Trump’s pick of ‘white nationalist’ Bannon as key aide sparks furious backlash

Democrats, civil rights groups and even some Republicans have slammed US President-elect Donald Trump for choosing right-wing firebrand Stephen Bannon as a key aide, saying it would elevate the white nationalist movement into the top levels of the White House.

The choice of Washington insider Reince Priebus as chief of staff was seen as a conciliatory signal of Trump’s willingness to work with Congress after he takes office. But the reaction to the hiring of Bannon as Trump’s chief strategist and counsellor was furious.

Bannon famously spearheaded a shift of the Breitbart News website into a forum for the “alt-right”, a term describing a far-right ideology that Bannon has said includes opposition to immigration and “globalism”.

But its supporters include neo-Nazis and white supremacists.

“There should be no sugarcoating the truth here: Donald Trump just invited a white nationalist into the highest reaches of the government,” said Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley, who called Monday for Trump to rescind the choice.

US President Barack Obama, who Trump will succeed on January 20, declined to wade into the controversy at a White House news conference, saying it would “not be appropriate” for him to comment on Trump’s appointments.

Democrats and advocacy groups on the left called Bannon a promoter of racism and misogyny who is backed by the white supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan.

“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 Greenblatt, head of the Anti-Defamation League.