Donald Trump's choice to name Stephen Bannon, his campaign's chief executive officer and the man described as turning a right-wing website into a "white ethno-nationalist propaganda mill," as his top aide in the White House has Democrats and Republicans alike speaking out.
A spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said the pick "signals that white supremacists will be represented at the highest levels in Trump's White House. 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."
While under his tutelage, the Breitbart website published such headlines as "Bill Kristol, Republican Spoiler, Renegade Jew," and, two weeks after the mass murder at a black church in South Carolina, "Hoist it high and proud: the confederate flag proclaims a glorious heritage." Bannon was also accused by his ex-wife of domestic violence, and telling her he didn't want to send their daughters to "school with Jews" because he "doesn't like Jews."
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Republican strategist John Weaver sounded the alarm on Twitter Sunday evening, saying, "The racist, fascist extreme right is represented footsteps from the Oval Office. Be very vigilant America." Another GOP strategist, Ana Navarro, called Bannon a "white supremacist, anti-gay, anti-Semite, vindictive, scary-ass dude," and warned, "After vomiting, be afraid, America."
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