Trump Must Take On The New Alt-Right

WHEN white supremacists commit acts of violence, many on the left are quick to blame President Trump. The president is innocent of the charge. He has condemned these crimes; he is neither an anti-Semitic nor a racist. Democrats, meanwhile, not only refuse to censure the open anti-Semitism of the likes of Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, they treat these radicals like rock stars. Conservatives could rightly claim that extremists have far more influence on the left than on the right.

But the recent willingness of some thought leaders on the right to ignore — or even defend — alt-right extremists calls this into question.

This month, more than 100 members of Congress demanded the resignation of White House adviser Stephen Miller. Years ago, when he was a Senate staffer, Miller had sent e-mails forwarding articles from VDare, a radical anti-immigration site that publishes material that can reasonably be called racist.

The e-mails were first aired by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a group notorious on the right for lumping in thoughtful, non-bigoted social conservatives and antiIslamists with genuine bigots. Plus, Miller’s real crime in the eyes of his detractors weren’t the e-mails but his hard-line immigration stance. The White House dismissed the demand.

But the real issue isn’t Miller. It’s the fact that sites like VDare and a new breed of young cranks and conspiracy theories calling themselves “groypers” (don’t ask) are worming their way into the conservative public square.

Led by a YouTube personality named Nick Fuentes, groypers viciously swarm anyone who doesn’t share their racist perspective. Their views are a toxic brew

'Young cranks are worming their way into the conservative public square.'

of racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and hatred for Israel. They reserve most of their bile for Team Trump for refusing to adopt their hateful agenda.

But so far, Team Trump hasn’t bothered to notice them, even after the groypers targeted Donald Trump Jr. Yes, this might all sound like a tempest in an Twitter teapot, but these things matter: Trump’s conservative-nationalist ideological vision can win and maintain supporters beyond his base insofar as he can reassure Americans that it is not a racial project.

Groypers like Fuentes, who participated in the white-nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., claim they represent Trump’s true feelings — even if the administration’s policies are in complete opposition to their anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial and racism. While blaming Trump for racist or antiSemitic violence is a partisan exercise, anything that can be construed as winking at extremism makes it easier for the president’s enemies on the left.

Unfortunately, columnist Michelle Malkin has defended groypers like Fuentes. She thinks these haters are allies in a crusade to halt all non-European immigration (ironic, since Malkin’s parents were Filipino immigrants).

Malkin is also apparently untroubled by groyper anti-Semitism. Other conservatives defend them on narrow free-speech and procedural grounds — instead of taking on their odious substance.

This isn’t the first time that the conservative movement has faced such a challenge. In the early 1960s, extremists from the John Birch Society peddled racism, anti-Semitism and conspiracy theories like those of today’s alt right. The Birchers were establishing a foothold in the GOP.

It was at that moment that conservatism’s intellectual leader, the late William F. Buckley, made it clear that Birchers wouldn’t be welcome in the movement or the GOP. Buckley ultimately succeeded, as the Birchers were forced to retreat to the fever swamps of American politics. In no small measure, Buckley’s efforts made the subsequent electoral victories of Ronald Reagan and other conservatives possible.

So it is important that a group Buckley founded to spread conservatism on college campuses, the Young American Foundation, has taken the first step toward isolating the groypers and those who condone them. YAF has taken Malkin off its speakers’ list over her refusal to disavow Fuentes.

That’s encouraging, but if this contagion is to be stamped out, it will require more such actions. The longer the White House fails to channel the spirit of Buckley and have Trump explicitly condemn groypers and the alt right, the danger for both conservatism and American society will only grow.