Rights groups alarmed as Bannon heads to White House

Civil rights advocates and critics on both sides of the aisle are expressing alarm at the ascension of Steve Bannon to a senior post in President-elect Donald Trump’s White House, claiming that the former Breitbart editor embraced white nationalism and anti-Semitism.

Brannon, who was named chief strategist and senior counselor to Trump, has proudly adopted the mantle as leadership of the nationalist “alt-right.”

{mosads}He has a history of promoting offensive statements against Jewish people, Muslims, African-Americans and other minorities at Breitbart, critics say, and has allegedly expressed anti-Semitic statements in his personal life.

Jonathan Greenblatt, the head of the Anti-Defamation League, said Bannon’s appointment marked a “sad day” and criticized the alt-right as “a loose-knit group of white nationalists and unabashed anti-Semites and racists.”

Bannon “was the main driver behind Breitbart becoming a white ethno-nationalist propaganda mill,” the Southern Poverty Law Center said on Sunday.

Stephen Bannon was the main driver behind Breitbart becoming a white ethno-nationalist propaganda mill https://t.co/IyJ6ET2vaS

— SPLC (@splcenter) November 13, 2016

His selection “sends the disturbing message that anti-Muslim conspiracy theories and white nationalist ideology will be welcome in the White House,” echoed Nihad Awad, the national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

Breitbart has faced intense criticism over the racially loaded language it has used during Bannon’s tenure.

In May, the online news outlet referred to conservative writer Bill Kristol, a critic of Trump, as a “renegade Jew.”

It has also compared Planned Parenthood’s work to the Holocaust, suggested longtime Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin is connected to a global Islamist movement, called young Muslims in the West “a ticking time bomb” and claimed that birth control “makes women unattractive and crazy.”

Former Brietbart editor Ben Shapiro complained in August that readers’ comments “could have come directly from Der Stürmer,” referring to a Nazi newspaper.

Bannon is “the guy who ushered along the twisted turn at Breitbart,” Shapiro wrote in a Washington Post op-ed.

Bannon himself has called for a shakeup of the U.S. political system and has allegedly expressed disdain of Jewish people in private.  

In a 2007 divorce filing, Bannon’s ex-wife claimed that he made anti-Semitic comments regarding private schools they were considering for their children.

“He said that he doesn’t like Jews and that he doesn’t like the way they raise their kids to be ‘whiney brats’ and that he didn’t want the girls going to school with Jews,” ex-wife Mary Louise Piccard said in a court filing.

Bannon denied the allegation.

Bannon was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence ahead of the divorce, though the charges were ultimately dismissed when his ex-wife could not be located.

CAIR has stirred opposition among some conservatives over allegations of ties to extremism, which it has repeatedly denied.

To some, such as former Arkansas governor and two-time GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, the group’s condemnation came as a badge of honor.

Critics of Steve Bannon know he’s smarter and tougher than they are. When CAIR doesn’t like you that is a good thing. Bannon a good guy

— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) November 14, 2016

Reince Priebus, the current Republic National Committee chairman who will serve alongside Bannon in the White House as Trump’s chief of staff, defended Bannon on Monday morning.

“I find him not to be the way he’s being accused,” Priebus said on Fox News’s “Fox and Friends.”

“I find him to be the opposite, and I think people need to give people time and give people an opportunity and not make judgments.”

Offensive commentary on Breitbart “wasn’t him,” Priebus said on NBC, claiming that he did not author the posts.  

Other Republicans who oppose Trump, meanwhile, joined in the criticism.

John Weaver, a former adviser to Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s (R) presidential campaign, called Bannon “a racist, anti-Semite.”

Just to be clear news media, the next president named a racist, anti-semite as the co-equal of the chief of staff. #NotNormal

— John Weaver (@JWGOP) November 13, 2016

Evan McMullin, the former GOP House staffer who launched a long-shot independent campaign for president this year, used similar language to describe the high-ranking Trump staffer.

Saying “stop it” to racist attacks means little when you name white supremacist darling Steve Bannon chief strategist in the very same day. https://t.co/BKuyA09VRA

— Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) November 14, 2016

Will any national level elected GOP leaders condemn @realDonaldTrump‘s appointment of anti-Semite Steve Bannon to senior White House role? https://t.co/3972cYChzB

— Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) November 14, 2016

Users on the white nationalist website StormFront, meanwhile, appeared giddy at the announcement.

“It doesn’t get any better than this!” cheered one.

“Stephen Bannon: racist, anti-homo, anti-immigrant, anti-jewish, anti-establishment. Declared war on (((Paul Ryan))),” said another user, using internet slang to suggest that Ryan (R-Wis.) is Jewish. Ryan, the House Speaker, is Catholic.

“Sounds perfect.”

Throughout the campaign, Trump has attracted the support of a wide variety of white supremacists, including the Ku Klux Klan. Jewish journalists have received a seemingly nonstop barrage of anti-Semitic harassment that has included references to the Holocaust. 

In recent weeks, Trump supporters have posted the home addresses of several journalists online, including staffers from The New York Times, CNN and the Huffington Post, some of whom have come home to find anti-Semitic screeds in the mail.

Trump has condemned the support of white supremacists and other extremists.