Trump Appointments: Full List of Anti-Muslim Cabinet Picks
President-elect Donald Trump drew flak for selecting officials with anti-Muslim stand to his cabinet. Even his picks of government officials seem to be controversial, and the latest to join the league is Katharine Gorka, who has been of the opinion of that the Department of Homeland Security trains its agents falsely that Islam is a peace-loving religion.
Gorka was selected to be part of the department’s “landing team.” The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) expressed concerns over Islamophic trend in Trump’s recent appointments and nominations, that include Fox News analyst K.T. McFarland as his deputy national security adviser and Breitbart head Stephen Bannon as his chief strategist.
“These most recent appointments again demonstrate a troubling acceptance of anti-Muslim bigotry, conspiracy theories and agenda-driven policy proposals by the Trump transition team,” CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw said Wednesday.
As critics continue to monitor Trump’s cabinet, here is the full list of people selected to the president-elect’s cabinet.
Jeff Sessions: The 69-year-old senator is known for his anti-Muslim views. In 2013, he reportedly questioned the National Endowment for the Humanities’ expenditure of public money on 900 books in libraries across the country to educate people about Islam. Sessions also defended Trump's anti-Muslim comments during the latter’s year-long election campaign.
KT McFarland: He reportedly advocated for war with Iran, supported the use of torture and also insisted that Russian President Vladimir Putin deserves a Nobel Prize. Flynn also has supported the profiling of Muslims.
Michael Flynn: The retired lieutenant general condemned President Barack Obama’s administration for not using the term “radical Islam.”
In a June 2016 post for conservative ACT For America’s website, Flynn wrote: “Radical Islam has declared war on America yet we're not allowed to describe them as our enemy. In fact, if in government and you do use this term, you are removed — which is what happened to me … The immigration of radical Islamists into Europe and those attempting to enter our own country--all must be stopped to determine what we have or as a minimum, severely slowed to better control the impact inside our country.”
Stephen Bannon: Trump selected Breitbart News chairman Bannon as his chief strategist. Under his leadership, Breitbart has reportedly become a platform for the ”alt right” and it, “embraces and promotes white nationalism, racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, transphobia and misogyny,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
Mike Pompeo: The Kansas Republican representative is expected to be CIA director in the Trump administration. After the Boston Marathon Bombings in 2013, Pompeo accused Muslim leaders of endorsing terrorism.
"When the most devastating terrorist attacks on America in the last 20 years come overwhelmingly from people of a single faith, and are performed in the name of that faith, a special obligation falls on those that are the leaders of that faith," Pompeo said. "Instead of responding, silence has made these Islamic leaders across America potentially complicit in these acts, and more importantly still in those that may well follow."
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