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Alt-right Enters Mainstream, Finds Strength Online

When Hillary Clinton referenced the alt-right movement’s support of opponent Donald Trump in a campaign speech, many casual observers were left wondering what exactly the alt-right was.

“Alt-right is short for ‘alternative right,’” Clinton said. “The Wall Street Journal describes it as a loose, but organized movement, mostly online, that rejects mainstream conservatism, promotes nationalism and views immigration and multiculturalism as threats to white identity.”

Dr. Michelle Williams, chair of the UWF Department of Government and professor of political science, studies radicalism and extremism in politics and believes that alt-right is a new name for an older movement.

“Even though this movement looks somewhat discombobulated to many people saying, ‘Who is this and what is this?’ in the United States, the momentum for it and the ideas for it are anything but new,” she said.

Internationally, the core values of the alt-right movement can be traced back to the French New Right of the 1960s, but they were solidified in the United States with one political commentator’s 1992 presidential campaign.  

“The current alt-right movement really doesn’t look unlike the Pat Buchanan campaign or the New Right movements that are doing quite well in Europe,” she said. “So when I look at what is presumably the alt-right in the United States, I’m immediately thinking of their counterparts that are in the European context, but especially the French National Front. And the overlap in similarities are striking.”

This new movement does have one major difference. However, much of the alt-right’s activities are centered on the online world.

“Social media has changed so many aspects of politics,” Williams said. “It’s interesting to see the dynamic when it comes to the farther right’s utilization of social media in part because the message that they tend to propagate is much more inflammatory.”

Williams said that members of the alt-right use social media to make points that are decisive, short, dramatic and sometimes fear-inspiring.

“These are the kinds of things that play especially well in short soundbites on social media,” Williams said. “Social media hits tend to be driven by immediate reactivity to something that catches your eye and maybe pulls at your emotions and elicits a kneejerk reaction. So social media consumption plays especially well to the strengths of these parties.”

The alt-right movement’s positions make them a fringe group, but they also offer ideas that appeal to a range of followers.

“The alt-right is complex, and it has attractive elements for different constituents. And so it is able to draw on a lot of people that come to the farther right of center,” Williams said. “It can appeal to libertarians. So it has some overlap with the Tea Party. It can appeal to neo-liberal conservatives that are strongly free market-oriented.”

But it is one element of the movement’s belief system that has garnered the most attention.

“The thing that gets the most press is the nationalistic or even ethnocentric dimensions,” Williams said. “So, nativism as a component is also a part of what this is about.”

In 2016, the Trump campaign and his stances on immigration have helped bring the alt-right into a place of prominence in the political scene.

“I really can’t imagine us knowing very much about the alt-right were it not for Donald Trump’s candidacy,” Williams said. “It’s been interesting for political scientists to watch his campaign unfold because we see him taking steps that are not advisable. If it comes to campaigns and strategy, the conventional wisdom would not advocate positioning yourself, especially in the primary season, as a candidate for a party on the very far fringe of your party.”

Current polls show that tactic may not pay off for Trump, as he has fallen well behind Clinton. And while the Republican establishment has begun to disassociate itself from its nominee in order to protect down-ballot House and Senate candidates, Williams said the repercussions of the Trump candidacy will be felt not only in the alt-right, but across the political spectrum.

“The optimists among political scientists would say that all we are seeing is public interest and citizen demands are not being matched by the policy positions that the political parties are putting forward,” Williams said. “We often do see the rise of radical or fringe parties on both the left and the right develop under that circumstance.”

It’s possible that mainstream political parties could realign their positions to deal with policy issues they may not be addressing, driven by public opinion, Williams said.

“We could see the foundations of these parties and what they mean in the modern era change substantially. They could look like a completely different political party – maybe even going through a name change,” she said. “We could see something develop that is a new representation of the right and maybe even a new representation of the left as a result of this election.”

This article is part of a collaboration between WUWF and the UWF Center for Research and Economic Opportunity.