The vile alt-right has quickly gone from an obscure group of social media trolls, backed by a handful of publications and non-profits, to the center of presidential politics. Hillary Clinton referenced the group of white nationalists in a recent campaign speech, linking them to her Republican opponent Donald Trump.
Unfortunately, that link has merit. Trump hired Stephen Bannon to run his campaign as “chief executive officer.” Previously, Bannon had served as executive chairman of Breitbart News, where he shepherded the publication from its former vaunted status among conservative outlets to its certain state as a cesspool of the racialist alt-right.
Responding to these developments, and the sudden widespread interest in his white nationalist movement, prominent alt-right figure Jared Taylor here seeks to clarify the movement’s beliefs. As you can see, he’s rather explicit, confirming what I and others have been writing for weeks.
Taylor objects to the link drawn between his movement and Donald Trump. He claims that neither Trump nor Bannon “has ever taken up the cause of white identity, or talked openly about race and IQ.” They’re not explicitly promoting “white interests.” However, Taylor goes on to explain the alt-right’s sympathy for Trump due to the candidate’s “views on immigration.”
This is analogous to a Black Lives Matter leader distancing their movement from Hillary Clinton on account of her not proving radical enough. It may be true that Clinton proves more moderate than the most militant BLM activist. But that doesn’t change the fact that she courts support from the movement and tacitly supports its goals.
Similarly, Trump may not be part of the alt-right. But that has never been the allegation against him. Rather, it is alleged that he courts their support, which is just as bad. Whether Trump is a racist scumbag personally, or merely courting racist scumbags for political purposes, neither status proves particularly defensible.
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