In The Atlantic, Rosie Gray writes that the "alt-right's rebranding effort has failed":
The alt-right movement has sought over the past two years to rebrand white nationalism, lifting it out of the obscure corners of the website Stormfront and elevating it into the mainstream political discussion.
In some ways the effort succeeded. President Trump’s campaign offered white nationalists a political home in the mainstream. They heard Trump’s hardline anti-immigration stances and repeated refusals to disavow racists as a dog whistle. The alt-right itself was media- and internet-savvy and appealed to a younger demographic. Its leaders became household names. Hillary Clinton even gave a speech about the movement.
Two incidents over the past year show why the alt-right’s pivot failed. One is the infamous speech given by alt-right leader Richard Spencer at a conference last year, where The Atlantic recorded attendees giving Nazi salutes. The other is what happened in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday, where a white-nationalist “Unite the Right” rally starring several of the alt-right’s leading lights turned violent. At the end of the day, three people had died, and at least 19 more were injured. The photos from Charlottesville show Confederate flags, Nazi insignia, and militia members with guns. David Duke was there. In the end, the alt-right never shed its association with older fascist and white-supremacist ideas and movements, and arguably never really tried.
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At Daily Kos on this date in 2009—Militia Groups on the Rise:
A new report finds that after a ten year lull, armed militia groups are growing rapidly, and officials worry that full blown domestic terrorism could soon follow:
The stress of a poor economy and a liberal administration led by a black president are among the causes for the recent rise, the report from the Southern Poverty Law Center says. Conspiracy theories about a secret Mexican plan to reclaim the Southwest are also growing amid the public debate about illegal immigration.
Bart McEntire, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told SPLC researchers that this is the most growth he's seen in more than a decade.
"All it's lacking is a spark," McEntire said in the report.
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In a rambling, incoherent video that will creep you the hell out in comments below, a leader of the Ohio militia proudly holds up an AR-15 and explains that "things are real bad, it’s gonna get a lot worse, and people need to wake up" and you should all go out and buy guns and "lots and lots of ammo" because ... well he never really says. Between a Nazi reference, a few weird pictures of what looks like Obama in Death caricature, he goes on to complain that militias were unfairly demonized after Oklahoma City, rants about how the militia won the Revolutionary War and our country is in peril.
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