Public Comment
Trump must end his flirtation with xenophobia and racism
With each passing day, Congress and the American people get a clearer look into the Trump White House.
People of conscience are horrified by what we’ve seen.
The Justice Department is our nation’s best instrument for protecting our civil rights and voting rights. I am appalled by the decision to nominate Senator Jeff Sessions, a man rejected from serving on the federal bench for his racist comments, as Attorney General. His confirmation would put much of our progress as a nation at grave risk. I strongly urge my colleagues in the Senate to reject his nomination.
Likewise, the decision to name Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as National Security Advisor is another step in the wrong direction. Gen. Flynn was forced out of his role at the Defense Intelligence Agency for insubordination and has made a career out of denigrating Muslims. Time and time again, we’ve seen dangerous comments like his used to recruit terrorists abroad. The decision to hire Lt. Gen. Flynn to oversee our national security is worrisome and baffling.
Finally, President-elect Trump’s decision to name Steve Bannon, an alt-right nationalist, extremist and alleged domestic abuser, as chief White House strategist is simply unacceptable. As I said in The Hill, ‘we are better than this.’
President-elect Trump should be reminded that the majority of Americans, by more than a million-vote margin, rejected him and his dangerous flirtation with racism, xenophobia, sexism and hyper-nationalism.
Once again, I call on President-elect Trump to live up to his Election Night promise to be ‘a President for all Americans’ and rescind the nominations of these dangerous individuals.
