New term for ‘racist’ aims to confuse

We must be clear about who — and what — ‘alt-right’ really refers to

Less than two weeks ago, a man named Richard Spencer gave the closing speech to a highly charged gathering of white nationalists in Washington in the shadows of the White House under the banner of something called the National Policy Institute.

Spencer’s words dripped with anti-Semitism and, at one point, he lashed out at American journalists at the “Lügenpresse,” a phrase for “lying press” that was popularized by, ahem, a well-known German leader of the 1930s and ’40s. At the end of Spencer’s bombastic address in which he described America as “a white country designed for ourselves and our posterity,” the speaker blurted out, “Hail Trump! Hail our people! Hail victory!”

I’m not 100 percent sure what to call such a loathsome figure as Richard Spencer. But I do know this: I’m sure as hell not going to let him decide what we call him, or his “people.”

Spencer, you see, is credited with coming up with the phrase “alt-right” to describe his movement of folks who say they celebrate their cultural heritage and identity as white people; white nationalism, the notion that America should have a government and a culture of the white people, for the white people; and the rise of President-elect Donald Trump as a leader who truly “gets” them and their cause.

If you’re like me, you probably never heard of the “alt-right” before the 2016 presidential campaign — but the phrase caught on like the proverbial wildfire.

And the biggest reason it caught on was because of the feckless American media, which was flabbergasted by the surge in Confederate flags, the open support for Trump by various elements of neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan, and the popularity of publications like Steve Bannon’s Breitbart News, which wore white nationalism on its sleeve.

But most journalists panic at the idea of boldly labeling people from a not-insignificant social movement as “neo-Nazis” or “white supremacists” — even if they are. This new, ambiguous term — the altright — gave them an out.

There was a dangerous implication in the term altright, the idea that this was some new idea — something ferocious, even daring. The problem with that is there’s zero evidence of any worthy, let alone new, thinking behind the so-called alt-right.

The alleged “intellectual underpinnings” of this alt-right are the same tired notions of white supremacy that gave birth to the Klan during Reconstruction, the White Citizens Councils of Mississippi or the John Birch Society in the 1950s and ’60s, and the militia movement of the 1990s.

In other words, why call these people the alt-right when there’s a slew of perfectly good words and phrases — “white nationalist,” “white supremacist,” “neo-Nazi” and sometimes just plain “racist” — to describe who these despicable people are and what they believe?

Many news organizations are coming to the same conclusion. Major journalistic enterprises such as the Associated Press are limiting the use of the phrase altright to only direct quotes of speakers.

I could not agree more. Let’s define the Richard Spencers of the world by their deeds and their beliefs, not by their clever use of Madison Avenue tactics.

To be clear, extreme white nationalists are a small sliver of the 64 million Americans who voted for Donald Trump. And it’s doubtful that, percentage-wise, America harbors more white supremacists now than it did in 1965 or 1865. This cancer has long existed.

But their existence — and how we talk about them — matters more than ever because a man who was elected with their full-throated support will be serving in the White House. And the publisher of their favorite news site will be that president’s chief strategist.

That’s just one more sign that America is experiencing a situation, a historical moment, that is #NotNormal. And we won’t fully understand the risks unless we are clear and bold in exactly who — and what — we are talking about. Our incoming president is adored —hailed, even — by racists and neo-Nazis, not by some hip and modern “alt-right.”

Throughout history, authoritarian rulers have used and abused language to confuse and change the terms of the debate as a means to ultimately impose their will on the governed. To survive the Age of Trump, the American people will need to win the war of words.