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Breitbart News Hits A New Level Of Irony

by Bronwyn Isaac

After new President-elect Donald Trump announced that Steve Bannon would be a senior White House strategist and counselor, the internet has been on fire with disapproval from many of us (there's also been celebration from Bannon's alt-right fan base). To add fuel to the flames, Breitbart News is now planning a lawsuit against a currently undisclosed major media company for alleging that Breitbart is a white nationalist publication, reports The Hill.

For those unfamiliar with either Bannon or Breitbart, Bannon took over Breitbart News in 2012, shortly after its founder, Andrew Breitbart, passed away from heart failure. Since then, Bannon has served as the chairman of Breitbart News, and while the news site has received a good deal of backlash for the amount of trolling and doxxing that it's readers have previously unleashed on Trump critics, the site has been scrutinized more heavily in the past two days since Trump elevated Bannon to the White House.

But now, in the wake of the past day of speculation and criticism, Breitbart News released a statement, exclusive to The Hill, that details a vaguely outlined yet firm decision to go forth with a lawsuit against a major news outlet. It says:

Breitbart News Network, a pro-America, conservative website, is preparing a multi-million dollar lawsuit against a major media company for its baseless and defamatory claim that Breitbart News is a "white nationalist website."

Breitbart News cannot allow such vicious racial lies to go unchallenged, especially by cynical, politically-motivated competitors seeking to diminish its 42 million monthly readers and its number one in the world political Facebook page. Breitbart News rejects racism in all its varied and ugly forms.

Always has, always will. The diversity of the company’s news coverage and its staff continue to embody Andrew Breitbart's colorblind, distinctly American commitment to 'E pluribus unum' -- out of many, one.

As of yet, the team over at Breitbart News hasn't disclosed when the case would be filed, or what major media company it would be filed against. However, it may be a tough case for Breitbart News, in part because even the Southern Poverty Law Center has called it a "white ethno-nationalist propaganda mill."

While there may be questions of who will be the target of this supposed lawsuit, this isn't exactly a surprise. After all, it fits with the Trump campaign's pattern of attacking and censoring the media, such as the president-elect's habit of banning members of the press from his events.