some republicans were clearly alarmed at the choice of stephen bannon for an ill-defined role with potentially major influence. | getty by sarah wheaton 11/13/16 07:37 pm est updated 11/13/16 09:49 pm est as donald trump<u+2019>s staffing choices dripped out on sunday afternoon, exhales of relief echoed around washington<u+2019>s battered establishment corridors <u+2014> followed by a horrified gasp. congressional republicans and party strategists cheered reports that the president-elect had chosen the bridge-building republican national committee chairman reince priebus over steve bannon of breitbart news to serve as his chief of staff. story continued below <u+201c>many sighs of relief as president-elect picks @reince as whcos,<u+201d> tweeted iowa-based gop strategist david kochel, who worked for jeb bush during the republican primary. but that relief was short-lived. when trump formally announced his west wing<u+2019>s top players, he listed bannon<u+2019>s name ahead of priebus, and with a distinguished title previously held by the likes of karl rove and david axelrod: senior strategist and counselor. red state, the conservative site that has largely opposed trump, summed up how his baby-splitting would likely upset everyone. <u+201c>as trump<u+2019>s team was informing the world just how not anti-establishment he actually is, by making rnc chairman, reince <u+2018>weasel boy<u+2019> priebus his chief of staff, they answered any questions about the fate of breitbart bomb thrower, steve bannon, at the same time,<u+201d> wrote susan wright. <u+201c>how bannon<u+2019>s unhinged, fire breathing thuggery will mesh with priebus<u+2019> more disciplined approach to governing remains to be seen.<u+201d> presidential transition by alex isenstadt and marc caputo democrats and some <u+2018>never trump<u+2019> republicans seized on the bannon news, quickly digging through breitbart<u+2019>s archives to decry the <u+201c>normalization<u+201d> of bigotry in the white house. other republicans decided to just ignore half of the announcement. house speaker paul ryan for example, tweeted that he was <u+201c>proud and excited for my friend @reince<u+201d> after the announcement sunday evening. he said nothing about bannon. earlier in the day, he<u+2019>d deflected a question about the possibility of the breitbart boss serving in the chief of staff role by saying he<u+2019>d never met him. <u+201c>i don't know steve bannon, so i have no concerns,<u+201d> ryan said on cnn <u+2014> never mind that breitbart, under bannon<u+2019>s leadership, has been a consistent, and at times vicious, critic of his speakership. <u+201c>i trust donald's judgment.<u+201d> ward baker, head of the republican national senatorial committee (and an author of a strategy for gop senate candidates to distance themselves from trump), called priebus a <u+201c>great choice.<u+201d> <u+201c>this shows me he is serious about governing,<u+201d> sen. lindsey graham (r-s.c.) tweeted half an hour after trump<u+2019>s announcement. <u+201c>no better person to represent president-elect than well-respected @reince. i look forward to working with them to move country forward.<u+201d> neither baker nor graham remarked on bannon<u+2019>s role. but other republicans were clearly alarmed at the choice of the breitbart chairman for an ill-defined role with potentially major influence. ana navarro, a jeb bush confidante who voted for clinton, retweeted a message from cnn<u+2019>s jake tapper with a quote from bannon<u+2019>s ex-wife about how he dislikes jews. <u+201c>god help us all. really,<u+201d> navarro added. <u+201c>the racist, fascist extreme right is represented footsteps from the oval office,<u+201d> tweeted john weaver, chief adviser to gov. john kasich during his failed bid for the republican nomination. <u+201c>be very vigilant america.<u+201d> in a statement, the ceo of the anti-defamation league, jonathan greenblatt, said it "strongly opposes" bannon's appointment. "it is a sad day when a man who presided over the premier website of the 'alt-right' <u+2014> a loose-knit group of white nationalists and unabashed anti-semites and racists <u+2014> is slated to be a senior member in the 'people's house.'" then again, trump wasn<u+2019>t out to reassure the establishment class when he chose bannon. roger stone, a longtime trump friend and outside adviser, had warned on saturday that choosing priebus, a top ryan ally, as chief of staff <u+201c>would cause a rebellion in trump<u+2019>s base.<u+201d> democrats said that merely placing someone like bannon, whose ex-wife has accused him of making anti-semitic comments, close to power had the dangerous effect of <u+201c>normalizing<u+201d> prejudice, regardless of how important the role is. <u+201c>nation exhales because white nationalist only gets second most influential job in white house,<u+201d> tweeted former obama strategist dan pfeiffer. pfeiffer wasn<u+2019>t impressed with the priebus choice, either, observing that like trump, neither man had any government experience -- something he called a <u+201c>terrible idea.<u+201d> congress by rachael bade rep. adam schiff (calif.), the top democrat on the house intelligence committee, was also sharply critical, tweeting that bannon<u+2019>s "alt-right, anti-semitic & misogynistic views don't belong in wh.<u+201d> but axelrod, another former obama adviser, pointed to stone<u+2019>s warning about trump<u+2019>s base to argue that the choice of priebus for chief of staff is <u+201c>meaningful.<u+201d> <u+201c>breitbart<u+2019>s bannon in wh is deeply troubling. bannon as cos would have been more so,<u+201d> axelrod said on twitter. <u+201c>not <u+2018>normalization.<u+2019> just a fact.<u+201d> the balance did seem to satisfy at least one top anti-establishment conservative. rep. mark meadows, (r-n.c.), a co-founder of the house freedom caucus and a foe of ryan, tweeted his congratulations to both men on sunday. "ready to work together to have the most productive 'first 100 days' in modern history,<u+201d> meadows added . john sununu, who served as george h. w. bush<u+2019>s chief of staff, defended the bannon appointment on sunday evening. <u+201c>i think bannon is close to donald trump. donald trump needs somebody close to him,<u+201d> sununu said on cnn. sununu acknowledged that bannon is a controversial pick, but noted that it matters if trump is comfortable with that selection. he also said it<u+2019>s more difficult to be chief of staff than chief strategist <u+2014> and that priebus was the right man for the former role. "he understands politics, he understands policy,<u+201d> sununu said. and priebus, he added, has <u+201c>a thick skin." rebecca morin contributed reporting. by michael grunwald by bill scher by thomas wright by joshua zeitz
republicans hail priebus pick, stay mum on bannon - politico
sarah wheaton alex isenstadt marc caputo rachael bade michael grunwald