Sanders Demands Trump Withdraw Bannon Appointment
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
— Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders called on President-elect Donald Trump to withdraw his appointment of Stephen Bannon to a major White House advisory post.
Sanders, an Independent senator from Vermont, in a statement issued Wednesday decried Bannon’s appointment earlier this week as chief strategist, calling him a “racist individual.” In urging Trump to cut Bannon loose, Sanders joins a number of Jewish organizations and other lawmakers.
Bannon is the former chairman of Breitbart News, a website that Bannon himself called “the platform for the alt-right,” a loose movement of the far right whose followers traffic variously in white nationalism, anti-immigration sentiment, anti-Semitism and a disdain for “political correctness.”
Sanders said in his statement: “This country, since its inception, has struggled to overcome discrimination of all forms: racism, sexism, xenophobia and homophobia. Over the years we have made progress in becoming a less discriminatory and more tolerant society – and we are not going backward.
“The appointment by President-elect Trump of a racist individual like Mr. Bannon to a position of authority is totally unacceptable. In a democratic society we can disagree all we want over issues, but racism and bigotry cannot be part of any public policy. The appointment of Mr. Bannon by Mr. Trump must be rescinded.”
Sanders lost in the Democratic presidential primary to Hillary Clinton and supported her during the campaign against Trump, including making several appearances for the former secretary of state just prior to Election Day. He was the first Jewish candidate to win major nominating contests.
Sanders announced on Thursday morning that he would not officially join Democratic Party, despite being appointed to a Senate Democratic caucus leadership position the previous day.
Sanders was named chair of outreach for the party, a newly created position, during a closed-door caucus session. In his new position, he will be in charge of reaching out to blue-collar voters who supported Trump, a Republican, in last week’s election, The Hill reported.
“I was elected as an Independent and I will finish this term as an Independent,” Sanders, who has long caucused with the Democrats, said at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, The Hill reported.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
