From white nationalism to the White House, who is Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s new chief strategist and senior counsellor?

He’s a onetime subversive outsider, a leading figure of the American far-right and professional provocateur, who took over as chief executive of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in August 2016. He is credited for ramping up Trump’s populist rhetoric and painting Hillary Clinton as part of a global elite oppressing working people.

Steve Bannon was until recently the executive chairman at Brietbart news, a leading source of information for the Alt-right movement (a far-right umbrella term associated with white nationalism and opposition to multiculturalism, feminism and Islam).

Andrew Breitbart, the website founder, once described Bannon as the Leni Riefenstahl of the Tea Party movement, according to a Bloomberg Businessweek profile. Riefenstahl made propaganda pieces about Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.

Bannon’s ex-wife accused him of anti-Semitism in 2007 in a court declaration as part of a divorce proceedings. She claimed he said he didn’t want his children going to school with Jews.

We urge President-elect Trump to reconsider the ill-advised appointment of white nationalist #StephenBannon if he seeks to unite Americans.

— Nihad Awad نهاد عوض (@NihadAwad) 14 ноября 2016 г.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned Bannon’s appointment, calling him an “anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist and alt-right extremist” and said that it was a worrying sign of how the Trump administration would decide policy.

Nihad Awad, the council’s executive director, said in a statement: “The appointment of Stephen Bannon as a top Trump administration strategist sends the disturbing message that anti-Muslim conspiracy theories and white nationalist ideology will be welcome in the White House.”

If you really want to know what Bannon thinks of the world, these Breitbart headlines, offer a strong clue:

“When ISIS rants about the Crusades, a good liberal like Barack Obama nods thoughtfully and says, ‘You know, you’ve got a point there…”

“Hillary Clinton was personally involved in advancing the Muslim Brotherhood…”

“The Muslim rape culture is not a ‘dirty little secret’ – it is widely recognized as integral to Islam as taught in the Koran and the Hadith.”

“Why is the Huffington Post ramming the hijab down our throats? No one is stopping these Muslimas from wearing the hijab…”

“The election of Sadiq Khan is a cautionary tale for any nation that is importing a large Muslim population…”

“No more mass Muslim immigration. Our culture can’t take it.”

“No more mass Muslim immigration. Our culture can’t take it.”

“No more mass Muslim immigration. Our culture can’t take it.”

“By bringing in these migrants, we are creating an American refugee crisis…”

“Women are – and you won’t hear this anywhere else – screwing up the internet for men by invading every space we have online and ruining it.”

“Being part of an allegedly oppressed group is actually an advantage…”

“If you are obese, you should hate yourself.”

“Renegade Jew”

Basically anyone that isn’t rich, straight, white and male.

“70 per cent of American judges are still white men. Thank God for that!”

Source: middleeasteye.net