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By Mark Wilson/Getty Images.

Breitbart promised #war, and Monday night, after Donald Trump accepted the advice of the Joint Chiefs and committed the United States to an indefinite engagement in Afghanistan, it delivered. Within minutes of Trump leaving the lectern at Fort Myer, surrounded by men and women in uniform, the sites infamous all-caps, orange headlines came fast and furious: TRUMPS AMERICA FIRST BASE UNHAPPY WITH FLIP-FLOP AFGHANISTAN SPEECH read one. IS TRUMPS AFGHANISTAN POLICY THAT DIFFERENT FROM OBAMAS? blared another. By Tuesday morning, the tone was more measured, but the hand of Stephen Bannon was clear. Two articles singled out Paul Ryan and Lindsey Graham for approving a likely troop surge, while another highlighted how the government had wasted $160 million on a failed anti-corruption program in Afghanistan. In a particularly cheeky bout of trolling, there was also a video of CNN pundit Fareed Zakaria reacting to the speech, critiquing Trumps decision. Where is Steve Bannon when you need him? he asked rhetorically.

Bannon, of course, was at Breitbart, where he returned as executive chairman shortly after being pushed from the White House. As my colleague Gabriel Sherman reported on Sunday, Breitbart staffers has warned that they were ready to go to war with the globalist wing of Trumps White House if the president deviated too far from Bannons nationalist agenda, and, if necessary, Trump himself. On Monday, the assault began in earnest. The headlines were consistent with the sites anti-interventionist, pro-isolationist stances, and the content even more so. H.R. McMasters voice was clear to hear, wrote Breitbart London editor Raheem Kassam. Its a voice that appears to have been carried over from the George W. Bush administration, and even the Obama White House. Accusing the president of flip-flopping, Kassam pinned the blame on an external influence: This isnt about changing his perspective on the war. POTUS is a remarkably astute and stubborn individual. This was about the swamp getting to him.

The site had gone after Trump for breaking his campaign promises before, famously melting down when Trump dropped bombs on Syria, a country he previously urged Obama not to intervene in. But eventually, it and the rest of the populist-nationalist movement backed off, hoping that this was a one-off moment in the Trump administration. This time, however, was different: with Bannon no longer in the White House as a populist-nationalist voice, either mitigating the generals influence or wringing a concession out from them in exchange for his support, there was no hope for their agenda. The Afghanistan troop surge isnt going to be a one-off mission, or a one-off air strike, Mike Cernovich, an ideological ally of Bannon, told me over the phone. Its going to be further going into the quagmire.

With Trumps Afghanistan decision, the fissures on the right are widening. As Breitbart ferociously pushed its stories into the world on Monday night, other Trump-defending figures and outlets decided to take the presidents side: on Fox News, Sean Hannity gushed over Trumps plan, calling the delivery the right tone, the right cadence, the right pitch. Former U.N. ambassador John Bolton agreed, saying, I think this is a dramatic change from the Obama administration. The Drudge Report, whose namesake reportedly has an intense hatred of Bannon, went with a headline echoing Trumps tough-guy rhetoric: WE WILL FIGHT TO WIN. With Bannon at Breitbart, the war will have to be fought on multiple fronts.

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Bannon's Breitbart Slams Trump for Afghanistan Flip-Flop - Vanity Fair