Steve Bannon selection by Trump shows his racism, liberals say

Donald Trump’s post-election honeymoon with Democrats quickly ended this weekend after he named renegade conservative Stephen K. Bannon as top White House strategist, drawing howls of protest from progressives who said the selection legitimized racism and intolerance at the top levels of government.

Citing everything from calumnious headlines on the website he led, Breitbart News, to personal comments he allegedly made about Jews, Democrats said by picking Mr. Bannon, the president-elect has made his first stumble.

“There must be no sugarcoating the reality that a white nationalist has been named chief strategist for the Trump administration,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Mr. Bannon was appointed chief strategist and senior counselor, announced in tandem with Mr. Trump tapping Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus as his chief of staff — signaling Mr. Bannon will have Mr. Trump’s ear and be among the most powerful people in the new administration.

Mr. Trump’s team circled the wagons around Mr. Bannon Monday, dubbing him a Renaissance man who should be given a chance.

“Frankly, people should look at the full resume,” Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told reporters at Trump Tower. “He’s got a Harvard business degree, [was] a naval officer. He has success in entertainment, I don’t know if you’re aware of that, and he certainly was a Goldman Sachs managing partner — brilliant tactician.”

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy likewise said people should give the new administration a chance.

“The president had a right to select who he thinks is best,” said Mr. McCarthy, California Republican.

Mr. Bannon’s appointment has put even more focus on his pre-campaign life as head of Breitbart, where recent headlines included “Would you rather your child had feminism or brain cancer?” “Muslims demand polygamy in response to same sex unions,” and “Bill Kristol: Republican spoiler, renegade Jew,” a reference to the anti-Trump editor of The Weekly Standard.

Mr. Bannon has called Breitbart a “platform” for the alt-right — though its editor-in-chief rejected any ties to “white” nationalism during a SiriusXM radio appearance shortly before the election.

“Why did they throw the ’white’ in there?” Editor-in-Chief Alex Barlow asked Mr. Bannon. “We’ve never once said ’white nationalist, Steve just ’nationalist.’ We like American values. It has nothing to do with skin color.”

“Ethno-nationalism,” Mr. Bannon replied, perhaps somewhat tongue-in-cheek.

Divorce papers unearthed during the campaign showed that Mr. Bannon’s ex-wife accused him of not wanting to send their children to schools with Jewish children, though Mr. Bannon’s team denied these accusations.

Ben Shapiro, a former Breitbart staffer who is now editor of The Daily Wire website, wrote Monday that he has no evidence that Mr. Bannon himself is a racist or an anti-Semite, but that Mr. Bannon is at least willing to give voice to the ethno-nationalist “alt-right” movement.

“The alt-right, in a nutshell, believes that Western culture is inseparable from European ethnicity,” Mr. Shapiro wrote in a piece for The Daily Wire. “I have no evidence Bannon believes that personally. But he’s happy to pander to those people and make common cause with them in order to transform conservatism into European far-right nationalist populism.”

Mr. Shapiro left Breitbart over what he described as its pro-Trump coverage and its handling of Michelle Fields, a former staffer who accused former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski of manhandling her after a March campaign event. Breitbart didn’t rush to defend Ms. Fields in the wake of the incident, though video showed Mr. Lewandowski grabbing her as she was trying to ask Mr. Trump a question.

But even as Mr. Bannon cuts official ties with Breitbart, the relationship between a top White House staffer and a major media outlet could be an issue going forward.

In an interview with SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily show the day after the election, Mr. Bannon told Mr. Marlow it actually shouldn’t be considered an interview, or even a conversation, but rather “just a couple of old friends catching up.” Mr. Bannon had also been a regular host of the show for some time.

That relationship with current Breitbart staffers would seemingly continue, regardless of whether Mr. Bannon holds an official position there anymore.

“I just wanted to make sure that the entire audience out there at Breitbart News Daily and the weekend show don’t think people aren’t listening to you,” Mr. Bannon said.