Sen. Chuck Schumer on Monday slammed Steve Bannon's White House appointment, calling it an "unacceptable choice," according to Politico.
"If allies or aides to the president say anything that demeans a group of Americans, we won't hesitate for a moment to demand that our new president condemn those comments," the New York Democrat said in a speech to the Democracy Alliance. "And already we have reason to. Steve Bannon's appointment to a senior White House post signals that many of his dangerous and bigoted ideas will have a seat at the table in the White House. We will be watching. And everyone here will be ready to actively stand up for one another if ever one group is attacked."
Bannon, a former news executive for Breitbart, was appointed to a chief strategist role by President-elect Donald Trump this past weekend. The move drew sharp criticism from both party sides because of Breitbart News' close association with the alt-right movement, which, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center is "a set of far-right ideologies, groups and individuals whose core belief is that "white identity" is under attack by multicultural forces using "political correctness" and "social justice" to undermine white people and "their civilization."
Schumer, the future Senate Democratic leader, said he would keep Trump in line and "respect the office of the presidency" but will respond if Trump "says anything that demeans women, or Muslims or Latinos or our friends in the LGBT community."
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