This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The new president of the United States will come to office with no government experience, a small and shifting circle of advisors and a platform based on broad and sometimes contradictory themes. For many in Washington, that offers an opportunity to guide the inexperienced newcomers along a preferred path.

Among those who hope to exert a good deal of influence over the incoming Donald Trump administration are some senior and influential politicians from Utah, those who claim to follow a traditional form of conservatism — small government, free enterprise, personal responsibility, power devolved to the state and local level.

To get to the president, though, they may have to get past Steve Bannon. And, given that the white nationalist rabble-rouser has just been named to a first-among-equals advisor position in the White House, that may not be easy.

Bannon, who came on in the final days to help guide a seemingly rudderless Trump campaign to victory, made a name for himself as the leader of a "news" website called Breitbart. That organization had always been conservative but, under Bannon, it greatly boosted its visibility by becoming openly hateful toward minorities, Jews, Mormons and, particularly, immigrants.

Before and after the election, it was clear that, whatever Trump's personal feelings, American neo-Nazis, KKK members and other white supremacy groups see in Trump a kindred spirit that would deliver them from what they see as the wilderness of multi-culturalism.

In just the last few days, activists, journalists and innocent bystanders who are of the wrong persuasion, orientation, ethnicity or religion have been the victims of hate mail, internet threats, vandalism and, in a few cases, physical assault committed by people who clearly feel that Trump's victory has normalized white supremacy and bigotry.

If this is not what the Republican Party wants to be, if this is not what the American conservative movement has been hoping for all along, now is the time for them, led by Utahns, to say so. Loudly. Clearly. Incessantly.

Utah politicians were among those who, during the campaign, seemed most averse to taking American conservatism down such a path. Sen. Mike Lee and Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox never supported Trump. Gov. Gary Herbert and Rep. Mia Love stood away from that abyss.

The Breitbartization of American politics must not be allowed, excused, normalized, rationalized or winked at. The so-called alt-right of American politics is not a band of useful idiots who will allow themselves to be used by the old Republican establishment for its more mainstream ends.

Bannon has to go. And the real conservatives of America, especially those from Utah, need to make that clear to the incoming president. If they do not, they will neither win, nor earn, success on any other portion of their agenda.