Steve Bannon, a flame-throwing outsider, is moving inside the White House

Steve Bannon, a leading force of the far-right, a flame-throwing media mogul and professional provocateur, a man who made a career out of roiling the establishment from the outside, just landed squarely on the inside.

Donald Trump’s pick for chief strategist and senior counsellor signals the president-elect has no intention of abandoning his brash, outsider instincts as he puts together his new government. Trump didn’t give Bannon the top White House job of chief of staff — that went to Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus. Still, Trump made clear Sunday that a man many credit with righting the businessman’s campaign — and one others accuse of amplifying a bigoted fringe — would have a plum position in the West Wing.

Bannon joined Trump’s election team as chief executive late in the campaign, following the departure of Trump’s second campaign team in August. He quickly became a member of Trump’s inner circle, frequently travelling with the candidate and working to re-shape his message to emphasise Trump’s populist and outsider appeal.

Bannon came from Breitbart News, an unabashedly pro-Trump outlet that had declared war on GOP leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, with whom Trump will have to work to pass his agenda if Ryan retains his role.

But other elements of Bannon’s tenure are getting more attention. Under his leadership, the site pushed a nationalist, anti-establishment agenda and became one of the leading outlets of the so-called alt-right — a movement often associated with far-right efforts to preserve “white identity,” oppose multiculturalism and defend “Western values.”

The site specialises in button-pushing, traffic-trolling headlines, including one that called conservative commentator Bill Kristol a “Republican spoiler, renegade Jew.” Others asked, “Would you rather your child had feminism or cancer?” and “Birth control makes women unattractive and crazy.”