‘Millions of Young People Are Watching and Wondering if Sexual Assault Is Now a Laughing Matter’
U.S. Senator Harry Reid, one week after Donald Trump won the White House, took to the floor of the Senate to denounce the President-elect’s impact on the nation, the wave of hate crimes that have been committed in his name, and the appointment of Steve Bannon as Trump’s Chief White House Strategist and Senior Counselor. Bannon is now seen as an icon of the alt-right movement.
Reid, the retiring Senate Minority Leader, Tuesday afternoon asked that documents showing hundreds of attacks in Trump’s name be entered into the Senate Record.Â
“A man who lost the popular vote by more than two million votes is now the President-elect, and his election has sparked a wave of hate crimes across America,” Reid told his fellow Senators.
“We have a responsibility to be the voice of the millions of Americans sitting at home, afraid they are unwelcome in Trump’s America,” Reid continued, lamenting that there are now “millions of young people who are watching and wondering if sexual assault is now a laughing matter.”
“It is not normal for the KKK to celebrate the election of a president they view as their champion.”
Sen. Reid noted that throughout America, “many are afraid.”
“Indeed the majority of Americans oppose Donald Trump,” the Senator said.
“Many Americans believe that Trump’s election validates the kind of bullying Trump modeled on a daily basis,” Reid noted.
And he called on the President-elect to rescind the appointment of Steve Bannon, the publisher of the alt-right website Breitbart whom Reid describes as a “champion of white supremacists” who will be “a step away from the Oval Office.”
“If Trump is serious about seeking unity, the first thing he should do is rescind the appointment of Steve Bannon.”
Reid read a CNN report on white supremacists praising Bannon’s appointment, and read a portion of a court document that claims Bannon said he didn’t want his children to go to school with Jews.
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