In a scathing statement Wednesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) demanded that President-elect Donald Trump rescind his appointment of Steve Bannon as a White House adviser.
Sanders described Bannon as “a racist individual” whose appointment to a high level White House position was “totally unacceptable.”
“This country, since its inception, has struggled to overcome discrimination of all forms: racism, sexism, xenophobia and homophobia. Over the years we have made progress in becoming a less discriminatory and more tolerant society – and we are not going backward,” Sanders said in his statement. “The appointment by President-elect Trump of a racist individual like Mr. Bannon to a position of authority is totally unacceptable. In a democratic society we can disagree all we want over issues, but racism and bigotry cannot be part of any public policy. The appointment of Mr. Bannon by Mr. Trump must be rescinded.”
The appointment of Bannon has been viewed largely as Trump doubling down on some of the darker tones in his campaign. Republicans in his own party have largely distanced themselves from Trump’s controversial pick with many lawmakers saying flat out that they don’t know Bannon or have never met him.
Bannon, the former chairman of Breitbart news, is an antagonizing figure who has been denounced by a wide-range of Democrats, advocacy groups and some conservatives for his mainstreaming the alt-right.
Give 'em hell, Bernie.
Good for him.
I saw on Ocupy Democrats (Facebook) which pulled from The Hill. That Bernie was named to a Senate Leadership Post, Chairman of Outreach. I have no idea what that means but, if it involves Bernie calling out Trump and his Racist Cabal on a daily basis, I’m cool with it.
I love Bernie’s passion – and he’s totally right about Bannon. However, I do not believe this is a fight we should take on. Bannon was appointed to help put together Trump’s team of people. As odious as that sounds, Trump has every right to do so. Bannon isn’t being appointed to a government position, IIRC, but if that ever happens, then hell yeah, fight it.
ETA: I am all for calling out Bannon’s racist, bigotry and so on … just don’t think we should expend energy demanding Trump remove him from the transition team.
Good for him. I would just like to note that this is 1/10 of the outrage —most of it manufactured without any real sentiment—which the GOP directs at Democrats and their actions virtually every day. Democrats need to keep this up every single day. I can see that Hillary has reasons for staying quiet, but there is no reason Kaine can’t pick up a megaphone. Where’s Schumer’s statement?
This is from the article in your link. It’s a great role for Senator Sanders.