08/15/2017
The WSJ’s Scott Calvert interviewed VDARE.com editor Peter Brimelow and other more or less like-minded individuals on the Alt Right, and this is what they reported yesterday. It’s a subscriber article, but I think you can access it by clicking through the Tweet, below.Like almost all other stories about the violence in Charlottesville, it embraces the Narrative that the violence was the fault of the rallyers, rather than the Antifa who were attacking them. Note the reference to the rally having "devolved into violent confrontations" below. The New York Times used the expression "violent protests that stemmed from a white nationalist rally".
Both of those are technically true, but with the exception of the final tragic car crash, it was all due to attacks by Antifa, the UniteTheRight crowd just came to hear speeches.
Trump’s condemnation of the violence in Charlottesville, Va., didn’t alienate some leaders of the alt-right https://t.co/B7HzpKesGR
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) August 14, 2017
The WSJ writes:
The alt-right, or alternative right, rejects mainstream conservatism, promotes nationalism and views immigration and multiculturalism as threats to white identity. It is a loosely organized movement that has largely existed online.“The alt-right has come so far in the past two years in terms of public exposure. Is Donald Trump one of the major causes of that? Of course,” Mr. Spencer said, who runs a think tank called the National Policy Institute.
Mr. Spencer was in Charlottesville on Saturday for the “Unite the Right” white nationalist rally that devolved into violent confrontations. One woman was killed and 19 people were injured when a car plowed into a group of counter-protesters; a 20-year-old man who has allegedly espoused white supremacist views faces a murder charge and other counts.
The Trump presidential campaign rejected the alt-right connection last year. Spokeswoman Hope Hicks said in August 2016 that Mr. Trump “has never used or embraced that term and continues to disavow any groups or individuals associated with a message of hate.”
Jared Taylor, editor of the white nationalist website American Renaissance, said he agreed with Mr. Trump’s comments decrying violence but said that the president also should have mentioned counter-protesters.
He said it was “inevitable” Mr. Trump would condemn white supremacists by name given the political pressure he was under to do so, including from leading Republicans, and he suggested the president’s comments Saturday condemning violence on “many sides” reflected his true feelings.
Asked if he thought Mr. Trump’s comments would weaken his support among white nationalists, Mr. Brimelow, who founded VDARE.com in 1999, said the “hard core” has been impatient with the president for some time, but that he knows he can “always get them back” by embracing tough immigration policies.
“The real question is whether it will weaken the peculiar implicit appeal he made to the white working class, which is not ideological,” he said. “I think in the long run it might, especially in the South.”
It became a badge of honor in the alt-right movement when Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton attacked Mr. Trump by trying to link him to white supremacists and the alt-right movement. Mr. Spencer said at the time that while he didn’t consider Mr. Trump to be alt-right, he credited him with elevating its ideas and helping to build momentum.
Last year, Mr. Trump tapped Steve Bannon, the executive chairman of a website popular with the alt-right, Breitbart News, as his campaign’s chief executive, and later named him chief White House strategist. Mr. Bannon once described Breitbart News as a “platform for the alt-right.”
Mr. Taylor, who calls himself a “white advocate,” applauded Mr. Trump for saying all Americans should be able to live free from violence. “That should apply to people who speak for the interests of white people. They too deserve to live in a country free from violence,” he said.
He said he doesn’t think the president’s remarks Monday will dissuade white nationalists from holding additional rallies. “Donald Trump’s comments today will not appease his enemies and they will not discourage his supporters,” he said.
Alt-Right Leaders Aren’t Alienated by Donald Trump’s Criticism
Richard Spencer calls president’s words ‘so hollow’; Peter Brimelow dismisses comments as ‘boring boilerplate’
By Scott Calvert and Alexa Corse, WSJ, August 14, 2017
This is a content archive of VDARE.com, which Letitia James forced off of the Internet using lawfare.