At the 1952 Republican national convention – which nominated General Dwight Eisenhower as its presidential nominee and throughout the subsequent election campaign – Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy delivered speech after speech accusing the incumbent Democratic administration of ‘20 years of treason’. At the convention itself, McCarthy even claimed he had located a cabin in the… Continue reading “Treason and Party Politics in the United States”
While Donald Trump’s brand of white nationalism endures, we must deepen our understanding of the group behavior, mentality, and tactics of right-wing extremists. The United States of America has recently experienced concentrations of right-wing violent extremism particularly with an increase in violent radical right street groups. The US’ expanding catalog of radical right groups emphasizes… Continue reading “The Rise Of Radical Right Extremism In Trump’s America”
Since becoming US President in January 2017 Donald Trump has achieved considerable notoriety because of his propensity for lying. Trump, of course, is hardly the first public official in the United States or elsewhere to achieve this type of unflattering reputation. Making statements those uttering them know to be false is a common feature of… Continue reading “The Measurement of Lies”
Donald Trump regularly adopts talking points and conspiracy claims that originate on the farthest fringes of the radical right. For years, the American radical right has insisted that huge numbers of South African whites are being subjected to a racist genocide by their black countrymen. The late neo-Nazi leader William Pierce was already decrying the… Continue reading “The Radical Roots of Trump Talk”
When analyzing the global collaboration between radical right groups, one needs to look no further than the Trump phenomenon, Brexit, and 20th-century British history. A core component, if not the core component of radical right ideology is nationalism (often described as nativism). Slogans of the radical right, be it ‘Britain first’ or ‘make America great… Continue reading “Right-Wing Nationalism Has Become A Collaborative International Enterprise”
What should we make of a substantial Jewish presence in Trump’s right-wing administration? One of the apparent curiosities of the Trump presidency is the significant role played by American Jews in his administration and his personal circle of friends, confidants and ex-confidants. To illustrate: The president’s daughter, Ivanka, is married to Jared Kushner, an Orthodox… Continue reading “Donald Trump: The Odd Link between American Jews and the Alt-Right”
‘The sleep of reason produces monsters’ -Goya “Alternative facts”—conspiracy theory, disinformation, pseudo-science, and convenient lies—are the warp and weft of extremist beliefs. The radical right’s parallel reality is woven from many dark and fanciful threads, from The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion to the demonization of George Soros, from scientific racism to “human… Continue reading “Occult Economy and the Far Right Grift”
At a political rally on October 22 for the upcoming midterm elections, US President Donald Trump declared himself a “nationalist.” Trump’s nationalism operates through notions of an “authentic,” rooted and morally good nation that is re-enforced in relation to migrants and minorities. Such exclusionary nationalism, also referred to as nativism, is an ideology or discursive… Continue reading “Donald Trump Declares Himself a “Nationalist””
Britain First is a ‘radical right’, ultra-nationalist movementthat promotes anti-Muslim hostility and has incited racial and religious hatred. The group has been led until recently by Jayda Fransen and Paul Golding, both of whom are now serving a prison sentence for religiously aggravated hate speech that incited anti-Muslim hatred. Despite numerous concerns raised above about… Continue reading “I Was Blocked On Social Media By Tommy Robinson: Now Twitter Are Removing His Hate”
A number of observers were so distressed by Donald Trump’s election to the American presidency they attached the label ‘fascist’ to the New York real estate developer and began to compare him to Benito Mussolini. What should we make of these comparisons? To begin, the circumstances under which they came to power were vastly different.… Continue reading “Trump and Mussolini”