United States president-elect Donald Trump has been urged to rescind the appointment of far-right, controversial media figure Stephen K Bannon as his chief adviser and strategist at the White House. “If Trump is serious about seeking unity, the first thing he should do is rescind his appointment of Steve Bannon,” said Democratic Senator Harry Reid.

The lawmaker made the appeal on Tuesday at the Senate, adding that incidents of hate crimes had spiked since the Republican defeated his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the US presidential elections on November 8. “The man who lost the popular vote by two million votes is now the president-elect,” Reid said, mentioning examples of Pakistani-American doctors he knew who had been harassed.

Democratic Congressman Michael Doyle also wrote to the president-elect on his appointment of Bannon to the senior White House post. “Mr Bannon’s appointment sends the wrong message to people who have engaged in those types of activities [harassment and intimidation], indicating that they will not only be tolerated, but endorsed by your administration,” Doyle said.

While another Democratic congressman, Frank Pallone, accused Trump of failing the key task of appointing competent White House staff, Senator Sherrod Brown said, “Bannon has promoted anti-Semitic, racist, misogynistic and dangerous views that have emboldened white nationalist forces,” calling for his appointment to be cancelled. According to Senator Dianne Feinstein, “Someone known for belittling minorities, immigrants and women has no place advising the president.”