New Jersey Senator Cory Booker is the latest elected official to condemn the appointment of Steve Bannon as Donald Trump’s chief strategist and senior counselor. In a post on his Facebook page, Booker declared that Bannon “won’t build bridges, he will burn them.”
Before becoming an official confidant of Trump’s (and wavering between campaign manager and campaign CEO), Bannon served as the executive chairman of conservative website Breitbart News. His appointment irked many activists, with the Anti-Defamation League saying he is “hostile to core American values.” This voice of opposition continued with Booker, who called for Trump to revoke the appointment. Booker, who can generally find a bright side to anyone, can’t do the same for Bannon. He called out Bannon’s “dangerous ideologies,” which he said could impact the country:
“Elevating Steve Bannon — a man who leads a website that promotes truly radical views about race and religion, whose appointment was celebrated by neo-Nazis and denounced by the Anti-Defamation League, and who has been condemned by Republicans and Democrats alike — to one of the highest positions in the White House installs a man with fringe and dangerous ideologies just steps from the Oval Office. Bannon won’t build bridges, he will burn them. He is unfit to advise America’s commander-in-chief. Donald Trump should reverse the decision to hire him and chart a different course for the good of the American people.”
Booker also did not let Trump off the hook either. As he showed on the campaign trail, the president-elect isn’t adverse to using inflammatory rhetoric to get his point across. Booker said he could create a further divide in the country if this happens in the White House:
“Over the course of his campaign, Donald Trump degraded and demeaned Americans, threatened our rights, and attacked the privileges of citizenship. He will have a disastrous presidency if he governs that way, and he must show the American people with words and action how he will change direction. Many have offered to give him a chance to do so, despite his divisive campaigning, and he should not squander that opportunity to unite our nation.”
Trump’s possible cabinet appointments are making waves, and Bannon’s position on the team is earning him a lot of flack.
(Via Cory Booker on Facebook)