“I think he is merely the vehicle or proxy to extend the claim that Trump himself is a racist.”
And by extension everyone who supports Trump policies the left doesn’t like. I am in a bind with a friend for defending Bannon yesterday. I challenged her daughter who has a PhD in history, college professor. She posted the hit piece from Southern Poverty Law Center and I didn’t let it go. I am sad. Hopefully the truth of the lies will be clear for even her to see. But National Review had a piece that kind of did it and then went ahead and castigated Bannon anyway. “He’s not a Nazi but we still don’t like him.” kind of thing.
One sad thing is that you will probably get over it, but your opponent in argument will forever hold a grudge. If it makes you feel any better, your opponent(s) in argument now view you as a bigot. The son of my best friend did that to me. I objected to being called a bigot, and did what I could to break contact with the son. No sense in inflaming things.
Good advice to all would be “If you don’t see it now, just have patience. It’ll become clear.”