The real winner of the 2016 election is the Alt-Right. Who are they? Richard Spencer lays it out in an interview with Kelly McEvers on NPR’s All Things Considered. Those of you who dismiss NPR as “Nice Polite Republicans” can suck it up for now; McEvers goes right to the heart of the swamp.
MCEVERS: I just want to go down a list of things. And you tell me if they are OK or not OK.
SPENCER: OK.
MCEVERS: Graffiti that says make America white again.
SPENCER: I don't - look; graffiti is illegal, but...
MCEVERS: The slogan make America white again.
SPENCER: I don't have a huge problem with that I mean that people...
MCEVERS: OK.
SPENCER: ...Are just expressing their opinion.
MCEVERS: Swastikas.
SPENCER: A swastika is an ancient symbol. I don't - like, you know, if you're asking me, do I have a problem with people expressing themselves and maybe, you know...
MCEVERS: With a swastika.
SPENCER: People want to express themselves. They can do whatever they want.
MCEVERS: So that's an OK - wearing white robes or hoods like the KKK.
SPENCER: Look. I'm - you're not going to get me to condemn any of this because you haven't said anything that is really fundamentally illegal or immoral. I might not agree with some people. I might not like this. I might like that, not like that. But the fact is these are people expressing themselves. I'm not going to condemn any of that.
MCEVERS: Do you agree with those expressions?
SPENCER: I agree with people who want to get in touch with their identity as a European. That can take a number of different forms. I don't support any kind of physical threats or anything like that. I think that does cross the line.
But in terms of people coming to terms with who they are, I don't oppose it. And I actually would respect - deeply respect the right of non-white people to try to understand themselves and to express themselves as they see fit.
This is now mainstream, right into the White House. As Spencer says right at the start,
RICHARD SPENCER: This is the first time we've really entered the mainstream, and we're not going away. I mean this is just the beginning. And I'm very excited.
Further,
SPENCER: What I'm saying is that Europeans defined America. They defined what it is. Of course there are people who are non-European who are here, who are citizens and so on. What I would...
MCEVERS: Who many would argue also defined America.
SPENCER: Sure, and they did to a certain degree. But European people were the indispensable central people that defined this nation socially and politically and culturally and demographically obviously.
I care about us more. That's all I'm saying. But I respect identitarians of other races. And I actually can see eye to eye with them in a way that your average conservative can't.
This is pure tribalism on display, loud and proud. Spencer has respect for people of other races — as long as they remember their place. He does’t consider himself an average conservative because he’s not really concerned with traditional conservative fixations on taxes and smaller government. The Alt-Right is using the Republican Party for now, but in the end they’re headed for the Alt-Right chopping block as well. These people are NOT conservatives. They’re cannibalizing the remains of the Republican Party while they attack the left.
Read the Whole Thing. (Listen to it too — the audio of Spencer is chilling because he’s so matter of fact about this.
If you’re wondering why Trump and others in his administration seem to have so much affection for Vladimir Putin, it’s because he’s pursuing many of the same goals in the same way. Quaid’s diary This is Directly from Steve Bannon’s Breitbart, This is Really Happening, We Can’t Kid Ourselves goes into some detail on the connections between Trump’s movement, the Alt-Right, and Putin. The meddling of Russia in the U.S. election is just the latest effort by Putin’s government to undermine western democracies by boosting nationalist movements. It’s working.
Digby links to an LA Times piece that spells out the core beliefs of the Alt-Right. Read it — because you will not hear this from the ‘polite’ media. Look at the list if you want to guess what kind of policies a Trump administration is going to pursue. Try this one example for a taste:
White genocide: What many alt-right members feel is the natural conclusion of liberalism and pro-immigrant policies. The alt-right views just about anything that benefits nonwhite people, particularly ones who aren't American citizens, as a risk to whiteness and a step on the road to the eradication of the white race.
Digby’s also found a Trumper exulting in the brave new world Trump is taking us into. In the words of RooshV:
“We now have a s**tlord for President who has insulted ugly women as “fat pigs,” and whose private macho talk, which all masculine men have done, was relentlessly attacked by the press but not punished in the voter booth,” he said.
“This means that when you talk like Trump, the first thought your listener will have is, ‘He sounds like the President of the United States’.”
emphasis added
Digby has more at the link that’s truly depolorable acceptable speech now in the world where a self-confessed sexual predator like Donald Trump can become president of the United States.
This is our moment. The door is opening for a renaissance of masculinity where men can take pride in being men, and the best part of it is that we don’t need to wait for Trump to do anything. His victory is more than enough for us to apply our own individual strength in seizing the bull’s horns where we can come out of the politically incorrect closet and assert our beliefs and behaviors. It would be icing on the cake if Trump rolled back anti-masculine laws and policies, but it’s not required, because the power to change ourselves and our country is within our hands. Return Of Kings opened in 2012, and the only surprise for me is how quickly the name is being fulfilled.
BTW, Return of Kings is a website devoted to his neomasculinity theories of the ‘proper’ roles of men and women. It’s of a piece with the Alt-Right mindset that portrays itself as under threat from political correctness. It’s pretty much Patriarchy dressed up in new clothes.
If you’re a white male who is convinced women and brown people are stealing everything that should be yours by birthright, you can see how it all makes sense. It’s the kind of logic that follows from the idea of life as a zero-sum game: if somebody else is winning, it means you must be losing. The evil genius of the right and Alt-Right has been turning the Left into scapegoats for their crimes. The failure of the Left has been to let them get away with it.
David Neiwert has indispensable essays on the nature of Fascism at his Orcinus website. You can find links to his writings in the left margin if you scroll down. He’s currently working on a book: Alt America: The Rise of the Radical Right in the Age of Trump. He links to a passage contrasting the reaction of America to the election of Barack Obama to that of Donald Trump. The comments are illuminating — if you want an idea of how different the versions of America are out there.
“Existential threat” doesn’t begin to cover it. And to connect an obvious dot, we’re seeing what happens when the FOX News view of the world replaces reality. “O brave new world, that has such people in it.”