Liberals will miss Steve Bannon. President Donald Trump is too ignorant to be a completely satisfying enemy. Mr Bannon filled a crucial role — the evil genius, the hate-filled ideologue, the master-manipulator, “President” Bannon. His departure leaves an emotional hole. It is also ideologically confusing. Does that mean the white nationalists have lost? And, if so, do we all have to stop fearing and loathing President Trump?
On this count, liberals can relax. The threats that Mr Bannon had come to represent will not disappear with his departure from the White House. With pardonable exaggeration, they can be summarised as the danger of three sorts of war: trade war, civil war and world war.
None of these menaces has suddenly disappeared because Mr Trump’s chief strategist has left the administration. That is because they are the product of broad economic, social and international tensions that Mr Bannon exploited, but did not invent.