In his victory speech Donald Trump made a passing statement about unifying the country and then last night on 60 Minutes he seemingly sought to back peddle on a number of issues - including same sex marriage - to placate those appalled at his election. But Trump then went on to show his true colors by naming Steve Bannon as his senior counselor. While sane and decent people are cringing at the appointment, some are celebrating: the KKK, white supremacist groups, and the American Nazi Party to name a few. The take away? Don't buy the BS of those arguing to give Trump a chance or otherwise trying to normalize the abnormal election results that have saddled America with a narcissistic demagogue as president. A piece in The Hill looks at the once fringe elements that are trilled by Trumps election and frighteningly seeking to flex their power. Here are highlights:
President-elect Donald Trump is drawing praise from the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and other white nationalist groups for appointing former Breitbart executive Stephen Bannon as his chief strategist.
“Perhaps The Donald is for real,” Rocky Suhayda, chairman of the American Nazi Party, told CNN in an segment that included interviews with several white nationalists.
Trump’s hiring of Bannon has drawn bitter criticism from Democrats, but white nationalists believe it’s evidence the president-elect intends to live up to his campaign promises to deport illegal immigrants and build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
David Duke, a former KKK leader who lost his Senate bid last week in Louisiana, called Bannon’s hiring an “excellent” decision. In March, Trump disavowed David Duke, but only after he stumbled on the issue a few days prior. “David Duke is a bad person, who I disavowed on numerous occasions over the years,” Trump told MSNBC. “I disavowed him. I disavowed the KKK.”
Bannon will “push Trump in the right direction,” suggested Richard Spencer, president of the white nationalist National Policy Institute. “That would be a wonderful thing.”
“It makes sense to me,” added Brad Griffin, author of the white nationalist website Occidental Dissent. Bannon “will hold Trump to the promises he has already made during the campaign,” Griffin added. “We endorse many of those promises like building the wall, deportations, ending refugee resettlement, preserving the Second Amendment.”
Trump has tried to distance himself from white nationalists, but his decision to bring Bannon to the White House has caused those questions to resurface.
Bannon told Mother Jones over the summer that his conservative news outlet was "the platform of the alt-right,” a far-right ideology that promotes white supremacy. Under Bannon’s leadership, Breitbart ran headlines such as: “Bill Kristol, Republican Spoiler, Renegade Jew,” “Gabby Giffords: The Gun Control Movement's Human Shield,” and “Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy.”
Bannon has also made anti-Catholic comments about Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on his radio show.
And the Southern Poverty Law Center released a statement Monday saying Bannon's appointment goes "directly against Trump's pledge to be a president to 'all Americans.'"
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