BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) – Donald Trump’s election is bringing to the fore a strain of race-based politics once so far out of the mainstream few had even heard of it.
With an ideology that’s a mix of racism, white nationalism and old-fashioned populism, the “alt-right” has burst into the collective consciousness since members showed up at the Republican National Convention to celebrate Trump’s nomination last summer.
When one of its leaders, Richard Spencer, gave a speech in Washington last Saturday at an alt-right conference attended by a couple of hundred people, The Atlantic was there with a video camera that captured the Nazi-style salutes of people in his audience.
“Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!” Spencer said to cheers that were shown in video snippets that have since been viewed hundreds of thousands of times online.
What does Spencer mean by “our people”? Whites. Spencer directs the National Policy Institute, which describes itself as “dedicated to the heritage, identity and future of people of European descent in the United States and around the world.”