Report: Trump Pick for Top State Department Role Penned Essays Promoting White Nationalism, Islamophobia & Conspiracy Theories

Washington D.C. – A new analysis from Accountable.US, first reported by USA Today, found that Michael Anton, President-elect Trump’s nominee for Director of Policy Planning at the Department of State, has a troubling history of authoring inflammatory essays riddled with white nationalism, islamophobia, and conspiracy theories. 

Most notably, in 2016, Anton published a 6,000-word essay under a pen name titled “Toward A Sensible, Coherent Trumpism,” in which he railed against racial diversity, Islam, and immigration from regions he deemed culturally undesirable to the United States. Among the deluge of inflammatory rhetoric, Anton wrote: 

• “‘Diversity’ is not ‘our strength’; it’s a source of weakness, tension and disunion.” 
• “The burden is forced on Americans to prove that Muhammed is a terrorist or Jose is a criminal, and if we can’t, we must let them in.” 
• “Not all Muslims are terrorists, blah, blah, blah, etc. Even so, what good has Muslim immigration done for the United States and the American people?”

“Michael Anton hid behind a pseudonym to spread hate and deride diversity as a source of American weakness. But he’d surely wear his extremism on his sleeve if appointed to a top State Department post,” said Accountable.US Executive Director Tony Carrk. “Anton’s rhetoric against people he deems culturally undesirable may be music to the ears of President-elect Trump, father of the kids-in-cages policy who threatens to end birthright citizenship. But is Marco Rubio willing to stand by Anton’s extremist views if he’s confirmed Secretary of State?” 

Anton’s public writing record includes his infamous “The Flight 93 Election” piece, an essay that compared a possible Hillary Clinton presidential victory in 2016 with the terrorist plane hijackings on September 11, 2001. It also includes pieces in which he called Joe Biden’s victory in 2020 a “steal” and alleged that Democrats and military officials were scheming to depose Donald Trump if Biden lost in 2020. 

###