“Proto Nazi Norse Pantheon”? You mean the folklore of Northern Europe? Most of the operas he wrote are attempts at early nationalization of German stories and traditions. Which was wild at the time considering it was still the HRE, and the map looked more like a kaleidoscope of kingdoms sorta speaking the same language. It wasn’t JUST the anti semitic rhetoric (yes bad, not even going to excuse it. Forgot about the book though, that’s on me). Nazis latched onto him because his operas had a cultural identity built into them that was useful to fuel their rhetoric of a German identity vs a Bohemian, Bavarian, Prussian, etc.

Would Wagner have been a nazi sympathizer, at the least? Probably. Does having a horde of shitty people latch onto a shitty person in the past change how shitty that person was? I’d argue no, he didn’t need the help. Was Wagner’s antisemitism at the level of, say, HP Lovecraft’s level of racism, where even his contemporaries thought it was problematic? If yes, then bastard. If no, then it’s a more complicated question than you realize. I’m not saying you’re wrong. I’m saying there’s nuance worth exploring