--- title: Stephen K Bannon's White House Position Leads to Backlash description: The Anti-Defamation League, Democrats weigh in canonical: https://time.com/4569588/donald-trump-stephen-bannon-breitbart-white-house/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-14T14:14:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T01:48:04.149Z article:section: Politics og:title: Stephen K Bannon's White House Position Leads to Backlash og:description: The Anti-Defamation League, Democrats weigh in og:url: https://time.com/4569588/donald-trump-stephen-bannon-breitbart-white-house/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e0314612bad8f94/6988ae56a988ca1d056ba26c/gettyimages-622468874.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3425 og:image:height: 1927 og:image:alt: President-Elect Donald Trump Holds Meetings At His Trump Tower Residence In New York og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Stephen K Bannon's White House Position Leads to Backlash twitter:description: The Anti-Defamation League, Democrats weigh in twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e0314612bad8f94/6988ae56a988ca1d056ba26c/gettyimages-622468874.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Courts Fury by Bringing Stephen Bannon to the White House > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Nov 14, 2016 2:14 PM UTC  Trump campaign CEO Steve Bannon exits an elevator in the lobby of Trump Tower, November 11, 2016 in New York City. Drew Angerer—Getty Images Trump campaign CEO Steve Bannon exits an elevator in the lobby of Trump Tower, November 11, 2016 in New York City. Drew Angerer—Getty Images Drew Angerer—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Nov 14, 2016 2:14 PM UTC President-elect Donald Trump [has tapped Stephen K. Bannon](http://time.com/4569192/donald-trump-reince-priebus-stephen-bannon/?xid=homepage), the controversial executive chairman of Breitbart News, to serve as his chief strategist and senior adviser in the White House but the appointment has already sparked a fierce reaction from antidiscrimination groups. Bannon and his website have been linked to the [alt-right](http://time.com/tag/alt-right/), an extreme sect of conservatism that largely comprises white nationalists, and to many his inclusion is a nod to the extreme stances many Trump supporters touted throughout the campaign. The former Hollywood producer and managing director at Goldman Sachs was initially believed to be Trump’s pick for Chief of Staff, but that position instead went to chairman of the Republican National Committee Reince Priebus. In response to the Bannon staffing announcement from Trump, several issued statements denouncing his choice. The [Anti-Defamation League](https://twitter.com/JGreenblattADL/status/797984801248673792), a Jewish advocacy group, said it strongly opposes Bannon. “It’s a sad day when a man who presided over the premier website of the ‘alt-right’ — a loose-knit group of white nationalists and unabashed anti-Semites and racists — is slated to be a senior staff member in the ‘people’s house,” a statement from ADL reads. [In a tweet](https://twitter.com/splcenter/status/797937732530110464), the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate-crime activity in the U.S, said Bannon was the “main driver behind Breitbart becoming a white ethno-nationalist propaganda mill” Political consultant and strategist for Ohio Governor John Kasich’s run for the White House issued a rebuke of Bannon on Twitter urging Americans to be “very vigilant.” > [](https://twitter.com/JWGOP/status/797918770136117248) Democratic Congress members also weighed in. A spokesperson for Democratic Senator Harry Reid denounced the selection of Bannon in statement that reads, “It is easy to see why the KKK views Trump as their champion when Trump appoints one of the foremost peddlers of white supremacist themes and rhetoric as his top aide,” said Reid’s spokesperson Adam Jentleson, according to [_Politico_](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/democrats-bannon-trump-strategist-231315). On Twitter, California Democrat Adam Schiff called the selection of Bannon unsurprising, but “alarming.” > [](https://twitter.com/RepAdamSchiff/status/797944790746796032) Bannon has [previously denied](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/27/trump-campaign-ceo-stephen-bannon-denies-antisemitic-remarks) making anti-Semitic remarks, though he not yet commented publicly on the backlash to his White House appointment. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4569588/donald-trump-stephen-bannon-breitbart-white-house/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4569588/donald-trump-stephen-bannon-breitbart-white-house/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Courts Fury by Bringing Stephen Bannon to the White House","datePublished":"2016-11-14T14:14:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T01:48:04.149Z","description":"The Anti-Defamation League, Democrats weigh in on Breitbart exec's appointment","url":"https://time.com/4569588/donald-trump-stephen-bannon-breitbart-white-house/","keywords":["White House","Donald Trump","extremism","steve bannon"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e0314612bad8f94/6988ae56a988ca1d056ba26c/gettyimages-622468874.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e0314612bad8f94/6988ae56a988ca1d056ba26c/gettyimages-622468874.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President-Elect Donald Trump Holds Meetings At His Trump Tower Residence In New York","caption":"President-Elect Donald Trump Holds Meetings At His Trump Tower Residence In New York","creditText":"Drew Angerer—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4569588/donald-trump-stephen-bannon-breitbart-white-house/","name":"Donald Trump Courts Fury by Bringing Stephen Bannon to the White House"}}]}] ```