ADL Statement on President-Elect Trump's Appointment of Reince Priebus and Steve BannonNew York, NY, November 13, 2016
http://www.adl.org/press-center/press-releases/miscellaneous/adl-statement-trump-appointment-priebus-bannon.html#.WDkSMPkrKUkThe Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today commended President-Elect Trump for appointing Reince Preibus as White House Chief of Staff.
Priebus has had a long career in politics and public life, and ADL wishes him well in his new role.
At the same time, ADL strongly opposes the appointment of Steve Bannon as senior advisor and chief strategist in the White House.
"It is a sad day when a man who presided over the premier website of the Alt Right, a loose-knit group of white nationalists and unabashed anti-Semites and racists - is slated to be a senior staff member in the 'people's house,' said Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL CEO. "We call on President-elect Trump to appoint and nominate Americans committed to the well-being of all our country's people and who exemplify the values of pluralism and tolerance that makes our country great."
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Stephen Bannon:
Five Things to Know
http://www.adl.org/sp/stephen-bannon-backgrounder/bannon-backgrounder.html#.WDkRvvkrKUkBANNON HAS EMBRACED THE ALT RIGHT, A LOOSE NETWORK OF WHITE NATIONALISTS AND ANTI-SEMITES.The alt right is a loose network of individuals and groups that promote white identity and reject mainstream conservatism in favor of politics that embrace implicit or explicit racism, anti-Semitism and white supremacy. Often by leveraging social media and the Internet, alt right adherents express opposition to multiculturalism, immigration and often claim that there is a Jewish conspiracy to advocate for “white genocide.”
Bannon “proudly” told a reporter at the 2016 Republican National Convention “we’re the platform for the alt right.” In the same interview in Mother Jones magazine, he denied that the alt right is inherently racist or anti-Semitic, although a vast majority of people affiliated with that movement hold racist and anti-Semitic views. In addition, under Bannon, Breitbart News published an article co-authored by Milo Yiannopoulos, a figure who is associated with the alt right, that played down the racism of some of the alt right’s main ideologues.
In The Daily Beast in August 2016, alt right figure Richard Spencer, said: “Breitbart has elective affinities with the alt-right and the alt-right has clearly influenced Breitbart. In this way, Breitbart has acted as a ‘gateway’ to alt-right ideas and writers.” Bannon has also been embraced by white supremacists for his views in recent days. Numerous well-known white supremacists weighed in on President-elect Trump’s appointment of Bannon as his chief strategist.
David Duke called the selection of Bannon “excellent,” adding that Bannon was “basically creating the ideological aspects of where we’re going.” Peter Brimelow, who runs the racist site VDare, said that the Bannon hire was “amazing.” Jared Taylor of American Renaissance and Brad Griffin who runs the Occidental Dissent website both said that Bannon would help hold Trump to his campaign rhetoric on immigration and other issues.
Rocky Suhayda of the American Nazi Party voiced the same view. In addition, Bannon has reportedly reached out to far-right figure and French political activist Marine Le Pen. She tweeted that he had invited her to work together with the new Trump administration.
UNDER BANNON, BREITBART NEWS PUBLISHED INFLAMMATORY PIECES ABOUT WOMEN, MUSLIMS AND OTHER GROUPS.Bannon has been on leave from Breitbart since August 2016, when he took over as CEO of the Trump campaign. In his absence, the right-wing “news” site has continued to publish a stream of inflammatory, creatively-sourced “stories.” Many of the Breitbart headlines published under Bannon’s tenure illustrate the website’s virulently anti-Muslim, misogynistic, worldview, including: “Planned Parenthood’s Body Count Under Cecile Richards is Up to Half a Holocaust,” “Would You Rather Your Child Had Feminism or Cancer?” and “Political Correctness Protects Muslim Rape Culture.” As Bannon’s defenders have pointed out, these headlines are designed to attract attention and readers, and are not necessarily evidence that Bannon himself is an anti-Semite, a misogynist or an anti-Muslim bigot.
However, under Bannon, Breitbart News has provided a platform for anti-Muslim extremists such as Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer and others to advocate their agendas. More recently, the website published a number of articles attacking the family of Capt. Humayun Khan, who died while serving in Iraq, and accusing his father Khizr Khan of having “deep ties to the government of Saudi Arabia—and to international Islamist investors.” Advocating for the Muslim immigration ban, which president-elect Trump suggested during his presidential campaign, the website called it an “‘Extraordinary, Brilliant’ Move” and published articles defending its constitutionality.
BANNON IS A CRITIC OF THE REPUBLICAN ESTABLISHMENT AND THE LEFT.Bannon appears to be populist and anti-elite. An August 2016 article in The Atlantic cites Bannon’s talk to a gathering of conservatives in Washington, DC in 2013, in which he promotes a populist uprising against the GOP establishment. He said, “We don’t believe there is a functional conservative party in this country and we certainly don’t think the Republican Party is that. It’s going to be an insurgent, center-right populist movement that is virulently anti-establishment, and it’s going to continue to hammer this city, both the progressive left and the institutional Republican Party.” In an interview about a film he wrote and produced in 2010, “Fire from the Heartland: The Awakening of the Conservative Woman,” Bannon distinguished conservative women like Michele Bachmann and Ann Coulter from women on the left. He said, “These women cut to the heart of the progressive narrative. That's one of the unintended consequences of the women's liberation movement––that, in fact, the women that would lead this country would be feminine, they would be pro-family, they would have husbands, they would love their children. They wouldn't be a bunch of dykes that came from the 7 Sisters schools."
BANNON HAS HELD A NUMBER OF POSITIONS IN HIS CAREER.Before Bannon was appointed as chief strategist of the new Trump administration and took on the role of chief executive officer of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, he was best known as the executive chairman of Breitbart News. Bannon took on that position in 2012. That same year, Bannon co-founded the Government Accountability Institute (GAI), whose stated mission is “to investigate and expose crony capitalism, misuse of taxpayer monies, and other governmental corruption or malfeasance.” Bannon has also produced and financed a number of documentary films on right-wing figures, including Ronald Reagan and Sarah Palin. He was also the chairman of Affinity Media for a number of years and formerly worked for Goldman Sachs.
WE ARE NOT AWARE OF ANY ANTI-SEMITIC STATEMENTS FROM BANNON.While there is a long fact pattern of evidence that Breitbart served as a platform for a wide range of bigotry and there is some controversy related to statements from Mr. Bannon’s divorce proceedings in 2007, we are not aware of any anti-Semitic statements made by Bannon himself. In fact, Jewish employees of Breitbart have challenged the characterization of him and defended him from charges of anti-Semitism. Some have pointed out that Breitbart Jerusalem was launched during his tenure.
Nevertheless, Bannon essentially has established himself as the chief curator for the alt right. Under his stewardship, Breitbart has emerged as the leading source for the extreme views of a vocal minority who peddle bigotry and promote hate.
