Donald Trump was facing angry demands on Monday to reverse his appointment of a man accused of fanning the flames of neo-Nazism and white supremacy as his White House chief strategist.
The selection of Stephen Bannon, the executive chairman of the far-right website Breitbart News and the CEO of Trump’s presidential campaign, deepened the fears of liberal activists that the Trump administration would embolden and enable antisemites, racists and misogynists.
The president-elect also named Reince Priebus, a more mainstream Republican figure, as chief of staff, setting up the prospect of an internal power struggle between Priebus and Bannon.
Condemnation of Trump’s decision was swift and widespread. US House minority leader Nancy Pelosi said of Bannon’s appointment: “There must be no sugarcoating the reality that a white nationalist has been named chief strategist for the Trump administration.”
Michael Keegan, president of the progressive pressure group People for the American Way, said: “By choosing Steve Bannon as chief strategist, Trump has made clear that he intends to carry the racism and antisemitism of his campaign straight into the White House. The website Bannon ran is a home for the white nationalist right that elevates racist, xenophobic, antisemitic tirades and conspiracy theories.”
Keegan called on the Republican party to denounce the move. “Congressional Republicans need to stand up and call out Trump for choosing Bannon as a senior adviser and ‘equal partner’ to Trump’s chief of staff. This isn’t about partisan politics; no one with Bannon’s record should be anywhere near the White House.”
Bannon, 62, a former naval officer and Goldman Sachs banker, will have Trump’s ear as his chief strategist and senior counsellor, it was announced on Sunday. In August he was appointed chief executive of the Trump campaign, and he was the mastermind of a stunt at the second presidential debate in which Trump held a press conference with three women who accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault.
Bannon also encouraged Trump to paint rival Hillary Clinton as part of a global conspiracy made up of the political, financial and media elite, a message that many felt carried antisemitic overtones.
Most notoriously, he is executive chairman of Breitbart News, an online linchpin of the so-called “alt-right” movement, associated with efforts to preserve “white identity”, defend “western values” and oppose multiculturalism. Its headlines have included Would You Rather Your Child had Feminism or Cancer?, Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy and There’s No Hiring Bias Against Women in Tech, They Just Suck at Interviews.
One headline described conservative commentator Bill Kristol as a “Republican spoiler, renegade Jew”. Another referred to Democratic congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who was shot in the head during a massacre five years ago, as “the gun control movement’s human shield”.
Democrats were appalled by the choice of Bannon, linking him to the Ku Klux Klan. Adam Jentleson, a spokesman for Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, said: “It is easy to see why the KKK views Trump as their champion when Trump appoints one of the foremost peddlers of White Supremacist themes and rhetoric as his top aide.”
Congressman Adam Schiff said Bannon’s selection was unsurprising but disturbing. “His alt-right, anti-Semitic & misogynistic views don’t belong in WH,” Schiff said on Twitter.
Jon Lovett, a former speechwriter for Barack Obama, tweeted: “My stomach dropped when I saw the Bannon news, but not because I was surprised. It’s just our worst fears in the grim wide open ... With a white nationalist senior advisor, Trump is not just ignoring the impact of his rhetoric – he is actively terrifying the country.”
Activists accused Trump of bringing fringe hatred into the mainstream. The Southern Poverty Law Center, an anti-hate speech watchdog, wrote in an open letter: “Bannon presided over a news empire where he, according to former staffers, ‘aggressively pushed stories against immigrants, and supported linking minorities to terrorism and crime’.
It added: “Under Bannon, Breitbart published a call to ‘hoist [the Confederate flag] high and fly it with pride’ only two weeks after the Charleston massacre when the country was still reeling from the horrors of the murders. Under Bannon, Breitbart published an extremist anti-Muslim tract where the author wrote that ‘rape culture’ is ‘integral’ to Islam. Worse perhaps, Bannon personally insinuated that African Americans are ‘naturally aggressive and violent’.
“Mr Trump, during your victory speech, you pledged to be a president for ‘all Americans’ and to ‘bind the wounds of division’ in our country. If you mean what you say, you must rescind your appointment of Bannon.”
Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said: “The appointment of Stephen Bannon as a top Trump administration strategist sends the disturbing message that anti-Muslim conspiracy theories and White nationalist ideology will be welcome in the White House. We urge President-elect Trump to reconsider this ill-advised appointment if he truly seeks to unite Americans.”
Republicans have sought to accommodate Trump after his hostile takeover of the party – former presidents George HW Bush and George W Bush called to offer congratulations – but some were fiercely critical of the Bannon appointment. Breitbart News was staunchly pro-Trump and hammered Republican leaders.
John Weaver, a party strategist who worked for Ohio governor John Kasich’s presidential campaign, tweeted: “The racist, fascist extreme right is represented footsteps from the Oval Office. Be very vigilant, America.”
Bannon’s personal conduct has also been under scrutiny. He was charged in 1996 with misdemeanor witness intimidation, and domestic violence with traumatic injury and battery. The charges were dropped after his wife, Mary Louise Piccard, did not show up at trial.
In a sworn court declaration following their divorce in 2007, Piccard said Bannon had objected to sending their twin daughters to an elite Los Angeles academy because he “didn’t want the girls going to school with Jews”. Bannon has denied saying this.
Neil Sroka, communications director of the liberal group Democracy for America, said that giving Bannon a senior role in his White House “should disabuse everyone of the notion that Donald Trump is going to govern any differently than the bigoted, hate-fueled, and divisive campaign he ran for president.
“Bannon is a disgusting, white ethno-nationalist propagandist and the mere idea that he’ll be whispering in the ear of someone who will call himself our commander-in-chief is a stain on the presidency.”
Neither Priebus nor Bannon has any policy experience. Although Priebus was given the senior job as a reassurance to mainstream Republicans, Bannon’s post is expected to wield significant influence, similar to that of Karl Rove during George W Bush’s administration.
In announcing the appointments, Trump mentioned Bannon first: “Steve and Reince are highly qualified leaders who worked well together on our campaign and led us to a historic victory,” he said, describing them as “equal partners”.
Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, told reporters at Trump Tower in New York on Monday: “I’ve worked closely with both of them. I think it’s a great team. And I’ll continue to work closely with both of them in some capacity to be decided. They complement each other. They both have the most important thing: the ear of the boss.”
Asked about Bannon’s record at Breitbart, Conway replued: “I worked very closely with Steve Bannon. He’s been the general of this campaign. And frankly, people should look at the full résumé. He has got a Harvard business degree. He’s a naval officer. He has success in entertainment. I don’t know if you’re aware of that. And he certainly was a Goldman Sachs managing partner. Brilliant tactician.”
On Capitol Hill, House majority leader Kevin McCarthy defended the appointment of Bannon, saying the president-elect always gets to pick his team. The California Republican said: “I do not know Steve Bannon ... I’ve always believed in giving someone a chance. I don’t like to prejudge people.”
He asked reporters if they should be held responsible for what was published by their outlets: “Are we putting everything that was on Breitbart under him?”
Priebus himself also defended the anti-establishment media executive, saying the two made an effective duo as they helped Trump pull off last week’s stunning victory over Clinton. “Together, we’ve been able to manage a lot of the decision making in regard to the campaign,” Priebus told NBC’s Today. “It’s worked very, very well.”
He sought to distance Bannon from the incendiary headlines on his website, saying they were written by others.
Priebus, chair of the Republican National Committee, threw in his lot with Trump, even as other Republicans turned against him, a gamble that has paid off. He is part of the Washington establishment that Trump pledged to challenge, which could lead to tensions with Bannon.
Breitbart News was supportive of Trump and a sworn foe of House speaker Paul Ryan, who has close ties to Priebus, also from Wisconsin. Trump has long encouraged internal rivalries in business and copied the strategy in his a presidential campaign that used three different managers, sowing the seeds of factional struggles.