Wednesday, March 01, 2017

A Pure Hatred Borne of Love: Alt-Right's Downright Dirty Devotion to Trump

Re: Messages from the Alt-Right

by Chris Floyd - Empire Burlesque


March 1, 2017

The other day I wrote a brief post on my political blog that made the alt-right trolls very mad. Their responses — most so encrusted with hate and filth I had to delete them — were very instructive. (Oh, and they also vowed to “destroy my life” through doxxing — when they were not directly threatening to kill me.)

They came from various places in the US. (It is incredibly easy to track down these people, who believe they are hidden behind their ludicrous pseudonyms). A suburban house in a small town in New Jersey. Another in Pennsylvania. An apartment in rural Michigan. A high school in a small Texas town. A care home (!) in Pennsylvania. And so on. I also explored some of their comments on other sites, where they really let themselves go. So here’s what I learned from my direct encounter with the alt-right — the movement for which Steve Bannon proudly claims godfathership, and which we are continually encouraged to “engage” with in order to understand their “concerns.”

First, the alt-right is incredibly, relentlessly, vociferously anti-Semitic. I mean, they hate Jews with an absolutely virulent passion. You can’t even describe how much they hate Jews, and how much they talk about hating Jews. At the same time, they do support Israel — as long as Israel is killing Muslims. And, I suppose, as long as Israel is far away. But American Jews, European Jews — they constantly, actively call for them all to be exterminated. As one of my deleted commenters said: “We will not allow the Jewish elites to continue to exist.” Their hatred of Muslims — which is also pronounced, of course — is nothing compared to how much the alt-right hate Jews. I’m not exaggerating; I literally do not know how to convey the intensity of this hatred.

Second, the ferocity of their hatred for Jews is matched by the ferocity of their love for Trump. They feel incredibly empowered and liberated by Trump’s election. Again, it is hard to convey the intensity of their devotion. They believe, fervently — and, I think, rightly — that Trump has come to make their dreams come true, to enthrone the white race on high and cast down, root out, suppress, repress — and eliminate — other races, ethnicities and beliefs. They believe the 2018 elections will cement white nationalism in absolute power — and they are eagerly waiting the signal to begin attacking all the hated Others, all the “enemies of the state,” and all the “race traitors” — like me — who oppose their beloved Master. Again, I am not exaggerating; if anything, I’m underplaying the depth of their passion, which borders on the erotic, for Trump — and for the prospect of beating, bashing and killing people.

Now I know most of the people that I’ve come in contact with are still on the margins of American politics. (I think of the poor guy in the Pennsylvania care home, probably dealing with the ravages of age and physical ruin, sitting in his lonely bed pounding out fantasies of world conquest: a pathetic figure, really.) But I think it’s important to realize that these attitudes and tendencies are now wired directly into the heart of the most powerful military-intelligence-law enforcement complex in human history. And I think it’s also important to realize that there are many such people — millions of them — sitting in the suburbs and rural towns and high schools of America, gorging themselves on these virulent hatreds … and seeing themselves confirmed and affirmed and empowered by the President of the United States. I don’t think it’s something we can dismiss lightly.

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