Bannon’s allies and Breitbart’s defenders are frustrated by what they view as the reactionary response to tar them as racists every time a racially-charged event takes over the news cycle.

“Breitbart has never been racist, it’s been a flashpoint for people to write in frustration about the government failing them,” said one former Trump transition adviser. “Under Bannon it became a nationalist economic platform, not a racial one, but now when the left sees anything about national economic populism all they see is race. That’s their bias, not ours. It’s been completely bastardized by the media and the left. That’s what talented political operators do, they try to take away your best weapon.”