'Alt-right' conference features Nazi propaganda quotes, anti-Semitism, and Nazi salutes

The supposed alt-right's attempt at normalizing themselves is hitting a few snags, as seen at this weekend's Washington D.C. meeting.

[Leading alt-right ideologue Richard Spencer] railed against Jews and, with a smile, quoted Nazi propaganda in the original German. America, he said, belonged to white people, whom he called the “children of the sun,” a race of conquerors and creators who had been marginalized but now, in the era of President-elect Donald J. Trump, were “awakening to their own identity.”

As he finished, several audience members had their arms outstretched in a Nazi salute. When Mr. Spencer, or perhaps another person standing near him at the front of the room — it was not clear who — shouted, “Heil the people! Heil victory,” the room shouted it back.

Which is a hell of a thing, considering that Trump’s apologists have been beside themselves trying to explain to us that the "alt-right" is, well, not that, and that Steve Bannon, the man who turned Breitbart into a self-declared "alt-right" news outlet is not, despite all evidence to the contrary, one of the nation's chief mainstreamers of anti-Semitic and white supremacist ideologies.

So the guy who coined the term "alt-right" to describe his movement is an actual Nazi-quoting, anti-Semitic white supremacist leading his followers into a good old fashioned Hitler salute. Are there any more questions from the pundit floor, or do we have this "what is the alt-right" business pretty well buttoned down now? Anyone? Anyone at all?

Yeah. So let's maybe have one last round of asking Republicans like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell if this is indeed a movement that they are willing to break bread with. And let’s demand to know if the leader of "the alt-right's most prominent platform, Breitbart News" is a man they will obligingly support as the senior adviser and strategist for their new Republican administration.