By Fiona Capp
Almost a year after Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, "some vital piece of the puzzle" seems to be missing to explain how the inconceivable came to pass. Joshua Green claims that this piece is Steve Bannon, the ultra-right populist who came on board to save Trump's election bid just as it was going into a death spiral. While Trump believes in nothing but himself, says Green, he was happy to channel Bannon's apocalyptic vision of the decline of traditional values and the rage of the "deplorables". There were other ingredients in the campaign – such as the FBI's re-opening of its investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails – that shifted the scales but Green makes a good case for Bannon's role in turning Trump's fortunes around. It's a very Shakespearean tale, where the Great Manipulator's hubris ultimately sees him demoted after the election for having an ego to rival Trump's own.