The following is a timeline of instances of extremism in the Trump administration in October 2017.
President Trump has opened the White House doors to extremism, not only consulting with hate groups on policies that erode our country’s civil rights protections but enabling the infiltration of extremist ideas into the administration’s rhetoric and agenda.
Once relegated to the fringes, the radical right now has a toehold in the White House.
Groups and individuals referenced in the list below are not associated with hate groups and extremist ideology unless indicated by a hate group profile.
Anti-Immigrant
SPLC Designated Hate Group
OCT 3
Center for Immigration Studies representative testifies about replacement for DACA
Anti-LGBT
OCT 4
DOJ under Attorney General Jeff Sessions moves to dismiss suit against trans military ban
Anti-LGBT
OCT 4
Attorney General Jeff Sessions rolls back transgender workplace protections
Anti-Immigrant
OCT 5
Federal judge accepts presidential pardon of former Sheriff Joe Arpaio
Anti-LGBT
OCT 6
Attorney General Jeff Sessions issues religious freedom guidance after consulting ADF
Anti-Immigrant
OCT 8
President Trump’s advisor Stephen Miller and Attorney General Jeff Sessions craft hardline demands in exchange for protecting Dreamers
Anti-Immigrant
OCT 12
Attorney General Jeff Sessions says our “generous” asylum system is filled with “rampant abuse and fraud”
Anti-LGBT
SPLC Designated Hate Group
OCT 13
President Trump speaks at hate group Family Research Council’s annual summit, first sitting president to do so
Anti-Muslim
OCT 17
President Trump’s third “Muslim ban” struck down by judge in Hawaii
Anti-Immigrant
OCT 17
ICE director pledges to ramp up workplace raids
Anti-Muslim
OCT 18
President Trump’s third “Muslim ban” struck down by judge in Maryland
Anti-LGBT
OCT 18
Attorney General Jeff Sessions says he isn’t sure if federal workers can discriminate against LGBT people
Anti-Black
OCT 23
Former deputy assistant to President Trump Sebastian Gorka says “our big issue is black African gun crime against black Africans”
Anti-Immigrant
OCT 25
President Trump announces “enhanced vetting” for all refugees
Neo-Confederate
OCT 30
President Trump’s chief of staff John Kelly calls Robert E. Lee “honorable” and says “lack of compromise” led to Civil War
Anti-Muslim
OCT 31
Responding to vehicle attack in NYC, President Trump calls for “extreme vetting”