Beyond Trump and Putin: The American Alt-Right's Love of the Kremlin's Policies
The epithet built upon one of the pillars of Clintons campaign which, in turn, built upon the primary campaign of former GOP contender, and current Ohio governor, John Kasich. That is, in addition to Trumps outright praise for Putin's leadership, as well as his murky, secretive financial ties to those close to the Kremlin, Clinton tied Trump to the Kremlins campaign of stoking hyper-nationalistic movements throughout the West.
As a rhetorical device, the title remains a flurry of brilliance. Not only does the terminology help highlight the Kremlin's kleptocratic coterie with Putin as don, as mafioso but it also further emphasized Clintons grasp of Moscows policies, and the motivations therein. As seen with Hungarys Jobbik, with Frances National Front, with Greeces Golden Dawn, those far-right movements sprouting throughout Europe have found a counterpart in Trumps hostile takeover of the Republican Party. And much as Trump has aped the rotted, regressive policies of Putin-friendly leaders throughout Europe see: Hungarys Viktor Orban so, too, has he helped give a national platform to the groups and movements that have not only fueled a resurgence of white nationalism in the United States, but who have gone out of their way to praise, of all international leaders, Putin. These groups, as noted in Clintons speech, include the "alt-right," a gathering of fascists and white nationalists who would Balkanize the United States or who would return the country to a bygone era of white supremacy, but also extend to the secessionists and Christian fundamentalists further propping Trumps campaign.
Of course, certain critics of Clinton, ranging from Trumpian outlets like Breitbart to lefty journalists with little grasp on post-Soviet developments, tabbed her speech as conspiratorial, or as baseless fear-mongering. But those voices overlook the breadth of evidence linking American far-right groups to Kremlin-friendly policies, and in certain cases directly to Kremlin financing. While the phenomena of fascistic, hard-right support for Moscow within Europe has been well-documented elsewhere, most especially by Anton Shekhovtsov and Alina Polyakova, among others, the parallel networks and linkages within the United States have seen depressingly little coverage. Indeed, while "praise of Putin by [Europes] far-right leaders" becomes "commonplace," as Polyakova wrote, so, too, has the pro-Kremlin fealty from far-right leaders in America, almost all of whom uniformly back Trump.
http://thediplomat.com/2016/10/beyond-trump-and-putin-the-american-alt-rights-love-of-the-kremlins-policies/
Written in October. Even more relevant today.
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As the Kremlin has spearheaded anti-gay and anti-abortion legislation, and as Putin has made moves to formalize the supremacy of the Russian Orthodox Church within Russia, so, too, have myriad members of far-right social conservative movements in the United States praised Putinist policy. Thankfully, such linkages have seen further coverage than the relations between the alt-right and secessionists see, for instance, research from the University of South Floridas Christopher Stroop but it remains worth noting a few highlights of this relationship. For instance, according to Bryan Fischer, one of the most well-known faces of American Christian fundamentalism, Putin is the lion of Christianity. Paleoconservative politician Pat Buchanan, meanwhile, has alluded that God may be on Putins side. And Franklin Graham, the son of famed evangelist Billy Graham and perhaps Americas foremost remaining televangelist, recently visited Russia to praise Putin for remaining steadfastly against the rising homosexual agenda in Russia.
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