Hires Steve Bannon as campaign CEO despite his ties to alt-right and white nationalism

On August 17, 2016, Trump announced that Steve Bannon, executive chairman of Breitbart News, would become his campaign CEO, while promoting Kellyanne Conway to campaign manager. Bannon had proudly described Breitbart as 'the platform for the alt-right,' a white nationalist movement, and under his leadership Breitbart courted racist and antisemitic voices. The appointment drew immediate opposition from the Anti-Defamation League, Southern Poverty Law Center, CAIR, and both Democratic and some Republican leaders who condemned the move as legitimizing extremism. White supremacists including David Duke, Jared Taylor, and Peter Brimelow celebrated Bannon's elevation. The hiring signaled Trump's embrace of the most extreme elements of right-wing media and a deliberate strategy to normalize white nationalist politics. Paul Manafort resigned two days later on August 19, completing the campaign shakeup.

"We're the platform for the alt-right." — Steve Bannon's statement to Mother Jones at the 2016 Republican National Convention describing Breitbart News