Republican President-elect Trump’s newly appointed chief strategist, a man who has been known to make xenophobic, white nationalist statements, expressed concern over the number of tech executives in Silicon Valley that are of Asian descent.
Steve Bannon, the executive chairman of Breitbart News, a popular conservative new source that often airs and publishes his “alt-right” views, has come under scrutiny after Trump appointed him to a senior leadership role in his administration on Sunday, according to The Huffington Post.
On Nov. 5, Trump was a guest on Bannon’s Sirius XM “Breitbart News Daily” radio show when Bannon made the remarks about there being too many Asian Americans in executive roles in Silicon Valley during a conversation.
When Trump asked Bannon whether he agreed with an assertion he made about keeping “talented people in this country” or not, Bannon had trouble coming up with a coherent response and instead took a jab at the AAPI community in Silicon Valley.
“When two-thirds or three-quarters of the CEOs in Silicon Valley are from South Asia or from Asia, I think…” Bannon said. “A country is more than an economy. We’re a civic society.”
Among those who criticized Trump for hiring Bannon was Rep. Judy Chu of California, who joined 168 Democrats of the U.S. House of Representatives in sending Trump a letter asking him to rescind Bannon’s appointment.
“Steve Bannon, as a champion of the ‘alt-right’, is simply not suited to bring our country together and, in fact, exacerbates the worst fears of a Trump presidency,” Chu said in a statement. “I have heard from an incredible number of constituents who worry about an administration that will assume the bigotry and insults that characterized Bannon’s time at Breitbart.”
According to the Huffington Post, Bannon was incorrect as a May 2015 study found that only 27 percent of professionals working in Silicon Valley companies were Asian or Asian American. Furthermore, they only represented less than 19 percent of managers and 14 percent of executives.
Trump went on to tell Bannon that he wanted more people to come into the nation, which made Bannon reply “you got to remember, we’re Breitbart. We’re the know-nothing vulgarians. So we’ve always got to be to the right of you on this.”
