US President Donald Trump's chief strategist Stephen Bannon's name trended on Twitter on Sunday with the hashtag #StopPresidentBannon as thousands on social media protested as Trump promoted Bannon to a role on the National Security Council (NSC) on Saturday.
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The NSC is the main group that advises the US President on issues of national security and foreign affairs. With his recent appointment, Bannon will now join "high-level discussions about national security".
The move to promote Bannon to the council also diminished the positions of the military and intelligence leadership in the group.
The director of national intelligence and the joint chiefs will attend when discussions pertain to their areas. Traditionally, the joint chiefs and the director attend all meetings in the NSC's inner circle, but now they will not, according to BBC News.
Before joining Trump's presidential campaign, Bannon was the the executive chairman of Breitbart News, which has been linked with the White supremacist movement known as the "alt-right" and is notorious for its racism.
Reports state that as his position as White House chief strategist, Bannon has been behind various executive orders passed by Trump, including the sweeping refugee ban that bars entry of refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries.
Bannon is a master propagandist and will use this and other flashpoints to secure power. #StopPresidentBannon #MuslimBan @FreeOpposition https://t.co/a8gOW7bnPJ
— ManBehindTheCurtain (@TheDeepOffice) January 29, 2017
The hashtag with #StopPresidentBannon also trended as many questioned Bannon's power in the White House as they believe Trump could not have been behind the massive deportation and refugee ban orders alone, and that Bannon is pulling the strings behind all of Trump's controversial orders, including the Mexico wall.
Germany, France, Italy, Spain all survived dictatorships... maybe it's a right of passage? #StopPresidentBannon
— Richie Thomas (@richiethomas80) January 29, 2017
@realDonaldTrump Do you owe Bannon money? #StopPresidentBannon #impeach #impeachTrumpnow #bannonsbitch
— Jean C (@GrandmaJean29) January 29, 2017
@realDonaldTrump #StopPresidentBannon u r a useless figurehead
— Regulos McScribbles (@tk421421421) January 29, 2017
Trump's executive actions on extreme vetting and visa ban applies to migrants, refugees and US legal residents — green-card holders — from Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Libya and Yemen. There is an indefinite ban on the arrival of Syrian refugees.
