Picks for White House: Trump misusing his freedom

Donald Trump keeps stunning the world.

His win in the presidential election by defeating Hillary Clinton sent a shockwave across the globe.

Anti-Trump protest is erupting across the US. People are agitating in the streets as they believe "Trump is unfit to serve. His scapegoating of so many Americans, and his impulsivity, bullying, lying, admitted history of sexual assault".

More than five million Americans signed a petition urging electors not to vote for Trump on December 19 to formally elect him president.

Liberal forces across the globe are still reeling from the shock of his win in the bitterly fought election on November 8.

In such a situation, Trump in a week sent another big blow to the forces worried over his election win by picking right-wing firebrand Stephen Bannon as his chief strategist and adviser in the White House.

His choice of Bannon has set the tone of his government. The choice sparked outrage not only in the US but also in many parts in the world.

Before Bannon joined Trump's campaign as chief executive officer in last August, he spent four years as executive chairman of Breitbart News, a website he himself has described as a "platform for the alt-right”.

Democrats, civil rights groups and even some Republicans slammed Trump Monday over his choice of Bannon as a key aide, saying it would elevate the white nationalist movement into the top levels of the White House.

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.

More than 150 members of the House of Representatives belonging to Democratic Party on Wednesday signed a letter urging Trump to rescind the appointment of Bannon. According to them, this appointment “sends a disturbing message about what kind of president Donald Trump wants to be”.

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”.

Appointment of Bannon even surprised chairman of the American Nazi Party, Rocky J Suhayda, who wrote a post after Trump's election victory celebrating it as a call to action.

He could not imagine Trump could have made the appointment that would surely trigger outcry. This choice, he said, showed Trump could follow through on his campaign promises.

In an interview between Trump and Bannon that took place last year, and that resurfaced in The Washington Post on Tuesday testifies to the similarity of beliefs between the duo against immigrants, Muslims and women rights.

TASTE OF BANNON

According to a CNN report on Tuesday, Bannon hails from his Breitbart News website that traffics in incendiary headlines, many of them outwardly racist, misogynist, anti-Semitic -- and very, very pro-Trump.

One of the headlines is “Birth control makes women unattractive and crazy”.

In a December 2015 article, Breitbart News made a case against birth control and concluded, "We need the kids if we're to breed enough to keep the Muslim invaders at bay."

Under the headline "There's no hiring bias against women in tech, they just suck at interviews", a July article suggested that research revealed "women might just suck at job interviews”.

“The solution to online 'harassment' is simple: Women should log off” -- this was another headline of Bannon's news website in July. In this article it was argued that women are "screwing up the internet for men by invading every space we have online and ruining it with attention-seeking and a needy, demanding, touchy-feely form of modern feminism”.

An article published in July 2015, weeks after a mass shooting at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, slammed critics of the Confederate flag, a symbol embraced by the gunman.

Under the headline “Hoist it high and proud: The Confederate flag proclaims a glorious heritage”, the article said, "Those who initiated identity politics are attempting to obliterate the Southern identity"

The author also wrote that "Every tree, every rooftop, every picket fence, every telegraph pole in the South should be festooned with the Confederate battle flag."

But no outcry may be able to force Trump to change his mind about Bannon.

Moreover, Trump has got support for this appointment.

White nationalist leaders are praising Trump's decision to name Bannon as his chief strategist, telling CNN in interviews they view Bannon as an advocate in the White House for policies they favour.

Bannon's appointment perhaps also made cheerful far rightists politicians in UK, Germany, France, Italy, Greece, Austria, Netherlands and Hungary who were first to congratulate Trump on historic upset.  

Trump will have about 4,000 government positions to fill. His transitional team is now at work coming up with possible candidates for the top jobs. Bannon will certainly play a key role in making those appointments. He will certainly choose people like himself.

As morning shows the day, many of his appointments may go to far rightists, sparking further outrage, forecast political observers.

'I AM THE ONLY ONE'

A previous forecast that Trump if elected may emerge as an autocrat to run the White House has been proved true.

As infighting grew in his White House transition team, Trump on Wednesday tweeted: "Very organised process taking place as I decide on Cabinet and many other positions. I am the only one who knows who the finalists are!"

A CNN report on Wednesday said, "He [Trump] hires people, he fires people, he sets them against one another, he says things and takes them back, with the chaos often unfolding in real time on cable TV. It happened in the campaign and there's no reason to think his presidency won't be the same."

Former Congressman Mike Rogers said on Tuesday he parted ways with Trump's transition team.

Rogers was told on Monday over telephone that he was out. This was part of an effort to replace the transition team members associated with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who previously headed up the transition team's efforts until being replaced by Vice President-elect Mike Pence, said a CNN report.

Trump's son-in-law and close adviser Jared Kushner is at the centre of the "infighting" inside Trump's transition team.

Kushner has been rubbing allies the wrong way in his recent efforts to purge the transition team of Christie associates, said CNN.

Kushner's father was prosecuted by then US attorney Christie in 2004 for tax evasion, witness tampering and illegal campaign contributions.

So, by ousting Christie from transition team, Trump's son-in-law took the revenge.

After winning the election, he announced that he would be president for all Americans and urged people not to get scared. But his picks for White House suggest a deviation from his promise. Picking a far rightist person like Bannon sparked fresh fear among people. 

In the US system, each president is given the freedom to choose his own team.

The underlying principle behind such freedom is that the president will chose people of competence, reputation and those who uphold the fundamental values that the US constitution is representing.

But what Trump is doing is misusing that "freedom of choosing team" by appointing people who are racists, white supremacists, and bigoted.