Bye bye Bannon! Twitter reacts with glee to Steve Bannon's firing

Twitter can't stop celebrating Steve Bannon's firing from Trump's White House

By Matthew Rozsa

Staff Writer

Published August 18, 2017 1:33PM (EDT)

Donald Trump; Stephen Bannon   (AP/Matt Rourke/Reuters/Carlo Allegri)
Donald Trump; Stephen Bannon (AP/Matt Rourke/Reuters/Carlo Allegri)

The news that President Donald Trump has fired former chief strategist Steve Bannon has divided Twitter into three camps: There are the people who are overjoyed and use comedy to express that elation; the people who are skeptical that this will really make a difference when it comes to curbing Trump's racist agenda; and the racists who resort to vulgar nomenclature whenever one of their own receives his just desserts.

In the first category, the champion tweeter has been "The Big Sick" star Kumail Nanjiani, although he is certainly not alone in tickling Twitter's funny bone in response to this news.

While no one wants to be a spoil sport, the reality is that Trump's dismissal of Bannon does not instantly solve the White House's serious racism problem. The tweeters who are quick to point this out should be commended for doing so.

Finally, there are the trolls who dwell in the deepest, darkest and most vile corners of the Internet. They're naturally furious that Bannon has been relieved of his duties, and they aren't hesitating to use the word "cuck" to vent their rage. The purveyors of the "cuck" epithet reveal their own insecurities about their masculinity when they do so, and the dubious honor of being the most absurd when it comes to rending garments over Bannon's firing belongs to Ann Coulter.

As for Bannon's future? One tweet by journalist Gabriel Sherman should give you a clue.


By Matthew Rozsa

Matthew Rozsa is a staff writer at Salon. He received a Master's Degree in History from Rutgers-Newark in 2012 and was awarded a science journalism fellowship from the Metcalf Institute in 2022.

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Donald Trump Gop Civil War Steve Bannon Trump White House Twitter