I can quote the SPLC again, so here’s David Neiwert saying Milo Yiannopoulos isn’t being “ironic” when he says he looks forward to seeing journalists slaughtered.

Yiannopoulos appears to be dead serious – that is, he sincerely believes that right-wing assassins should begin taking out targeted reporters. He’s been saying so on a number of forums, and it’s clear that he isn’t being simply “ironic” in the classic alt-right hall-of-mirrors fashion.

Yiannopoulos’ career has been in precipitous decline over the past year, following his sudden rise to media stardom as a leading figure in the alt-right, due largely to his influential role during the “Gamergate” controversy, then as an editor at Breitbart News. However, after an interview surfaced in February 2017 which he suggested sexual relations between adult men and young boys could be beneficial, he lost his sponsorship by the Mercer family, was dropped by his publisher, and resigned his position at Breitbart. Then in October, his close dalliances with white nationalists while at Breitbart (including an evening of karaoke with Richard Spencer) were exposed by Buzzfeed.

He’s not “just” a troll and never has been.

He’s also edged closer to making “ironic” signals in the direction of the racist alt-right, notably by donating $14.88 – an amount identical to the numbers used to signal the overt neo-Nazi faction of the alt-right – to a Jewish journalist who had pleaded for financial help in an online fundraiser.

His most recent venture has involved participating in a “soft coup” in his native England, a takeover of Nigel Farage’s floundering right-wing United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) by members of the “alt-lite” brigade. Along with Infowars reporter Paul Joseph Watson, YouTube personality “Count Dankula” (real name: Mark Meechan), and  Carl Benjamin, aka “Sargon of Akkad,” another YouTube personality, the faction wants to “Make Britain Great Again” by taking over the UKIP leadership and making the party a safe space for the like-minded.

When Guardian reporter Will Sommer asked Yiannopoulos about his decision to join UKIP, he responded by email that he “can’t wait for the vigilante squads to start gunning journalists down on sight!”

Since then, he has doubled down on his call for violence against journalists. On Instagram, he responded to a similar query from Mediaite reporter Amy Russo with a post that has since been removed.

“If journalists keep lying, deceiving and manipulating the public, then they will reap the same hatred they are sowing against Trump and his voters,” he wrote. “Truthfully I take no pleasure in the prospect; I’d rather beat you in a debate hall than a wrestling ring. But you did this to yourselves, and you deserve what’s coming.”

Saying he takes no pleasure in the prospect – now that’s trolling. Of course he does.

Violence has accompanied Yiannopoulos at a number of steps in his career, notably during his 2016-2017 “Dangerous Faggot” speaking tour. At the University of Washington in Seattle on the night of January 20, 2017 – the evening of Donald Trump’s inauguration as president – a man involved in protests outside a Milo speech was shot by a couple of angry alt-right activists; they are both still awaiting trial. A speech in Berkeley shortly afterward was canceled due to threats of violence from both sides, provoking threats from Trump on his Twitter account.

That’s one reason I say he’s not a troll. He does get giggles from it, yes, but he also means it.