‘Impeach President Bannon’ street art protest takes aim at Trump’s controversial chief strategist
Protest signs in cities around the country are calling for the impeachment of the president — just not the one you think.
“Impeach President Bannon” posters were spotted in Washington, New York City and several other major cities on Sunday, part of a Presidents’ Day weekend demonstration against President Trump’s controversial White House chief strategist and senior adviser, Steve Bannon.
“No one voted for Steve Bannon,” the California-based organizers of the protest wrote in an email to Yahoo News. “Yet he is the de-facto 45th president of the United States.”
The group raised more than $8,000 online for the signs, which list Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama before Bannon’s name.
“Thanks for helping us show this arrogant ‘mastermind’ that he’s not as smart as he thinks he is,” Alison Kay, one of the protest’s principal organizers, wrote. “If Bannon thinks Trump is a ‘blunt instrument’ … wait till he sees what we can do.”
Spotted in DC this morning — these are so newly posted the wheat paste is still wet. pic.twitter.com/pwTubJVFmu
— Garance Franke-Ruta (@thegarance) February 19, 2017
Bannon, the former chairman of Breitbart News and chief executive of Trump’s presidential campaign, has been satirically portrayed as Satan and the Grim Reaper on late-night television following his appointment to his outsized role in the West Wing.
“Darkness is good,” Bannon told the Hollywood Reporter in mid-November. “That’s power.”
In an interview with the New York Times following the inauguration, Bannon infamously called the media “the opposition party.”
“The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut,” he said.
In late January, Trump signed an executive memorandum reorganizing the National Security Council and elevating Bannon to its principals committee.
Earlier this month, Bannon landed on the cover of Time magazine. Its headline: “The Great Manipulator.”
The “Impeach President Bannon” project is just the latest protest against Bannon, who at Breitbart championed the so-called alt-right movement that critics have said is a rebranding of white nationalism.
Bannon’s choice as chief strategist drew immediate opposition from Democratic lawmakers like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, as well as the Anti-Defamation League and other civil rights groups calling on Trump to rescind his appointment.
“This country, since our inception, has struggled to overcome discrimination of all forms: racism, sexism, xenophobia, and homophobia,” Sanders said in a speech in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 16. “Over the years, we have made progress in becoming a less discriminatory and more tolerant society — and we are not going backward. The appointment by President-elect Trump of a racist individual like Mr. Bannon to a position of authority is totally unacceptable.”
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