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Far Right Political Violence in the U.S.

Essay by M Legg

What accounts for the political extremism and violence taking place from the Alt-Right in recent years in the United States? The combination of alt-right social media, misinformation, and conspiracy ideology with the election of right-wing populist President Trump led to the mainstreaming of once extremist far-right views in the United States. This mobilization of far-right extremism has resulted in numerous acts of political violence. The unifying of Alt-Right white supremacy ideology with a national and exclusionary ideology with President Trump’s meteoric rise fundamentally altered the Republican Party and elevated the far-right voice for electoral gain and the consequences could be far-reaching. Not only did it shift the Republican Party toward more extremist populist agenda, but it also created a variety of incidents of political violence including the Charlotteville Riots, the January 6th Insurrection, and a wide array of individual killings of minorities based on a white supremacist ideology (Kleinfeld 2021).

The aim of this paper is to understand the progression of alt-right extremism from an online social media ideological community into the mainstream leading eventually to a series of episodes of political violence. Many have deemed the Charlottesville Riots and the January 6th insurrection as incidents of domestic political terrorism occurring in the United States. For that reason, it is necessary to study the phenomenon of political violence, political extremism, and the social media landscape that engendered and provoked the violence. Online forums have increasingly become an echo chamber for people of the same ideology or identity, though only a few of these identities are known for producing physical violence in the real world. The alt-right is one such online ideology. Understanding the dynamics and growth of online political communities and identities in shaping political narratives and rhetoric will help us to understand the phenomenon of far-right ideology in today’s world.

I propose a qualitative research design that provides a descriptive analysis of social media prompting political violence in real life. Studying the language and narratives of social media from the alt-right will shed light on extremist ideology that is violent in nature and disseminated online. Democratic governance is largely antithetical to far-right extremist views and the language of politicians matters to the strength and sustaining of democratic systems of governance. Studying the language and propaganda of the President in the lead-up to the January 6th insurrection will allow for a fuller understanding of the tone and language influencing instances of extremist political violence in the United States.

Defining far-right extremism is necessary for the purposes of this paper. There exists today no definitive definition of far-right extremism because of the wide array of national and social differences in European states and the United States (Gaston 2017). Very generally, extremism contests the practices and institutions of liberal democracy that protect minority rights from the majority and observe political pluralism and citizenship rights (Pirro and Stanely 2021). It may be best to view far-right extremism in Europe and North America and all the different terms for the far-right as a “family of parties” rather than one, unified group (Norris 2005). Far-right extremism varies in its intensity and tends to feature the following qualities: nationalism, racism, xenophobia, anti-democratic attitudes, and belief in the need for a powerful state (Ali 2021).

Far-right parties are most successful in influencing and shaping public debate and gaining media attention for their extremism in the United States (Gaston 2017). They are not as substantially successful in elections as they are in gaining media attention and persuading via digital campaign strategies. Center or moderate political parties increasingly adopt their language and policy issues for electoral gain and public attention, blurring the lines and stretching the boundaries of “extremist thinking” (Gaston 2017). In the United States’ two party-system, fringe parties typically develop following changes in society, and their policy concerns are eventually adapted within one of the two parties, Democrats or Republicans (Ginsberg et al. 2021). The blending of the growing Alt-Right ideology and media community with the election of Donald Trump helped to radicalize the far-right and gradually shift and mainstream their concerns with the Republican party toward more extremist policy positions for electoral appeal (Brown & Mondon 2020).

The “normalization of ideological beliefs” once believed to be extreme occurs through a process whereby once extremist beliefs and ideas are normalized and deemed acceptable by the general public in democratic societies (Miller-Idriss 46). White supremacist and anti-immigration ideas are becoming increasingly acceptable to the public. Racist and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric from even mainstream politicians is now commonplace (Gaston 2017). Anti-democratic and election conspiracy theories from far-right candidates have gained ground among the electorate. Abortion has become reenergized as it was reintroduced as a hot-button political issue in U.S. elections once the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade this year. This normalization of far-right beliefs “reduce barriers of entry to far-right extremist groups and broadens the base of sympathizers as extremist beliefs become less shocking and seem more acceptable to a broader range of people” (Miller-Idriss 46). It begins to even affect all parts of society and pits citizens against each other based on dualistic, either-or thinking based in superiority/inferiority binaries and supremacist ideology.

Othering rhetoric and the general tribalizing of political issues is an easier, more visceral, and instinctual way to elevate far-right ideology and the far-right agenda. By imitating the mainstream media and political organizations, the far-right created a vast array of websites and content to pander to and develop their extremist political ideology. Through populist anti-globalization, anti-immigration and anti-elite rhetoric, Trump was able to mirror the concerns of this far-right ideology with far-reaching and impactful consequences.

Ultimately, with enough provocation through social media outlets and ideological communities the consequence becomes violence in the real world. Instead of solving national issues and holding elites accountable, far-right extremism has produced extremist political violence. Politicians respond by adopting hot-button, spectacle issues to their political agenda for political and electoral gain.

Literature Review

I propose a general overview of the literature on political violence, radicalization, and the causes of terrorism to answer this question about recent political violence in the U.S. I then provide a general understanding of the current Alt-Right movement in the United States and the widespread political tensions generated by a fragmented and distorted media landscape. This media environment coupled with a populist President inflamed a movement of White Identity voters and sympathizers who represent a gradient of political radicalization in belief, feeling, and ultimately behavior that led to recent incidents of political violence in the U.S. from among the political extremists.

Martha Crenshaw’s “The Causes of Terrorism” article proposes a general overview of the causes of terrorism, finding that it is a phenomenon of rebelling against state authority by provoking fear and anxiety in a citizenry in order to regulate and control it. “Groups may want to dramatize a cause, demoralize the government, gain popular support, provoke regime violence, inspire followers, or dominate a wider resistance movement” (Crenshaw 389). She proposes that the primary condition causing (domestic) terrorism is the existence of existing grievances among a perceptible subgroup of a larger population (i.e., an ethnic minority discriminated against by the majority). This social movement may work to either repair the grievance or create a separate state of its own. She then identifies individual motivation and participation that prompt a small faction of people with comparable backgrounds to engage in terrorism. She concludes with the question of why individuals engage in political violence and what psychological factors contribute to it is complex, noting that there is no single motivation or personality that leads to becoming a terrorist.

Crenshaw’s article states that ‘social facilitation’ is a cause of terrorism. She states that this concept deals with “the social habits and historical traditions” that produce a situation for political violence to be “morally and politically” justifiable against the government (Crenshaw 383). This is a compelling cause because in the minds of (domestic) terrorists they must create a story to justify what they are doing as right. Terrorists and those committing political violence often view themselves as victims and create a story from social myths and traditions that allow for terrorism to be an acceptable reaction to the status quo. Social facilitation is a particularly apt concept considering the current Alt-Right phenomenon, bolstered by former President Trump, which built a story of victimhood and white identity to justify the Charlottesville Riots and the January 6 Insurrection on the Capitol Building, what many have referred to as incidents of “domestic terrorism”. Congressional hearings on the January 6 insurrection are claiming this to be an incident of terrorist violence from within. The Alt-Right Conspiracy Movement seems to currently be a social movement of discontent and conspiracy among white identity voters that is being honed by the Republican party through leaders like President Trump for electoral gain and populist propaganda (Kleinfeld 2021). The potential for terrorist activity and other acts of political violence from the far-right is clear and the issue needs to be monitored by U.S. intelligence agencies and studied in academia.

McCauley and Moskalenko’s article looks at the progression of political radicalization at the group level. They conceptualize radicalization "as a dimension of increasing extremity of beliefs, feelings, and behaviors in support of intergroup conflict and violence” (McCauley & Moskalenko 415). This radicalization is responsible for the descent into terrorism. They categorize the radicalization process in terms of radicalization of belief, feeling, and behavior, viewing radicalization of behavior as the necessary step toward terrorism. “Radicalization of many kinds may be associated with a syndrome of beliefs about the current situation and its history: We are a special or chosen group (superiority) who have been unfairly treated and betrayed (injustice), no one cares about us or will help us (distrust), and the situation is dire---our group and our cause are in danger of extinction(vulnerability)” (McCauley & Moskalenko 416).

The authors employ the pyramid model of radicalization to explain terrorist sentiment, behavior, and actions. The bottom of the pyramid contains all who identify and empathize with the goals of terrorists in terms of beliefs and/or feelings. The apex contains those with “increased radicalization of beliefs, feelings, and behaviors” with the population significantly decreasing at the top (McCauley & Moskalenko 417). This pyramid model shows an incline or gradient of radicalization that displays the distinction between those taking terrorist actions from their “base of sympathizers” (417). Sympathizers tend to be those who show support for anti-government actions and believe that government expansion threatens personal liberties and freedoms (417). The radicalization process happens at various levels, though most share personal complaints and identity-group grievances conveyed through the mass media, rumors, conspiracy, etc. (417).

A vast majority of political analysts agree that political violence and radicalization has grown leaps in bounds in the U.S. in the last ten years. Why? Kleinfeld’s article identifies two subgroups that have contributed to the violence: white Christian evangelical Republicans and white identity Republican men who feel victimized by globalization, minorities, and women. Extreme ideas like the Q-Anon conspiracy have become mainstream and “white-supremacist ideas, militia fashion and conspiracy spread via gaming websites, YouTube channels, and blogs, while a slippery language of memes, slang, and jokes blurs the line between posturing and provoking violence, normalizing radical ideologies and activities” (Kleinfeld 160). The reality we live in now is one not dissimilar to the South after Reconstruction: political parties and politicians use political rhetoric, division, and political violence to win elections and pit minorities against each other (160).

Current political violence and extremism mirrors a similar pattern of political violence in the 19th century U.S. when U.S.-born citizens believed immigrants and minority groups were usurping their power (race, ethnicity, religion, etc.) and employed political violence to control them and influence elections in their favor (Kleinfeld 163). White Supremacy after Civil War in the South was responsible for the political violence and lynchings used by Democratic party for election strategy, sanctioned by the Supreme Court overruling Civil Rights Act of 1875 and effectively ending Reconstruction in the South (Kleinfeld 163). The Democratic Party politicians of the time used racial rhetoric to amplify anger and votes against racial equality in the South, not unlike what we are witnessing in today’s world.

In today’s world and in the past, the U.S.’s racial and ethnic divisions create political tensions between Whites and minorities. These tensions were deliberately exploited by the Trump presidency for political gain and populist appeal (Isom et al. 2021). Hate crimes against minorities have exploded since Trump’s election and many believe Trump’s discriminatory rhetoric has provoked this situation. This coupled with 24-hr news channels, social media platforms, and conspiracy and non-factual news has exaggerated the differences between minority racial and ethnic groups and contributed to increased political polarization in the United States (Isom et al. 2021). Is it any wonder then that Trump’s rhetoric provoked incidents of domestic terrorism from the far-right like Charlottesville Riots and the January 6 insurrection? We continue to witness and deal with the radicalization in belief, feeling, and behaviors (McCauley & Moskalenko) that led to an attack on the State Capitol building, provoked and demanded by a President bent on exploiting this current mediated radicalized reality to his benefit.

Recent literature in the social sciences explains the rise and election of Donald Trump to the presidency as a phenomenon of appealing to White America with a promise of returning to Christian, conservative values and through inducing fear about the current threat of liberal left-wing issues such as reproductive rights, liberal immigration, LGBTQ rights, and racial equality movements like “Black Lives Matter” (Isom et al.2021; Gorsky 2019). The ability to articulate a threatened White Identity laid the groundwork for and united an ideology among conservative voters and consumers of right-wing conservative media.

Isom et al. conduct a secondary analysis of a recent psychological study of White Americans to understand the connections between status threat, trust in conservative media, perceptions of social issues, and identification with extremist conservative ideologies. Their study helps to understand why extremist beliefs are present in mainstream U.S. culture and what directs these extremist beliefs. Their findings show that more identification with “conservative social issues plus feelings of status threat significantly increase the odds of Alt-Right affiliation” (Isom et al. 2021).

An ordinary least square (OLS) and binary logistic regression were conducted from a survey of the Alt-Right collected by Forscher and Kteiley in 2017 through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk—an online survey outlet). The authors combined Alt-Right respondents with a comparison group of White Americans (not identified with the Alt-Right) for a final sample of 758 respondents (299 White women and 454 White men) (Isom et al 5). The Dependent variable included whether the respondent identifies with the Alt-Right Movement (1=yes) and a series of statements about the aim of the study. The Independent variable included opinions on most pressing issues and problems in the United States (Isom et al. 6). The conditioning variable asked for perceptions and trust in various news outlets, rating a host of mainstream news on a scale of 0 to 100 in terms of trustworthiness (Isom et al. 6). General empirical findings point to an association between various social issues and beliefs of status threat and faith in conservative media outlets (Isom et al. 9). For example, the study found believing “discrimination against Whites, illegal immigration, and political correctness are critical issues in the U.S. are significantly associated with feelings of status threat” (Isom et al. 9).

A reason for the proliferation of alt-right conspiracy theories owes to the prevalence of non-factual news (notoriously termed fake news by President Trump) that distrusts mainstream objective journalism and liberal media establishment. Conspiracy theories like Pizzagate are a way for the alt-right community to obtain mass appeal while not being inherently attached to the proposition (Berger 2018). In fact, the alt-right is characterized as an unstructured, mostly anonymous group of individuals online with no top-down leadership who united around the core belief in a white identity that is threatened by multicultural and liberal elites (Hermansson et al. 2020).

Since the election of Donald Trump in 2016, the alt-right gained a leader who articulated the alt-right ideology of white identity and liberal conspiracy. The Pizzagate narrative emerged before the 2016 election when alt right leaders hacked Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s emails and claimed to find evidence that Clinton and her campaign manager were part of a Satanic child sex abuse group at a pizza parlor in Washington, D.C. (Bleakley 2020). The Pizzagate theory resurfaced in online forums like Twitter, Reddit, and TikTok during the suicide of child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his connections with both Trump and President Bill Clinton and then a resurgence of the theory in June 2020 that prompted TikTok to ban the usage of the conspiracy theory hashtag outright (Bleakley 6).

Bleakley’s study runs an analysis of Twitter posts with the “#Pizzagate” tag during critical times of the Trump administration between 2016 to 2020. The chosen days represent key moments in the theory’s development and the prevalence of the term on social media. The research aims to show how the mainstreaming of conspiracy theories crafted via social media are weaponized and used for political reasons in real life and often significantly harm political dialogue. He argues that the January 2021 riot at the United States capitol was provoked by such conspiracy theories as Pizzagate and that these false narratives have produced destructive and even fatal consequences in real life.

Lewandowsky et al.’s study of the “post-truth era and misinformation” analyzes the way misinformation and conspiracy negatively impact society and the growing prevalence of misinformation in current society (Lewandowsky 2017). He contends that “the post-truth world emerged as a result of societal mega-trends such as a decline in social capital, growing economic inequality, increased polarization, declining trust in science, and an increasingly fractionated media landscape” (Lewandowsky 2017). In recent years, the world of misinformation and non-factual news has created an alternate reality where experts are rebuked and the most vocal on social media—namely, celebrities and mega corporations manipulate millions and increasingly begin to influence public opinion and mainstream knowledge (Lewandowsky 2013). For instance, climate science denial is mainstream due to the influence of conservative think tanks and interest groups denying the scientific agreement on the reality of climate change (Boussalis & Coan 2016). Similarly, misinformation as conspiracy discourse is a particularly powerful fabrication and studies have shown that exposure to conspiracy discourse makes people more skeptical of authentic mainstream information (Jolley & Douglas 2013; Einstein & Glick 2015).

Social media trends are increasingly creating a world based on simple popularity or audience size of the virality of memes rather than the quality of the message. This is part of larger trend of misinformation culture via social media that has potentially devasting consequences to society at large, as seen by the Alt-Right’s incidents of domestic terrorism in recent years spurred by social media conspiracy and mobilization. This provocation resulted in increasing radicalization from the Alt-Right community and eventual terrorist violence and protest against the state. As Crenshaw noted in her analysis of the causes of (domestic) terrorism, groups gain popular support from sympathizers, inspire followers, and provoke violence against the state (Crenshaw 389). The Alt-Right is not just an ideology of grievances from a White Majority who feel disenfranchised and threatened by minority groups but has descended into domestic terrorist status due to their extremist political activism and provocation by former President Trump. The United States is all too familiar with this enduring movement of racism, victimization, and violence for electoral gain and social disruption. These are the true tenants engendering political violence and radicalization of belief, feeling, and behavior (characterized in the McCauley & Moskalenko reading) and it is highly likely that the U.S. will continue to see acts of domestic terror and violence in the future unless it begins to monitor, censor, and hold the movement accountable, both virtually and in physical reality.

Research Design

By analyzing the case of the January 6th Insurrection in the context of President Trump’s tweets, I propose to show how the mainstreaming of far-right beliefs by politicians led to political violence from the far-right. President Trump’s tweets calling for an uprising against claims of a stolen 2020 election galvanized support from groups like the Oath Keepers (an anti-government militia) as well as the far-right group Proud Boys. Analyzing these tweets and speeches will help us understand the persuasive effect of political rhetoric and social media use has upon politically radical groups. Trump’s calls for an uprising were based on a conspiracy narrative of a stolen election he himself constructed. This incident provides another clear example of the persuasive and viral effect that conspiracy has upon the internet and internet users.

The dependent variable shall be Far Right Extremism and the independent variables shall include political violence, social media, ideological conspiracy and fake news, and authoritarian Leaders including Donald Trump. Theory: Right-wing extremists have honed the growth of social media as a political information source and networking tool with far-reaching electoral and political consequences. Populist Authoritarian leaders have reaped the benefits of this new media landscape toward extremist political dialogue and rhetoric for media attention resulting in political violence.

President Trump gave voice to this new extremist ideology in the United States and with it created both electoral consequences and political violence. Othering rhetoric and the general tribalizing of political issues is an easier, more visceral, and instinctual way to elevate far-right ideology and the far-right agenda. By imitating the mainstream media and political organizations, the far-right created a vast array of websites and content to pander to and develop their extremist political ideology (Gaston 2017). Through populist anti-globalization, anti-immigration and anti-elite rhetoric, Trump was able to mirror the concerns of this far-right ideology with far-reaching and impactful consequences (Miller-Idriss 2020).

Hypothesis 1: Politicians such as President Trump contributed to the radicalization of Alt-Right political extremism and violence. Hypothesis 2: Alt-Right Political Extremism is developed and advanced by alternative social media, misinformation, and ideological conspiracy and has led to acts of both group and individual political violence. Hypothesis 3: The mainstreaming of far-right beliefs and ideology by politicians has and will encourage more acts of group and individual political violence from the far-right.

Sources I intend to use to gather qualitative evidence include Tweets and official speeches from President Trump around the days leading up to the January 6th Insurrection. I will obtain my evidence from the American Presidency Project and newspaper archives from the New York Times, NPR, Time, and the Washington Post. I will also include evidence from the January 6th Congressional Investigations and testimony and interviews from rioters engaged in the insurrection. Analyzing Trump’s social media tweets and speeches in the lead-up to the insurrection will show the very physical consequences of social media provocation and extremist conspiracy thinking. My case selection of the January 6th insurrection will help to highlight the mainstreaming of alt-right extremism in society and political parties. Ultimately, my case selection of the January 6th insurrection will help to highlight the alt-right extremism that culminated in an extreme example of extremist political violence in the United States.

I propose to create an analysis of Trump’s Tweets during the 2020 Election between December 2020 and January 2021. The dependent variable of far-right extremism in this case is Trump’s Tweets prompting a violent political riot on the Capitol. A deductive coding of narratives of Trump Tweets will investigate the nature of the political communication between Trump and the Alt-Right prompting the January 6th Insurrection. Coding of Narratives will include: Victim Mentality Narrative, Us vs. Them Narrative, Abuse of Power Narrative, and Election Conspiracy Narrative. These kinds of narratives reflect messages that may culminate into and may prompt episodes of extremist political violence. The extent of and amount of each of these categories will reveal an in-depth analysis of the ideas, emotions, and rationales promoting political violence. These categories will help answer the proposed hypotheses on the relationship between online social media extremism and violent episodes of political violence.

This qualitative research design will provide a descriptive analysis of social media prompting political violence in real life. Studying the language and narratives of social media from the alt-right will shed light on extremist ideology that is violent in nature and disseminated online. The language of politicians matters to the strength and sustenance of democratic forms of governance. Studying the language and propaganda of the President in the lead-up to the January 6th insurrection will allow for a fuller understanding of the tone and language influencing acts of extremist political violence in the United States.

Works Cited

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Bleakley, Paul “Panic, pizza, and mainstreaming the alt-right: A social media analysis of Pizzagate and the rise of the QAnon conspiracy.” Current Sociology. 1-17.

Boussalis, C., & Coan, T. G. “Text-mining the signals of climate change doubt.” Global Environmental Change, 36. 89—100.

Brown, Katy. Mondon, Aurelien. 2020. Populism, the media, and the mainstreaming of the far right: The Guardian’s coverage of populism as a case study. Politics. Vol. 41.3. 279–295.

Crenshaw, Martha. “The Causes of Terrorism,” Comparative Politics 13, no. 4 (1981): 379-399.

Doxsee, Katrina & Jones, Seth G. “The Escalating Terrorism Problem in the United States.” Center for Strategic and International Studies. June 17, 2020. https://www.csis.org/analysis/escalating-terrorism-problem-united-states

Einstein K. L, & Glick, D. M. Do I think MLS data are BS? The consequences of conspiracy theories.” Political Behavior. 2015. 37. 679-701.

Hermansson P, Lawrence D, Mulhall J and Murdoch S (2020) The International Alt-Right: Fascism for the 21st Century? Abingdon: Routledge.

Gaston, Sophie. Far-Right Extremism in the Populist Age. Briefing Paper. International Summit on Far-Right Extremism. May 2017.

Gorski, P. Why evangelicals voted for trump: A critical cultural sociology. In Politics of Meaning/Meaning of Politics; Mast, J.L., Alexander, J.C., Eds.; Springer: New York, NY, USA, 2019; pp. 165–183.

Isom, Deena A., Boehme, Hunter M., Mikell, Toniqua C., Chicoine, Stephen, and Renner, Marion. “Status Threat, Social Concerns, and Conservative Media: A Look at White America and the Alt-Right.” Societies. vol. 11. 2021.

Jolley, D., & Douglas K. M. “The social consequences of conspiracism: Exposure to conspiracy theories decreases intentions to engage in politics and to reduce one’s carbon footprint.” British Journal of Psychology. 2013. 105. 35-56.

Kleinfeld, Rachel. “The Rise of Political Violence in the United States.” Journal of Democracy. Vol. 32. No. 4 October 2021 160-176.

Lewandowsky, Stephan. Ecker, Ullrich, K. & Cook, John. “Beyond Misinformation: Understanding and coping with the post-truth era.” Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition. 2017.

Lewandowsky, S., Gignac, G. E., & Oberauer K. The role of conspiracist ideation and worldviews in predicting rejection of science. 2013. PLoS ONE, vol. 8.

Miller-Idriss, Cynthia. Hate in the Homeland. “Mainstreaming the Message.” Princeton University Press. 2020.

McCauley, Clark, and Sophia Moskalenko. “Mechanisms of political radicalization: Pathways toward terrorism.” Terrorism and Political Violence 20, no. 3 (2008): 415-433.

Norris, P. (2005) Radical right: voters and parties in the electoral market. Cambridge University Press.

Southern Poverty Law Center. Alt-Right. Available online: https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/alt-right (accessed on 24 November 2022).

Van Dijcke, David. Wright, Austin L. Profiling Insurrection: Characterizing Collective Action Using Mobile Device Data. Feb 2021

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