Wow, @NancyPelosi straight up called Bannon a White Supremacist pic.twitter.com/9VPV3qfz41
— Tommy Christopher (@tommyxtopher) February 2, 2017
On Thursday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s weekly briefing caused a stir when she took aim at Trump Chief Strategist Steve Bannon. He recently ascended to a permanent seat (and a top one) on the National Security Council, and there’s been plenty of fuss about how he’ll attend every meeting. Press Secretary Sean Spicer dismissed “downgrading” claims about the joint chiefs of staff and director of national intelligence as “utter nonsense,” but perhaps Spicer’s using “alternative facts” again. It’s hard to tell.
So, Bannon — who arrived on Trump’s roster while claiming to idolize Darth Vader and Satan — has been elevated above military and intelligence leaders. And some folks feel uneasy about this, given how Bannon created a haven for anti-Semitic readers while running right-wing news site Breitbart. Pelosi didn’t waste time in dropping the Alt-Right label to convey her disgust. She flat-out called Bannon a white supremacist and says his permanent presence on the council will endanger America:
“What’s making America less safe is to have a white supremacist named to the National Security Council as a permanent member while the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Director of National Intelligence are told, ‘Don’t call us, we’ll call you.’ You’re no longer permanent members.”
Pelosi isn’t alone in worrying over the great amount of power that Bannon now holds. Last week’s airport protests even morphed into #StopPresidentBannon cries due to the apparent influence that Trump’s chief strategist holds over him.
Indeed, Vanity Fair published an interesting theory about how Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, now a senior advisor to the president, is beside himself at not being able to ward off Bannon’s power moves. The piece points out how Bannon dives into formation whenever Kushner and Ivanka Trump go off-grid to observe Shabbat. Given how Trump dropped his controversial immigration ban late on a Friday afternoon without consulting top cabinet members, the theory doesn’t seem outside of the realm of possibility.
(Via CNN & Vanity Fair)