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[DarkJediKnight]

Nancy Pelosi literally called Bannon a white Supremacist. Usually, the Trump administration come out firing back on Twitter.

I hear no one defending Bannon. Where is the outrage from Bannon from being accused?

Hmm...

 

[Malyse]

Cuz he is

 

[epmode]

Trying not to draw attention to the statement, maybe? I agree that it's strange.

 

[Dr. Benton Quest]

He's probably telling Trump to ignore it. Addressing it lends legitimacy.

 

[georly]

Their tactic is to avoid accusations and deflect and bring up other unimportant matters, like reality tv ratings.

 

[Slayven]

They don't care, Trump wouldn't refute David Duke

 

[akira28]

they can't.

 

[rokkerkory]

Is this a trick question??

 

[mAcOdIn]

They don't care, Trump wouldn't refute David Duke

That's somewhat unfair, he did refute David Duke on on TV. In the end though, initially he was happy to feign ignorance.

 

[Shao Kahn on the Lawn]

If they say he isn't, they unify the media in proving that he obviously is.

 

[Netherscourge]

If they refute it, they draw more attention to it and that becomes the conversation.

Probably the smartest thing Trump has done is NOT respond to that.

 

[CrispyBoar]

Trying not to draw attention to the statement, maybe? I agree that it's strange.

Why not? CNN did it before.

 

[Massive Duck. C.M.]

It doesn't even matter anymore

 

[Majukun]

they don't care?

 

[djplaeskool]

If they refute it, they draw more attention to it and that becomes the conversation.

Probably the smartest thing Trump has done is NOT respond to that.

Yeah, I think they simply trying to dodge by "not dignifying the question with a remark"

 

[hey_monkey]

He's probably telling Trump to ignore it. Addressing it lends legitimacy.

And might piss off their neo-Nazi pals. I mean, Richard Spencer out there on Twitter today talking about the Patriots as consistently the whitest team. The Richard Spencers don't want to hear denials of white supremacy.

 

[Slayven]

That's somewhat unfair, he did refute David Duke on on TV. In the end though, initially he was happy to feign ignorance.

If you have to have your arm twisted multiple times to refute a KKK member......

 

[Gutek]

He's probably telling Trump to ignore it. Addressing it lends legitimacy.

Correct.

 

[Imperfected]

Because the proper way to deal with outlandish claims and outright conspiracy theories is to ignore them entirely, rather than lending them credence through resphaaahahahaha, sorry, I couldn't finish that.

Yeah, the fact he's willing to go to bat on literally everything else, from ego-sheltering exercises in crowd sizes and fraudulent votes to Russian blackmail tapes, should tell you exactly what the story is when there's one thing that he just won't rise to.

He wants it just ambiguous enough that he has plausible deniability with the public while his Neo-Nazi support base can claim "open" support. He loses the latter if he addresses (and denounces/denies) the allegations.

 

[LeadenStride]

It doesn't even matter anymore

This is how I see it.

Supporters know it and embrace it. Opponents know it and hate him for that.
Or is there a significant group of people that are "undecided" on the matter and could turn against him or think unfavorably of the administration if they made a clear statement?

 

[Shaanyboi]

Because they don't care. They may as well respond to those claims by going "And...?"

 

[duckroll]

They're waiting for the outcome of this first: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1340251

 

[StrategyFan]

bannon's trying to keep his elevated position of authority, so he's not going to bring up the fact that he is contributing to Trump's declining popularity

Trump's trying to save his presidency and his ability to spend political capital. sidelining/sacrificing bannon might keep his approval ratings afloat.

if more people start using banon's correct label, trump will have to do something about it eventually.

what we don't know is how much dirt bannon has on trump.

 

[Dude Abides]

Because if they do they make it a national debate about whether he is or not. They're amateurs but not that amateur.

 

[Brandon F]

They no longer have Hilary's emails as a viable counter.

But the moment things get real fucked? Trump will surely throw his ass under the bus to save whatever face is left.

 

[mAcOdIn]

If you have to have your arm twisted multiple times to refute a KKK member......

Oh, I agree, it's just that saying that saying Donald Trump didn't publically denounce David Duke is objectively false. I like to keep things factual, it does as much good to say Donald Trump never publicly refused David Duke's endorsement as it did Donald Trump claiming he never heard of David Duke prior to his endorsement. Both are false and can be used to poke holes in the rest of their arguments.

I think people need to stick with facts, first, just out of common decency and second, because if you don't you're just giving ammo to people on the other side to claim you're a liar, which unfortunately, would of course be correct. So it's important that not just the theme of your message is true but that the supporting facts are also true. That Donald Trump denounced David Duke is a fact but it's also a fact that he was essentially cornered into that by the national media and aside from a few public statements here and there has and continues to cater to that group. We don't need to lie about this to make the case any stronger.

 

[LordOfChaos]

Whatever they respond to or tweet about, they draw that days attention to. By not responding to it, and the mess of a whole bunch of other bullshit, it stays a fairly wide held opinion but not one that blows up in the media circuit.

 

[dragonfart28]

Because Trump voters are white supremacists.

 

[jellies_two]

Apparently they can't find the light switches and bannon is working 16 hours a day on attack strategies so he probably wants to ignore this particular thing BECAUSE IT IS HARD TO REFUTE.

 

[Zushin]

It's probably a label they are comfortable with to be honest.

 

[Rembrandt]

like others said, they're ignoring it until it goes away. it wouldn't be beneficial for them to address it.

 

[bobbychalkers]

Streisand Effect

 

[Kacho]

When people say dumb stuff like

Because Trump voters are white supremacists.

these labels start to lose meaning and people don't generally care.

 

[UberTag]

Because if they do they make it a national debate about whether he is or not. They're amateurs but not that amateur.

Not only that but they want to validate white supremacists into believing that they're right and that the President is their ally against the injustices of the world. You don't do that by trying to dispel the Pelosis of the world for referring to Bannon for what he is.

For all intents and purposes, they are OWNING the Nazi label. They aren't dispelling it.

 

[Imperfected]

Streisand Effect

The problem with this theory is that Trump has had no problem Streisand-ing himself on basically every other possible embarrassing issue, including several things any reasonable person would have ignored and allowed to be treated as conspiracy theories.

I'm 90% sure the actual reason is that if he acknowledged it, that would necessarily require a denouncement/denial, and he doesn't want to do that. I'm less sure whether that's his call or Bannon's, but it's pretty clear they don't want to be particularly loud or proud in trying to distance themselves from Neo-Nazis.

 

[Caj814]

Religious Freedom Act

Okay to be anything BUT Muslim in the administration

 

[HvySky]

Doesn't really matter at this point. Trump could outright say that Bannon is a white supremacist and it wouldn't affect how his supporters perceive him.

 

[DirtyLarry]

Cuz he is

First post nails it imho, but to elaborate, I do believe they do not refute it because they really cannot refute it if they tried. I believe the evidence out there all points towards the fact that he is rather than he is not.

So it would be a bit like trying to disprove the sky is blue. Facts are facts.

 

[LosDaddie]

Because they're not amateurs.

 

[PeakPointMatrix]

Because that's why they fucking hired him.

 

[cdyhybrid]

Because they don't have to. They ran on a platform of white supremacy and won the election.

 

[EatinOlives]

Because they have no reason to hide it

 

[To Far Away Times]

They've been taking a lot of heat for Alt Facts lately, best not to create another one.

 

[Lord Fagan]

Because they're not amateurs.

It's the only explanation, but it's really wild given how amateurish they are at almost everything else.

 

[The Albatross]

Because he is.
But also because releasing a press release.. "Bannon is not a white supremacist," ends up directing the headlines. It's like saying, "Donald Trump did not rape a 13-year-old" it ends up making people think more about it than just sweeping it under the rug.

I think the best way to get Bannon out of the White House is for people to talk about Bannon really running the White House and Trump being second fiddle to bannon. Trumps Ego will win out and force him out.

 

[Vicetrailia]

Patriots are not the whitest team though.

 

[RinsFury]

Because he is one, and he isn't the only one either.

 

[Laieon]

A decent amount of his base probably sees it as a good thing.

 

[Brakke]

He probably didn't hear Pelosi's charge. He doesn't read and he doesn't listen when women speak, so the only way he'd know it happened is if some Fox News pundit quoted it.

 

[RinsFury]

A decent amount of his base probably sees it as a good thing.

I think it's more than a decent amount, I'd say the majority do.