President Donald Trump has attempted to establish a false equivalence between neo-Nazis and the anti-fascist, anti-racist leftists who were most recently seen resisting neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Virginia. To do so, Trump has branded the anti-fascists as the “alt-left,” repurposing a term that was first popularized not by any Republicans or
How Online Trolls Pushing for Regime Change in Syria Helped Popularize Trump’s Attack on ‘Alt-Left’
Several liberal websites have pointed the finger at prominent centrist Democrats for mainstreaming the “alt-left” smear to blame leftists for helping to elect President Donald Trump. But back in July and August 2016, well before prominent neoliberals like Neera Tanden and Joy Reid were leveling the term against Bernie Sanders supporters, “alt-left” was the slur du jour of a collection of online trolls that had banded together to advance regime change in Syria.