Team Of R̶i̶v̶a̶l̶s̶ R̶a̶c̶i̶s̶t̶s̶ Firebrands — The Ultimate Cheat Sheet To Trump’s Appointees
Jeff Sessions and Donald Trump during a national security meeting with advisers at Trump Tower in New York on Oct. 7, 2016 (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci, File)
Donald Trump, in typical Trump fashion, proceeded to fuel the sensationalism surrounding his transition team by considering Republicans who staunchly opposed him on the campaign trail. Considering people like Gov. Nikki Haley (SC), and former Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, for top cabinet positions led to the speculation that Trump would be following in the great Abraham Lincoln’s footsteps and create his own team of rivals. But for those who are hopeful that conventional conservatives will be added to the cabinet, just based on his recent picks, this is not shaping up to be the case.
Meet the T̶e̶a̶m̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶R̶a̶c̶i̶s̶t̶s̶ confirmed Trump appointees:
Steve Bannon
Title: Senior Adviser to the President
Summary: On August 17th Donald Trump selected Steve Bannon to be the chief executive of his 2016 campaign. Last Sunday it was announced that he will be serving as Donald Trump’s Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor to the President-Elect. Before working with the Trump Campaign he was the Executive Chairman of Breitbart News.
Under Steve Bannon, Brietbart News branded themselves as less of a traditional conservative media organization, and took an alt-right and nationalistic position. Ben Shapiro, a previous editor of Breitbart News, once said, “Under Bannon’s leadership, Breitbart openly embraced the white supremacist alt-right.”
Michael Flynn
Title: National Security Adviser
Famous Quote: “Fear of Muslims is RATIONAL” via Twitter
Summary: On Friday, President-Elect tapped Lt. General Michael Flynn for the position of National Security Adviser. You may remember Lt .Gen. Flynn as the guy leading “lock her up” chants at Trump rallies during the campaign, and taking flack for re-tweeting an anti-Semitic remark. However, Flynn may be best known for his aggressive rebuke of Islam.
Flynn once regarded Islam as a “political ideology,” that “the American Founding Fathers wanted nothing to do with.” Flynn was pushed out as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014, due to his contentious management style and flagrant remarks, according to U.S. officials.
Flynn attended the 10th anniversary of RT, the Russian government propaganda network, and sat at the same table as Vladimir Putin. He acknowledged that he was paid to attend the event.
It was recently reported by POLITICO that his intelligence firm had been paid, with presumably laundered money, to lobby on behalf of the Turkish government. Flynn also sat in on classified briefings with Donald Trump this past August, while at the same time providing “all-source intelligence support” to international clients through his consulting firm.
Norm Eisen, who served as President Obama’s ethics adviser and later as an ambassador to the Czech Republic said, “This is profoundly troubling and should be disqualifying.”
Jeff Sessions
Title: Attorney General
Famous Quote: Once called a white lawyer a “disgrace to his race” for taking on black clients
Summary: Jeff Sessions is a current member of the Senate, and is unlikely to have his nomination for Attorney General blocked by a Republican controlled Senate. However, Sessions’ controversial past is sure to be brought to light by Democrats before his confirmation.
In 1986 Sessions was being considered for a federal district judgeship in Alabama, but was blocked by the Senate after Thomas Figures, a black former deputy and assistant U.S. Attorney in Alabama, testified. Figures accused Sessions of calling him “boy”, playfully speaking of the Ku Klux Klan, and said that Sessions once warned him to be careful about what he said around “white folks.”
Mike Pompeo
Title: CIA Director
Famous Quote: Said that Islamic leaders living in the U.S. are “potentially complicit” in terror acts. Full Quote:
“Instead of responding, silence has made these Islamic leaders across America potentially complicit in these acts, and more importantly still, in those that may well follow… Every Muslim leader must unequivocally proclaim that terror committed in the name of Islam violates the core tenets of the Prophet Mohammed, and they must do so repeatedly. Period.”
Summary: On Friday Donald Trump nominated Mike Pompeo to be his CIA Director. The Republican from Kansas has served three terms in the House of Representatives, and was chosen by John Boehner to serve in the House Intelligence Committee and the Select Committee on Benghazi. But when the committee came up empty handed, he and others criticized Trey Gowdy for not being tough enough during the investigation. Additionally, Pompeo has been staunchly opposed to the Iran deal.
