#2: Stop Bannon - GOP Leadership

A quick guide to calling the Republican leadership

If you’ve already called your reps about Trump’s appointment of Stephen Bannon as Chief Strategist, you might now call the GOP leadership to denounce it and to ask them to oppose it.

(If you haven’t yet called your senators and congressmembers about Bannon, it only takes 10 minutes. Here’s a quick guide to calling your reps.)

GOP leadership means Senator and House Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan. I did this today, and it took less than 5 minutes.

Senator McConnell: (202) 224–2541
Speaker Ryan: (202) 225–3031

Tl;dr on Bannon

The guide to calling your reps contains an explanatory section, with links, on why Bannon is unfit for a White House appointment. Bannon has a public history of championing white nationalism, anti-Semitism, and misogyny, and ran Breitbart Media, a platform for the white nationalist ‘alt-right.’

Script

Hello, my name is ____, and I’m calling from [CITY] to urge ____ to speak out against the appointment of Stephen Bannon as President-Elect Trump’s chief strategist and senior advisor.

Bannon is a known champion of white nationalism. Breitbart Media, the organization that he led until this past August, promotes openly racist and sexist ideologies. He is proud of his connection to the alt-right movement, which openly campaigns for an “Aryan Homeland” and white ethno-nationalism.

Bannon promotes anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim ideologies and harassment of women. His appointment has sent the message to white supremacists throughout the country that their hatred and actions are justified.

This is not normal. We the people will not stand for this. It’s time to take a stand against racism. Speak out against the appointment of Steve Bannon and show America we will not allow the white nationalist movement to have the ear of our president.

I hope you will address this glaring issue. Thousands of citizens and many elected officials have already pledged their distrust of this man. I hope you will do the same.

Thank you for sharing my message.

Words of encouragement

The people you’re calling have a responsibility to listen to private citizens and to stand up to bigotry — leaving a message on their voicemail or with a staffer means that someone has to take the time to listen to you. In general, staffers are courteous and professional.

Don’t feel like you have to stick to the script or get all the way through it. Be polite but firm and unyielding. Courage!

Thank you to Tira Palmquist for calling my attention to these resources.

On to the next big thing: Call the Trump transition team