Donald Trump has decided to double down on the poisonous rancor and stench of intolerance and bigotry that has defined his candidacy, especially during the Republican primary season, by handing the reins of his flailing campaign over to Breitbart News Network Chairman Stephen Bannon.
This is how the respected civil rights and legal advocacy group Southern Poverty Law Center defined Breitbart News Network this past April:
Since its founding in 2007, Breitbart News Network has grown to become one of the most popular news outlets on the right. Over the past year however, the outlet has undergone a noticeable shift toward embracing ideas on the extremist fringe of the conservative right. Racist ideas. Anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant ideas –– all key tenets making up an emerging racist ideology known as the “Alt-Right.”
The Alt-Right is a loose set of far-right ideologies at the core of which is a belief that “white identity” is under attack through policies prioritizing multiculturalism, political correctness and social justice and must be preserved, usually through white-identified online communities and physical ethno-states.
In an article in the Washington Post, yesterday, the Trump campaign seemed to exude giddiness at the news that Bannon would be helping to guide the campaign:
The campaign said in its statement that Bannon, a former Navy officer, would be “temporarily stepping down from his role with Breitbart News to work full-time on Mr. Trump’s campaign in a new position designed to bolster the business-like approach of Mr. Trump’s campaign.”
[Paul] Manafort, in a statement, said that he is sure the additions will “undoubtedly help take the campaign to new levels of success.”
“Buckle up,” wrote a Trump strategist in a text message Wednesday to The Washington Post.
In an appearance before MSNBC’s All In viewing audience last night, Joy Reid meticulously destroyed any sense of legitimacy the Trump campaign might have hoped to gain through its alliance with Bannon and Breitbart.com. She interviewed popular Trump surrogate Steve Cortes and, at the outset, asked a searingly relevant question:
Joy Reid: Joining me now is Steve Cortes, a businessman and surrogate for the Trump campaign. Alright Steve, buckle up out there, this is not going to be a traditional campaign; this idea of Donald Trump going back to freewheeling and freestyling and essentially embracing the angry Right. Who is that designed to add to his support base?
Steve Cortes: Well, Joy, I would concede buckle up, absolutely, buckle up because this is going to be a great ride. You know, football season is going to start, and we’re doing what every great football team does; we’re making halftime adjustments because we are going to finish extremely strongly in this race. But when you say the Far-Right, I’m gonna take issue with that. And I think that Steve Bannon is a fantastic hire, but when you say the Far-Right, what he is—he’s anti-establishment.
Cortes’ choice of words “extremely strongly” could not have been more appropriate. He went on to describe Bannon as an anti-establishment and anti-cronyism figure who has been evenhanded in taking on all-comers from the Right and Left, and who will return the Trump campaign to the days when Trump defeated other Republicans, during the primary season.
Joy Reid: Hold on Steve, let me get my question back in there again, because you didn’t answer my initial question. Because my question to you is who is this designed to resonate with, who is not already a Donald Trump supporter? In the primary he was running for Republican support. This was not a general election.
Steve Cortes: Right.
Joy Reid: I want to read you headlines from Breitbart.com, which you’ve tried to paint as sort of a take on all-comers website: “Phony fascist tears: Obama cries during gun control speech”, “Birth control makes women unattractive and crazy”, “Trannies whine about hilarious Bruce Jenner Billboard”, and “Bill Kristol: Republican spoiler renegade Jew”.
I want to now give you another new set of information. This is the Southern Poverty Law Center which tracks hate groups. They track White supremacist movements, and they track the Alt-Right, which is a sort of the dressed-up-in-suits version of the Neo-Nazis and White supremacist movements in the U.S.—Headline, is Breitbart.com becoming a media arm for the Alt-Right? The outlet has undergone a noticeable shift toward embracing ideas on the extremist fringe of the conservative Right; racist ideas, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant ideas—all key tenets making up an emerging racist ideology known as the Alt-Right. So I’m going to ask you that question again.
Steve Cortes: O.K.
Joy Reid: Having a guy who runs that website that’s got headlines about Trannies, renegade Jew—quote unquote Bill Kristol—birth control makes women unattractive and crazy and which is now an arm of the Alt-Right—and you and I just discussed what the Alt-Right is. How is embracing the guy who runs that—who is that designed to add to Donald Trump’s support base?
This was a devastating summation of affairs as it related to Trump and his association with Bannon that left very little in the way of comeback for Cortes, who is left with the unfortunate task of having to clean up for Trump. Cortes attempted a response:
Steve Cortes: Well Joy, I think this is important—you know, it is often said that only death and taxes are a given—
Reid repeated her question.
Joy Reid: Who is a Brietbart.com-run-campaign meant to appeal to, who is not already a Republican supporter?
Steve Cortes: Every four years the Liberal media will proclaim that the Republican nominee, no matter who it is—
Reid calmly attempts to direct him to answering her question as he tries to obfuscate.
Joy Reid: Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve—
Steve Cortes: And that is —
Joy Reid: Wait a second, Steve, we’ve not had a candidate for president who has embraced an entity such as Breitbart, which has the headlines—shall I put them back up again?
Steve Cortes: Right.
Joy Reid: That is who is running, now, the Donald Trump campaign.
He was done. There was nothing he could have added to explain away or make reasonable the unrelentingly disqualifying case of Breitbart and the Trump campaign that Joy Reid laid out before her viewing audience. He was done; he knew it, and so is his candidate.