So we know that Steve Bannon is out at Breitbart, and consequently at SiriusXM as well. Allahpundit at Hot Air says: “We knew that it could happen but no one, I think, thought that it would happen.” Regular readers of mine know that “no one” might be a bit of an overstatement. Who, oh who, could have predicted that this would actually happen, and soon? From my post on Friday:

Rebekah Mercer’s opinion matters a lot. Remember, Robert Mercer sold his shares in Breitbart News to Rebekah in November. It’s reasonable to conclude that she has considerable say over management decisions.

And she mad.

What might happen next in a situation like that?

It does not take much imagination to conjure up the following scenario:

Rebekah Mercer calls up Larry Solov and perhaps one or more other members of the Breitbart board. She says to them: Either Bannon goes, or you do. Or the sweet, sweet money dries up.

And that’s a hard argument to resist.

I, for one, would not be at all surprised to see a story to that effect breaking in the next 24 hours or so.

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It took a few more days than I expected, but the result was never in doubt. As you have no doubt guessed by now, this was more than intuition on my part. Sources told me Friday that this was a done deal. Initially the ouster seemed imminent, but it soon became apparent that it was taking a little longer. I heard on Sunday that the board had been meeting for days while Bannon remained in D.C. The expectation was that Bannon would soon be “eased out” — just not as quickly as initially thought.

The reason, as I suggested Friday, was Rebekah Mercer. Bannon’s apologies to Trump (such as they were), were ineffective, I was told, especially since he had been on thin ice since the Roy Moore debacle. Bannon and the Mercers had not spoken since the Alabama election, and then the quotes from the Wolff book hit the papers. That was all she wrote. It was just a matter of time. This has since been confirmed by a Wall Street Journal reporter:

Breitbart board—Mercers, Larry Solov and Susie Breitbart—spent recent days debating whether Bannon needed to go. In the end, they were united on his ouster. Mercers contacted Bannon thru intermediary on Monday to tell him it was time to go, per source.

— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) January 9, 2018

The New York Times is reporting the same thing:

Mr. Bannon’s departure, which was initiated by an estranged financial patron and Breitbart investor, Rebekah Mercer, came as Mr. Bannon remained unable to quell the furor over remarks attributed to him in a new book in which he questions President Trump’s mental fitness and disparages his son Donald Trump Jr.

. . . .

His situation at Breitbart grew untenable, said one person close to the situation, in part because Ms. Mercer, whose family finances conservative causes with their hedge fund wealth, became concerned that she could face legal exposure. She feared that some of the website’s cheerleading coverage of populist conservative campaigns — like the Senate race in Alabama — could be construed as corporate contributions to those candidates, which are barred under federal election law.

That’s a silly concern, of course — if it is the real concern at all. But there is little doubt that the Mercers, and Rebekah in particular, were the reason that Bannon had to go.

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