Bannon Once Suggested To Trump Silicon Valley Has Too Many Asian CEOs

Stephen Bannon, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign chairman, attends Trump's Hispanic advisory roundtable meeting in New York, Saturday, Aug. 20, 2016. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Steve Bannon suggested there were too many Asian CEOs working in Silicon Valley in a discussion about immigration with then-candidate Donald Trump on his radio program last November.

The Washington Post late Tuesday flagged that comment, which Bannon, then the executive chairman of Breitbart News, made on his SiriusXM radio program “Breitbart News Daily.” Trump, who hadn’t yet brought Bannon on as his campaign CEO, asked him about keeping “our talented people in the country,” especially international graduates of Ivy League universities.

“When two-thirds or three-quarters of the CEOs in Silicon Valley are from South Asia or from Asia, I think…” Bannon responded before trailing off, according to the Post.

“A country is more than an economy. We’re a civic society,” he continued.

Bannon’s response appeared to be wildly off. According to a May 2015 study from the Ascend Foundation, based on 2013 data, only 14 percent of executives at five top tech companies—Google, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, LinkedIn and Yahoo—were Asian or Asian-American.

Trump’s position on the H1-B visa program, which benefits high-skill businesses like tech companies by granting work permits to graduate-level workers in fields that require theoretical or technical expertise, has been fairly opaque. His transition website pledges to “Reform Legal immigration to Serve the Best Interests of America and its Workers.”

On Sunday, Trump appointed Bannon his chief strategist and senior adviser.

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. Well he is a racist, bigot, anti Semite, this is a known thing, so no surprises here.

  2. A country is more than an economy. We’re a civic society,” he continued.


    “Irony, i knew you’d come”

  3. Neo-nazis gonna neo-nazi…

    (Jake: “I hate White House Nazis!”)

  4. Looking on the bright side, at least Bannon and Trump are finally figuring out how DC works.

    Then again, if Bannon escapes this current scrutiny…

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

58 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for austin_dave Avatar for ajaykalra Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for ncsteve Avatar for asanders91360 Avatar for commiedearest Avatar for irasdad Avatar for inlabsitrust Avatar for inversion Avatar for sniffit Avatar for okay Avatar for theghostofeustacetilley Avatar for ottnott Avatar for geofu54 Avatar for musgrove Avatar for brendanm Avatar for darrtown Avatar for antisachetdethe Avatar for lemmitellya Avatar for bkmn Avatar for edgarant Avatar for tiowally Avatar for dannydorko

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: