Ana Navarro thinks President-elect Donald Trump sent a very clear message to marginalized groups when he appointed Steve Bannon, a known white nationalist, to be his chief strategist and senior counselor on Sunday.
The Republican political commentator appeared on CNN’s “New Day” on Monday morning to discuss the spike in hate crimes since Election Day. But Navarro also explained why within the context of post-election racial fears, news of Bannon’s new position is so unwelcome.
“I think that the appointments he makes early on are the first signal he sends about what kind of president he is going to be,” Navarro said. “Many of us are torn by the utter disdain that we have for candidate Donald Trump and the utmost respect we have for the office of the presidency of the United States, and we want to give this guy a chance. We want to extend the olive branch and extend one to us, but if what he is doing is naming somebody like Steve Bannon, who has got such a track record and such a reputation for being controversial…[and] who has filled his publication with anti-Semitic, anti-Hispanic, anti-everything type of headlines, you have got to be very concerned.”