out of the administration have gone to mainstream news outlets.
But now, as one Breitbart staffer pointed out to me, though the site’s staffers were nearly as in the dark before as other outlets when it came to the inside goings-on of the administration, that will change with the reentry of Bannon. He returns with just about the most insider knowledge a person could have of the White House. Until last Friday at least, he had a security clearance as well.