Controversial Trump national-security aide Sebastian Gorka is out at the White House and will take another job elsewhere in the federal government, the Washington Examiner reported on Sunday. White House sources painted the Hungarian adviser’s move as a voluntary one, but it’s hard to imagine Gorka—who, like Steve Bannon, was among the ideological misfits from the conspiratorial fringes that hopped on the Trump train early on—leaving on his own after managing to make his way to a seat next to the seat of power in Washington.
Gorka’s exact role in the administration wasn’t totally clear. Often he appeared to simply be an effective surrogate, who could pinch hit on a number of issues. Before Trump, Gorka was an editor at Breitbart and as a Bannon ally became a member of Bannon’s Strategic Initiatives Group once in the White House. Ghosts from Gorka’s past, however, clipped his ascent and raised serious doubts about whether he would be granted the security clearance necessary to be a national security adviser to President Trump. There were reported ties to the far-right Hungarian group Vitézi Rend that was aligned with the Nazis. His academic chops were also dubious within academic circles, where he was considered largely unfit to advise the president. One colleague called him “the Simon Cowell of counterterrorism.”
“Gorka’s new role will deal with the ‘war of ideas’ involved in countering radical Islamic extremism, a senior administration official said, and will entail an appointment to a federal agency,” according to the Examiner. “An official said Gorka has been in a ‘holding pattern’ while he waited for the position, which will not be at the State Department, to be established.” It’s unclear if Gorka’s exit is linked to the apparent diminished influence of Steve Bannon in the West Wing. More traditional—less loony—national security figures have filled the void that created chaos in the first months of the Trump White House.
