WASHINGTON – Democrats, civil
rights groups and even some Republicans slammed U.S. President-elect Donald
Trump on Monday for choosing right-wing firebrand Stephen Bannon as a key aide,
saying it would elevate the white nationalist movement into the top levels of
the White House.

Making his first appointments
since last week’s upset win over Democrat Hillary Clinton, Trump picked Bannon
as his chief strategist and counselor, and Washington insider Reince Priebus as
his chief of staff on Sunday, saying the two would share the task of steering
his administration as “equal partners.”

The choice of Priebus was seen as
a conciliatory signal of Trump’s willingness to work with Congress after he
takes office on Jan. 20. But critics blasted the selection of Bannon, who
spearheaded a shift of the Breitbart News website into a forum for the
“alt-right,” a loose online group of neo-Nazis, white supremacists
and anti-Semites.

“There should be no
sugarcoating the truth here: Donald Trump just invited a white nationalist into
the highest reaches of the government,” said Democratic Senator Jeff
Merkley, who called on Trump to rescind the choice.

Democrats and advocacy groups on
the left called Bannon a promoter of racism and misogyny who is backed by the
white supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan.

“It is 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’,” said Jonathan Greenblatt,
head of the Anti-Defamation League.

The Democrats’ leader in the
House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, said Bannon’s appointment sent “an
alarming signal that President-elect Trump remains committed to the hateful and
divisive vision that defined his campaign.”

Even some conservatives and
Republicans voiced dismay. Evan McMullin, who ran as a conservative independent
presidential candidate, wondered on Twitter if any national Republican leaders
would condemn the pick of “anti-Semite” Bannon.

John Weaver, a top strategist for
Republican Ohio Governor John Kasich, tweeted that the “racist, fascist
extreme right is represented footsteps from the Oval Office. Be very vigilant
America.” Kasich was one of 16 Republican presidential hopefuls Trump
defeated in the party primaries ahead of last Tuesday’s election.

Priebus defended Bannon on
Monday, calling him a wise and well-educated former naval officer and saying he
had not encountered the sort of extremist or racist views that critics are
assailing.

“He was a force for good on
the campaign,” Priebus said on Fox News, adding they were in agreement on
“almost everything” in terms of advising the president-elect.

Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s former
campaign manager and a senior adviser, told reporters in New York she was
offended by the reaction to Bannon. She described him as a “brilliant
tactician” who was the general in charge of Trump’s campaign.

Hardline Trump backers counting
on the wealthy real estate developer to keep his campaign promise to
“drain the swamp” of business-as-usual Washington insiders may be
disappointed he has named Priebus as chief of staff, a position that serves as
gatekeeper and agenda-setter for the president.

 TRUMP MANAGEMENT STYLE

Throughout his career Trump has
often pitted competing staff factions against each other to get a wide range of
views.

“He likes taking opinions
from a lot of different people. He’s not a person who just listens to one
person and does whatever that one person says. He decides,” Priebus said
on NBC’s “Today Show.”

The early stages of Trump’s
unorthodox presidential campaign were marked by frequent clashes between Paul
Manafort, an experienced political insider, and brash manager Corey
Lewandowski. Both eventually resigned.

Since the election, Trump has
softened one of his major campaign promises of building a wall along the U.S.
border with Mexico to keep out illegal immigrants. In an interview with the CBS
program “60 Minutes” on Sunday, Trump said he would accept some
fencing instead of a brick-and-mortar wall.

Trump also sought to play down
the divisive nature of his candidacy and said Americans alarmed by his election
had nothing to fear.

“Don’t be afraid. We are
going to bring our country back. But certainly, don’t be afraid,” he said.

Bannon, a former Goldman Sachs
banker, over the past year led Breitbart News in a charge against the
Republican Party establishment, including Priebus’ friend Paul Ryan, the
speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Breitbart attacks on Ryan
continued on Sunday, with an article denouncing Ryan’s comment on CNN that
“we are not planning on erecting a deportation force.”

“Speaker Ryan is now telling
voters that he will not enact a central part of Trump’s mandate,” a
Breitbart article said.

In the “60 Minutes”
interview, Trump said he would move to deport up to 3 million immigrants who
are in the country illegally and have criminal records.

Demonstrators in major U.S.
cities took to the streets for a fifth straight day on Sunday to protest
against Trump.

Police in New York on Monday were
investigating two cases involving swastikas drawn or painted in public spaces,
as civil rights activists said there had been a surge in hate crimes following
last week’s election.

The president-elect, a
businessman who has never held public office, and his transition team are
working on picking members of his Cabinet and the heads of federal agencies.

Among those reported to be under
consideration for top posts are former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, as a
possible secretary of state or secretary of health and human services; Stephen
Hadley, former national security adviser under President George W. Bush, as a
possible defense secretary; former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani as attorney
general; and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as interior secretary.