Congressman Jerrold Nadler (Borough Park, Kensington, and parts of Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights, Red Hook, Sunset Park, Midwood), and Assembly Member Walter Mosley (Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights) separately issued stern rebukes and warnings about President-elect Donald Trump’s naming of Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen Bannon as White House Chief Strategist.
The Harvard educated Bannon, a former Navy officer and Goldman Sachs investment banker, is extremely controversial in his running of the far-right Breitbart News, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has called a “white ethno-nationalist propaganda mill.”
Additionally, white nationalists such as former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke have hailed his appointment.
“I am appalled and disgusted that Donald Trump is doubling-down on hatred and racism in his very first action as President-elect. Instead of calling on the nation to end the violence, racism, and bigotry that is sweeping communities across the country, he has selected a known anti-Semitic, white nationalist, racist – Steve Bannon – to serve at the highest level of the executive branch,” said Nadler.
“This is not unexpected, but that doesn’t make it any less despicable or acceptable. I call on Trump to immediately retract his offer to Bannon and to pledge that no one who shares those anti-Semitic, racist values has any place in his administration. Bannon has bragged about Breitbart News serving as the platform for the alt-right — a loose alliance of anti-immigrant, anti-Semitic, white nationalist provocateurs. We must not allow him to use the power of the White House as his new platform for spewing hate, racism, and white nationalism.”
Nadler also called on Trump to appoint senior officials and members of his cabinet that look like America.
“In a sign of national unity, and reflecting the very close nature of the election – including the fact that he lost the popular vote – he needs to appoint Democrats and Republicans to his administration, men and women, people of all races, ethnicities, and religious backgrounds, gay and straight, and including those with disabilities. Whoever he appoints to serve in a position of leadership in our country must serve all of the people and must denounce the type of racism, white nationalism, and bigotry that, unfortunately, Steve Bannon represents to millions of Americans,” said Nadler.
Mosley called Bannon a “well-known anti-Semitic, white nationalist” and condemned the appointment.
“While the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party have applauded Mr. Bannon’s appointment, I am reminded of the outrageously offensive headlines printed by Breitbart News where he still serves as an Executive Chairman. These include ‘Planned Parenthood’s Body Count Under Cecile Richards is Up to Half a Holocaust,’ ‘Racist, Pro-Nazi Roots of Planned Parenthood Revealed’ and a December 2015 article titled ‘Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy,’ which concluded with ‘we need the kids if we’re to breed enough to keep the Muslim invaders at bay,'” said Mosley.
“One of our founding fathers, Samuel Adams, said ‘if ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.’ Now more than ever, we need to stand together to prevent these disrespectful and racist views from continuing to divide our country. While President-elect Trump is not likely to rescind this appointment, it is time for everyday Americans who still believe in the bright, optimistic, big-hearted future of this nation to organize and mobilize in defense of the defenseless, to provide hope for the hopeless and continue to pursue bravely and passionately the reality of the American dream for every American,” the Assembly Member added.
