Trump cabinet picks send Twitter into meltdown
Critics of President-elect Donald Trump reacted to his newest Cabinet picks with the same outrage they expressed over his choice of chief strategist. His pick for CIA director pleased some fierce critics, while angering vocal supporters.
Trump’s transition team announced Friday that Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama) would be the new Attorney General, while Representative Mike Pompeo (R-Kansas) accepted the offer to be the new director of the CIA. Both positions require Senate confirmation. Gen. Michael Flynn (US Army, retired) was appointed national security advisor.
READ MORE: Bannon backlash: Outrage mounts over Trump’s ‘chief strategist’ pick
Democrats, liberals and progressives reacted to the announcement with horror and outrage, accusing Flynn of islamophobia and anti-Semitism and Sessions of racism.
Judd Legum, editor in chief of Think Progress:
Trump picks:
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) November 18, 2016
1. Bannon (runs white nationalist website)
2. Flynn (Islamophobe)
3. Sessions (rejected for judgeship by Senate for racism)
Film director Rob Reiner:
Bannon,Flynn,now Sessions. DT making good on white male supremacy. Where's the outcry, Dems? Danger of losing rust belt and avid supporters
— Rob Reiner (@robreiner) November 18, 2016
Daily Kos:
Donald Trump hands national security to islamophobic jackass Michael Flynn https://t.co/Dp3FUHn2sT
— Daily Kos (@dailykos) November 18, 2016
Black Lives Matter activist DeRay McKesson:
The Trump cabinet is like a KKK Convention being broadcast on primetime TV.
— deray mckesson (@deray) November 18, 2016
Actor and activist George Takei:
Trump has named Sen. Jeff Sessions as Atty Gen'l--a known racist and staunch opponent of marriage equality. Strap in, it's gonna get rough.
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) November 18, 2016
Michael Flynn, Jeff Sessions, Steve Bannon. Islamophobe, Racist, Anti-Semite. This isn't a cabinet. It's a KKKabinet.
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) November 18, 2016
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) strongly denounced Sessions:
Sen. Sessions as AG is deeply troubling, and supports an old, ugly history where Civil Rights were not regarded as core American values.
— NAACP (@NAACP) November 18, 2016
Read our statement on the nomination of Jeff Sessions for Attorney General https://t.co/ekMz0df48Mpic.twitter.com/I054Aw2nce
— Legal Defense Fund (@NAACP_LDF) November 18, 2016
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) worried about privacy and due process:
Congressman Pompeo’s positions on bulk surveillance & Guantanamo Bay raise serious civil liberties concerns about privacy and due process.
— ACLU National (@ACLU) November 18, 2016
Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke – whose support Trump has repeatedly disavowed – poured fuel on the fire by praising the appointments:
Bannon, Flynn, Sessions -- Great! Senate must demand that Sessions as AG stop the massive institutional race discrimination against whites!
— David Duke (@DrDavidDuke) November 18, 2016
Trump’s actual supporters were pretty pleased by the picks:
I cant wait to see how #Hillary will react when #AttorneyGeneral Jeff Sessions knocks on her door.
— The Horn News (@ReadTheHornNews) November 18, 2016
"Madam Secretary, you're under arrest." pic.twitter.com/Gt5pLbNzVs
Though with some reservations:
Trump's new CIA Director Mike Pompeo says Iran is the world's largest state sponsor of terror. Wrong. It's clearly Saudi Arabia.
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) November 18, 2016
So were some of the president-elect's most vocal critics among the Republicans, such as South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham…
.@SenatorSessions is a fine, decent man & principled conservative. He has the experience and ability to serve as Attorney General of the US.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) November 18, 2016
… and ex-CIA agent and “NeverTrump” camp’s independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin:
.@RepMikePompeo is a good pick for CIA. He's very smart, has already served our nation, actively seeks new information, & is strong-willed.
— Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) November 18, 2016
Justin Raimondo, the editor of Antiwar.com who supported Trump’s promises to scale back US intervention abroad, objected to Pompeo as a “betrayal” of everything Trump stood for:
Now we *know* Pompeo is a betrayal of everything Trump said in the course of the campaign. @transition2017https://t.co/uG9EjJGRDg
— Justin Raimondo (@JustinRaimondo) November 18, 2016
