alt- (pref.)
As 2016 closes, the big debate raging on copy desks across the country is whether and how to use “alt-right,’’ the chosen term of a ragtag band of Internet-savvy white supremacists. In spaces like Reddit and Twitter, they praised Donald Trump, trolled women and ethnic minorities, and turned the cartoon mascot Pepe the Frog into a pro-Nazi symbol. Things got ugly, and a euphemism can only cover up so much. “The term may exist primarily as a public-relations device to make its supporters’ actual beliefs less clear and more acceptable to a broader audience,’’ the Associated Press declared in a style note.
The term “alt-right’’ evokes “alt-rock’’ and “alt-country,’’ both of which started out as nerdier, trendier versions of more familiar musical genres. It presents tribalism and racial prejudice as merely a thing that some people are into, just like other people are into bands such as The Decemberists or Wilco. This rebranding of the far right worked, at least up to a point; The Washington Post published a story about the “fashy,’’ the hip new haircut for dudes who are into fascism.
And yet the “alt-’’ in “alt-right’’ hinted at something important about the current political landscape: the perception that large, familiar institutions were losing traction in a way that created an opening for insurgents.
Since the days of William F. Buckley, the conservative movement has usually shown impressive ideological discipline, sticking to an explicit message of free enterprise and small government. But not every conservative, it turned out, embraces global capitalism and looks to Ronald Reagan as a role model. Alt-right thinking draws far more from Pat Buchanan, Jefferson Davis, Vladimir Putin, and — if the one-armed salutes at a recent alt-right gathering have the usual meaning — Adolf Hitler.
Hence the outcry when President-elect Trump tapped Steve Bannon, who boasted of turning Breitbart News into a “platform for the alt-right,’’ as a White House adviser. Understanding, perhaps, that explicit associations with white-power activists will undermine Trump’s presidency, alt-right figures have distanced themselves from Bannon, calling him “alt-lite.’’
Meanwhile in Democratic circles, there’s a debate about how to rebuild a party that won the popular vote but collapsed in seemingly reliable Midwestern states. The erosion of union power there has renewed interest in “alt-labor’’ groups, which mobilize nonunion workers. Hillary Clinton’s loss enhanced the power of a liberal wing led by Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders — whom Republicans are now trying to tar as the “alt-left.’’
— DANTE RAMOS
