Invoking the name of Hitler used to be the go-to name if one wanted to stifle the conversation. The term white supremacy is fighting to take its place. Honestly, many may not even know the distinction between white supremacy and white nationalism. Why is this new label significant in our history? When president-elect Donald Trump elected Stephen Bannon as his chief strategist, many were alarmed that Mr. Trump is choosing to associate himself with a supposed white nationalist. Bannon is the former head of Breitbart, a conservative news website that has been accused of containing white nationalist propaganda. Instead of focusing on Bannon, we'll investigate why the website is allegedly tied to white supremacy and/or white nationalism.

So what is the difference between white supremacy and white nationalism? A succinct difference is discussed in this New York Times article:

White supremacy is based on a racist belief that white people are innately superior to people of other races; white nationalism is about maintaining political and economic dominance, not just a numerical majority or cultural hegemony.

All white supremacists are theoretically white nationalists, but not all white nationalists are white supremacists. Either way, in a diverse country like the United States, this ideology doesn't fit too well. As many feel white men already have an advantage over minorities, it may benefit our society to expose any media outlet that promotes discrimination. On to Breitbart! What evidence do we have that Breitbart promotes white nationalism? Simply perusing their website, nothing seems awry. Most of the articles push a conservative and anti-progressive agenda, but there are no blatantly pro-white articles. However, Breitbart has been known to promote the alt-right movement which contains white supremacists like Richard Spencer.

Is an association with the alt-right movement enough to label an entire website a white nationalistic propaganda machine? Not necessarily. The more time I spend investigating Breitbart, besides being annoyed by the pro-right bias, I don't find much evidence that it does promote white nationalism. There is some evidence they are associated with white nationalists, but nothing substantial that I can find to label them pro-white nationalism. How anti-climactic!