Interesting. Most of those (including some with the word “leader” in) seem perfectly consistent with what I said, and the only one calling Yiannopoulos the leader of anything is the last one which is an obvious joke from start to finish—but I agree that several of them are at any rate claiming that Yiannopoulos is at least A Leader Of The Alt-Right, which is much more defensible but still rather silly.
In case anyone was curious, here is a collection of how different publishers have referred to Milo:
The New York Times: “a prominent figure in the white nationalist “alt-right.””
Bloomberg Businessweek: “the most notorious spokesman for the alt-right” and “the alt-right’s mouthpiece”
Politico: “alt-right journalist and firebrand”
USA Today: “white nationalist and alt-right poster boy” (in previous version)
news.com.au: “Alt-right star”
The Guardian: “a spokesman for the “alt-right””
BBC: “a figurehead for the alt-right”
The following publications have literally said “leader”:
Mother Jones: “Alt-Right Leader” and “alt-right lightning rod”
NPR: “a self-proclaimed leader of the movement”
ABC15 (Arizona) and also other ABC outlets: “Alt-right leader”
The Australian: “Alt-right leader”
The Hill: “alt-right leader”
CBS (Seattle): “alt-right leader” (in previous version)
You can even find the literal words “the leader of the alt-right” in that order:
Salon: “the leader of the alt-right”
I have not yet found it in titlecase (“The Leader Of The Alt-Right”) in a mainstream publication.
Interesting. Most of those (including some with the word “leader” in) seem perfectly consistent with what I said, and the only one calling Yiannopoulos the leader of anything is the last one which is an obvious joke from start to finish—but I agree that several of them are at any rate claiming that Yiannopoulos is at least A Leader Of The Alt-Right, which is much more defensible but still rather silly.
To be explicit, my primary goal was to collect empirical data on how publications introduce Milo (as opposed to contradicting you).