From the shadowy confines of the alt-right’s internet redoubt, one of the icons of the white nationalist movement has emerged to serve as the Trump White House’s strategy guru and propagandist-in-chief. Steve Bannon, the chairman of Breitbart Media, who headed up Trump’s campaign in its closing months, has been picked as “chief strategist and senior counsel” to the incoming president. He’ll serve as an equal to GOP chairman Reince Priebus, who’s been slotted into the chief of staff position.

With Bannon’s appointment, it is even clearer that fears about the whiffs of neo-fascism and authoritarianism surrounding Trump’s candidacy were not unfounded. The elevation of Bannon to the West Wing confirms that the problem is not just Donald Trump – it’s all of the unsavory elements being normalized and brought into the seat of power along with him.

When Trump announced Bannon’s new job, neo-Nazis and white supremacists celebrated. Tony Hovater of the Traditionalist Workers Party (one of whose members became notorious for shoving a young black woman at a Trump rally this summer) could barely contain his excitement, posting to Facebook, “What timeline are we even on anymore? We’re like one or two degrees of separation away from the fucking President.” When Andrew Anglin of the online Nazi newspaper Daily Stormer posted news of Bannon’s appointment, one supporter commented, “Bannon is our man in the White House.”

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