Thread by @CasMudde

It's three-year anniversary of deadly "Unite the Right" rally. Some quick observations. #Thread

1. The "Right" is as "united" as it was three years ago, i.e. not at all.

2. The "alt-right" was a hype, both as a concept and as a movement. It was yet another example of how most media were (unintentionally?) acted as booster of far right messaging.

huffpost.com/entry/stop-usi…

3. Despite massive media attention, Richard Spencer is and remains politically irrelevant.

4. In part because of actions by social media platforms, many "leaders" of the so-called "alt-right" movement are not even relevant online anymore.

5. While it is true that number of fr right demonstrates has gone up, many "demos" are in same area (Portland) and almost all are very small and mainly by same people.

6. On the upside, most media have lost interest in Spencer and others, although far right demonstrations still get disproportional attention (several don't even happen).

7. On the downside, so-called "alt-light" activists and grifters have become further mainstreamed and normalized, most notably Pizza-gater Posobiec, who now works on Trump's new favorite news medium OANN.

8. And many elements of "alt-right" thinking, including antisemitic conspiracies, are part of broader right-wing conspiracy theories (e.g. QAnon and Soros).

9. While QAnon has become a serious force within the Republican Party, having a president who has repeatedly supported it on social media.

theguardian.com/us-news/2020/a…

10. Most importantly, far right and racist violence is now endemic, from verbal violence in schools to terrorist attacks at synagogues. While it gets more attention, it is still underestimated and pigeon-holed.

theguardian.com/world/2020/jun…

11. Much far right violence comes from loners -- not lone wolves, but single actors, who are connected or at least influenced online but not organized offline -- and from more amorphous subcultures, like sovereign citizens.

12. And deeply troubling is that terrorist attacks by driving a car into demonstrators has now become a common form of far right terrorism, as we have seen at BLM protests.

usatoday.com/story/news/nat…

13. There is lot of awareness of threat of far right violence with law enforcement as well as federal agencies, but far too little is done.

14. There are two reasons: (1) Trump administration largely ignores it and even disincentivizes it. (2) There is significant support for far right actors and politics within these sectors, both at low and high level (strengthened by new high-level appointments from far right).

15. Taking it broader, three years after Charlottesville, far right politics has become even further mainstreamed and normalized to effect that many Republicans don't even recognize it anymore if it doesn't come from marginal neo-Nazis or is wrapped in a swastika.

16. The bar is getting higher and higher... if you are not a neo-Nazi (for Republicans) or Trump (for many liberals and media), you are not racist but "racially conservative", "racially tinged", "racial", or whatever other euphemism.

17. There is still a lot of externalization of "far right" and "racism", and little introspection of racism within mainstream (conservative and liberal).

18. And term like "far right" and "racist" are still rarely used for Trump, let alone the Republican Party, even though both consistently express opinions similar to or worse than parties and politicians abroad that are termed "far right".

19. And terms like"racism", "white supremacy", and "white nationalism" are used interchangeably, generally raising the bar and creating further confusion.

Say it with me, the current Republican Party is based on the ideal of white supremacy!

theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

20. Finally, the (US) media has done little introspection on how they covered Richard Spencer and "alt-right". It devotes little time to terminological clarity and consistency. And it still lets power decide which term (euphemism) to use.

21. Three years after Charlottesville, "alt-right" is (still) irrelevant, "alt-lite" has either mainstreamed or disappeared, "mainstream right" has become far right, and most coverage still uses terms as if we live in the 1990s. #TheEnd