Washington 12 Sep (ANA) - Ex-White House chief strategist Steve Bannon says President Trump's firing of the FBI's director was the biggest mistake in "modern political history". Mr Bannon told CBS News if James Comey had not been sacked, a special counsel would not have been appointed to probe alleged Russian election meddling. The former presidential adviser called the special counsel inquiry a "waste of time" and "a total and complete farce". Mr Bannon was himself dismissed from his White House job last month. Steve Bannon says he's "going to war" with the Republican political establishment. For conservatives - and even President Donald Trump - that should be very concerning. Mr Bannon seeks to tap into the same anti-Washington resentment that has fuelled the grass-roots Tea Party movement since the early days of the Obama presidency. The Tea Party's contribution to the Republican cause, however, has been decidedly mixed. While it helped sweep Mr Trump to the presidency, and brought new energy to a moribund political hierarchy, the scalps the movement claimed were as likely to come from the right as the left. Tea Party primary challenges that produced less palatable candidates almost certainly denied Republicans a Senate majority in 2010, even as they took over the House of Representatives.

It gave Democrats surprise Senate wins in Missouri and Indiana in 2012, where long-time incumbent Richard Lugar was knocked off by a primary opponent later bested by the Democrats. If Mr Bannon starts targeting Republican establishment stalwarts - and he's already gunning for incumbent Alabama Senator Luther Strange - the party's efforts to stave off a Democratic surge in next year's mid-term congressional elections, and maintaining their control of both chambers of Congress, could be seriously compromised.(ANA)

FA/ANA/12 September 2017-----