Hillary Clinton is expected to speak at length Thursday afternoon about the so-called “alt-right,” the movement that arose online as an alternative to mainstream conservatism.
Clinton’s address will thrust the loosely organized and deeply anti-establishment movement into the mainstream after avowed alt-right supporters enjoyed lurking in the fringe-y anonymity of the internet for years.
In Trump, the alt-right found a natural, long-awaited savior who promised to overthrow the status quo in Washington, D.C. with his anti-immigrant, politically incorrect, populist campaign. Trump’s hiring of Steve Bannon as his campaign’s CEO last week was widely viewed as the GOP nominee’s embracing the alt-right, which has found its closest media ally in the conservative news site Breitbart, which Bannon chaired.
White nationalists, anti-Semites, Gamergaters and a veritable cornucopia of bigots have also found kinship in the amorphous alt-right, which has delighted in harassing Jewish journalists and anyone else they view as a “social justice warrior.” For an exhaustive parsing of the movement’s various wings by one of its patron saints, you can read Milo Yiannopoulos over at Breitbart.
Needless to say, responses to the #AltRightMeans hashtag, which was trending at number two worldwide on Thursday, have run the gamut.
There were serious tweets from the alt-right crowd:
#AltRightMeans you don’t get to avoid criticism by calling me islamophobic, racist, anti-semitic, xenophobic, or misogynistic
Doesn’t work
— Watch Clinton Cash (@JaredWyand) August 25, 2016
#AltRightMeans …Not being scared of being #PoliticallyIncorrect ..Cartoons MSM wont run https://t.co/2FGmMQ1bBo pic.twitter.com/ewSB8xx32j
— BenGarrison Cartoons (@GrrrGraphics) August 25, 2016
#AltRightMeans not denying facts. It’s time Democrats & liberals stop the delusion. Stop blaming your failure on right wing conspiracy. ??
— Irma (@latinaafortrump) August 25, 2016
#AltRightMeans …Not being scared of being #PoliticallyIncorrect ..Cartoons MSM wont run https://t.co/2FGmMQ1bBo pic.twitter.com/ewSB8xx32j
— BenGarrison Cartoons (@GrrrGraphics) August 25, 2016
#AltRightMeans exposing feeble and sickly presidential candidates. pic.twitter.com/khkbz5Y11d
— Ames⭐️ (@VivaLaAmes) August 25, 2016
#AltRightMeans that we know what #BlackLivesMatter really is. A terrorist organization.https://t.co/WWqbqd2VUC
— Neil Turner (@NeilTurner_) August 25, 2016
#AltRightMeans you predicted the “migrant” rape and terrorist attacks in Europe. pic.twitter.com/cBaAhaoN2w
— Ricky Vaughn (@Ricky_Vaughn99) August 25, 2016
But there were also a lot of good jokes. Here are just a few of the very best:
#AltRightMeans nazi, but with asthma
— raandy (@randygdub) August 25, 2016
#AltRightMeans My dwarf hamsters Tetsuo and Heydrich live in a habitrail made of stiffened gym socks.
— Matt Christman (@cushbomb) August 25, 2016
#AltRightMeans Photoshopping a MAGA hat on your avi because you’re dedicated to the cause but not dedicated enough to spend $20
— News Flash, Fucko (@UweBollocks) August 25, 2016
#AltrightMeans cargo shorts
— Will Rahn (@willrahn) August 25, 2016
I don’t know what #AltRightMeans– are those the ones who hate me b/c I’m a Jew, b/c I’m a woman or b/c I believe a hot dog is a sandwich
— (((maura quint))) (@behindyourback) August 25, 2016
#AltRightMeans pic.twitter.com/LzgsgAZc6b
— Orli Matlow (@HireMeImFunny) August 25, 2016
