Ta-Nehisi Coates asks if racism-deniers need Steve Bannon to actually lynch someone on the White House lawn

Author Ta-Nehisi Coates didn't think the Buzzfeed expose on Milo Yiannopoulos and the alt-Right was necessary to understanding President Donald Trump.

"I am literally speechless," the National Book Award winner told MSNBC host Chris Hayes. "I'm not speechless from of learning the information. I'm speechless that we needed this."

Coates took pains to clarify he wasn't attacking the "excellent" reporting by Joseph Bernstein that "needed to be done." Coates followed Bernstein as an "All in with Chris Hayes" guest on MSNBC.

"But is this really surprising?" Coates asked. "They are who we thought they were."

"This accords with everything else we knew about Donald Trump, everything else we knew about Steve Bannon," Coates reminded. "I don't know what else we need."

"I don't know if we need Steve Bannon to actually lynch somebody on the White House lawn to get the message, but it seems pretty clear to me," Coates concluded.

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‘They are who we thought they were’ Ta-Nahesi...by sarahburris