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”
In the world of political extremism, we often make assumptions about the relationship between extreme ideology and political violence. We assume that extremist views lead to violence, and that those who commit political violence are on the farthest ends of the political spectrum. However, there is strikingly little research that empirically supports this relationship. Of… Continue reading “The Role of Ideology in Radical Right Violence: Lessons from America”
The false anxiety that whiteness is under siege fueled the rise of Trump, but it isn’t new. You can trace white supremacist culture throughout American history. In the context of contemporary politics in America and the rise of the radical right, whiteness feels like it is having its moment in the sun. The election of… Continue reading “From The Plantation To The Caravan: America’s History Of White Nationalism”
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””
Richard Wilson Preston Jr. is not a nice guy. When the imperial wizard of the Confederate White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan came to the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, a year ago, he was spoiling for a fight. “I will go out and shoot you,” he fumes in one video. “I’m… Continue reading “The Curious Case of Daryl Davis, the Black Man Befriending Members of the KKK”
As media platforms evolve and mature, they give birth to new expressive forms shaped by the exigencies of their technological and political-economic regimes. The dramatic and affective flows of American television, for example, emerged in the twentieth century to suit an advertising-based profit model, which is itself the outcome of complex regulatory and commercial origins.… Continue reading “Analyzing YouTube “Rekt” Videos as a Vector for Radicalization”
When reporters attempted to interview two protestors at the ‘white civil rights rally’, otherwise known as Unite the Right 2, on 12 August in Washington, D.C., the men obscured their faces behind American flags and refused to answer. These men were not alone in their tight grip on the American flag; almost every single radical right… Continue reading “This Flag Is Your Flag, This Flag Is My Flag: The Alt-Right’s Appropriation of the American Flag”
As far-right leaders focus on migration, other challenges fall by the wayside. What is the most pressing problem facing the world today? Is it the proliferation of nuclear weapons, threatening the annihilation of the human species? Is it climate change, which could lead to many of the world’s major cities being flooded, or whole regions… Continue reading “Migration Fear-Mongering Distracts From More Severe Crises”
So Two cheers for Democracy: one because it admits variety and two because it permits criticism. – E. M. Forster Importance! What is it, sir after all? The respect of fools, the wonder of children, the envy of the rich, the contempt of the wise man. – Stendhal In a recent series of tweets and… Continue reading “Two Cheers for Democracy”
Just as neo-Nazis in America have tried to rebrand themselves, the same is happening with the Generation Identity (GI) white supremacist movement in Britain. In a recent article in the Sunday Times, journalist Andrew Gilligan claimed the Generation Identity (GI) movement in Britain was looking to ‘rebrand’ the radical right and thereby ‘normalize’ its extremist… Continue reading ““Hipster Fascists”: The Normalization Of The Radical Right Isn’t Just Happening In America”