Jacie Lee Almira
Adele M. Stan
Editor, RightWingWatch.org, and columnist, The American Prospect
The definition of the term “far right wing” requires some parameters. Some would perceive that phrase as applying only to groups and individuals who are openly white supremacist, virulently anti-LGBTQ, or maliciously misogynistic in their self-representation. However, it would be fair to say that many of the groups that are part of the institutional right, which is now part of the Republican Party establishment, are also far-right.
For instance, the beliefs espoused by the Family Research Council are not all that distant, if at all, from those of people who identify with white nationalist groups.
And it’s not just about U.S. politics. In Europe, American expertise is helping the far-right political parties rise in the hope of breaking up the European Union.
The key things to understand about this political movement are:
It now resides at the heart of the nation’s most powerful political institutions, starting with the presidency.
It operates at multiple levels in spaces, including rightwing think tanks and organizing entities, chat rooms, YouTube channels, social media feeds, and websites of loosely organized anti-Semites, anti-Muslims, women-haters, white supremacists, and xenophobes.
It is a global movement, fueled by dark money.
Kathleen Belew
Assistant professor of history, University of Chicago, and author, Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America
When we talk about the “far right wing,” we’re talking about people all across the country, in rural areas as well as cities. The far right includes high school dropouts and holders of advanced degrees, felons and religious leaders, veterans and civilians and active-duty military personnel. In my study of the white power movement, I unearthed a network of Klansmen, neo-Nazis, skinheads, and other violent white supremacists joined in common cause.
Scholars, journalists, and members of the broader public fail to understand the far right when we forget that it is about people. It is a series of complex social movements bound by coherent ideology. Therefore, everything about the far-right fringe—from rhetoric to images to acts of violence—can be studied and understood.
Some accounts paint the fringe as foreign, populated by bogeymen and lunatics. Others portray fringe activists as characters like the “Nazi next door,” without taking seriously their politics and violent intent. Neither of these modes of understanding explains white power violence. These kinds of stories work to make people feel better by using scary extremists to make everyday white supremacy seem less malignant. But a real look at the fringe can only direct our attention to its enormous impact on mainstream politics, and the continued white supremacy of our society at large.