“Steve was benched and I think it got his attention and he realized he had to step up and show the president how he valuable he is,” said one GOP operative with close ties to the White House. “He’s kept his head down and got back to work and was ready when he was called upon.”

Keeping up a blistering pace punctuated by executive orders and tough talk, Trump appears to have recommitted himself to the nationalist-populist themes he rode into office when Bannon acted as his campaign chairman.

Trump visited a manufacturing plant in Kenosha, Wis. last week to sign an executive order aimed at overhauling the H-1B visa program for high-skilled workers, a favorite tool of tech companies.

The administration believes businesses have abused the H1-B system, using it to import cheaper foreign labor to fill jobs they say should go to American workers.