When President-elect Donald Trump appointed Breitbart News chairman Steven K. Bannon to a position in the West Wing of the White House, he sent a very clear message to the world.
With that appointment, he announced that he is looking to get advice from the voice of the nationalist, white supremacist alternative right world.
Steve Bannon has said some horrific things about Islam during his time in the public eye.
Given that the President-elect got to the White House in part because of his promise to ban all Muslims from entering the country, and his Nazi style comments about making all Muslims register with the government, the beliefs of his chief strategist are particularly important.
Bannon, who hosts a show on Sirius/XM radio, interviewed many anti-Muslim extremists in the past year. He let them express their completely ignorant, hateful ideas about Islam without every pushing back.
Worse yet, he called these people “experts on the Islamic faith,” a label that gives legitimacy to a whole list of Islamophobic nutcakes.
Here are a few of the crazies that Trump’s new advisor might just ask him to listen to.
1. Pamela Geller
This lady has been labelled by the Southern Poverty Law Center as one of the most hateful, bigoted Islamophobes out there. She is the head of “The American Freedom Defense Initiative,” which they have labelled as a hate group. She has pushed the idea that President Obama is secretly a Muslim, and has called Islam “the most radical and extreme ideology on the face of the earth.”
Steve Bannon called her “one of the top world experts in radical Islam and Shariah law and Islamic supremacism.”
2. Robert Spencer
He started the above reference American Freedom Defense Initiative with his good buddy Geller. He once said that:
“traditional Islam itself is not moderate or peaceful. It is the only major world religion with a developed doctrine and tradition of warfare against unbelievers.”
He is a good buddy of Mr. Bannon, and has offered to be of service in any way as his fellow hate monger sets up his desk in the West Wing.
3. Frank Gaffney
Bannon had Gaffney as a guest on his show 29 times, according to the Huffington Post. He had a boatload of flattery for the man, too, saying that Gaffney:
“is one of the senior thought leaders and men of action in this whole war against Islamic radical jihad… doing amazing work, doing God’s work, sir. Just fantastic.”
That amazing work includes spreading conspiracy theories claiming that Hillary Clinton, among other top Democrats, is infiltrating the U.S. government on behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood.
In addition to the Bannon allies, there are a number of anti-Muslim racists in line for cabinet positions in the White House.
4, 5: Claire Lopez, Michael Flynn
Among the possible picks as National Security Advisors or Deputy National Security Advisors, are Claire Lopez and Michael Flynn.
These two have expressed the belief that Islam is a “cancer” on our country, and that there is a conspiracy to infiltrate the country with Muslims.
6. Newt Gingrich
OK, so we know that Newt would have had access to the White House no matter what, but our concern is his public statements about deporting and “testing” American Muslims to see if they support Sharia law. He and Bannon share a paranoid fear of mosques and those who pray there.
7. Rudy Giuliani
For truly obscure and frightening reasons, Giuliani is at the top of the list to be Secretary of State. The former New York City Mayor has said that he believes in electronically tagging Muslims on the terror watch list to record their movements. He believes that there should be surveillance on mosques and that we need a database of American Muslims.
If you are a Muslim American, Donald Trump and his list of White House advisors is absolutely terrifying. If you are an American who believes in our Constitution and in the famous Bill of Rights, he and his inside group are every worst nightmare than American patriot could ever have.
Featured image by Diego Cambiaso via Flickr. Available through CC BY-SA 2.0
