White nationalist undeterred by boos on latest college stop


              Protesters demonstrate ahead of white nationalist Richard Spencer's speech at the University of Florida, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, in Gainesville, Fla. Spencer's National Policy Institute is paying to rent space for the speaking event. (AP Photo/Jason Dearen)
Protesters demonstrate ahead of white nationalist Richard Spencer's speech at the University of Florida, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, in Gainesville, Fla. Spencer's National Policy Institute is paying to rent space for the speaking event. (AP Photo/Jason Dearen)

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - White nationalist Richard Spencer was once an obscure figure in a fringe movement.

But he has become a household name thanks in part to his infamous "Hail Trump!" toast, a videotaped punch to his head and the bloodshed at a Virginia rally where he was a headliner.

His notoriety far exceeds his modest following. Protesters vastly outnumbered Spencer's supporters at the University of Florida on Thursday, his first campus appearance since the deadly clash in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August.

Facing a massive backlash after the Charlottesville violence, Spencer and other leading figures in the "alt-right" movement have portrayed themselves as champions of free speech and victims of political correctness.

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