As the National Election nears and news coverage of Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton intensifies, the term Alt- Right is continuously used more and more, often to describe a portion of Donald Trump’s supporters. But what is the Alt- Right Movement, and who is it made up of?

The Alternative Right, or Alt- Right, is a political movement in not only America, but also in European countries like Germany and England. The Alt- Right as a movement rejects some of the notions of more moderate conservative groups like the GOP or the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of Germany. The CDU and GOP stand for more modern progressive stances, including religious freedom, free speech, smaller national government, border security, fiscal conservatism, as well as more “traditional” values. The Alt-Right rejects the moderate part of the GOP and CDU’s stances. The vast majority of Alternative Right proponents do not believe in the idea of “political correctness” or any real immigration. Their platforms pivot around points such as extreme nationalism, absolute free speech, gender roles, anti-multiculturalism, and ethnic nationalism, wherein the nationality of a person is decided by their ethnicity. In addition, many Alt- Right activists are actively anti-Semitic, islamophobic, xenophobic, blatantly racist, nativist, as well as misogynistic. They have used racial and sexual slurs, like those used against transgender individuals and the Black community on mainstream internet platforms.

Many of their statements come over the internet on sites like Twitter, the Gab, and Breitbart News, as well as dedicated Alternative Right sites. One of their most vocal advocates is a young man named Milo Yiannopoulos, a journalist, and public speaker, who has been accused of incited the harassment of actress Leslie Jones. Leading to the hacking of her emails and website, the leaking of personal photos, and the subsequent indefinite termination of Mr. Yiannopoulos’s Twitter account. Mr. Yiannopoulos seems unfazed though, continuing his speaking tours, giving interviews, and challenging the political establishment.

While many of these internet trolls that express extreme views do it merely as a way to annoy, offend, and harass, their actions lead to a much worse consequence. By adding views like this into the more mainstream public view, it invites more serious, more dangerous, and possibly violent views and people to legitimize their old-fashioned, bigoted views. By making demeaning jokes about women, and namely women in powerful positions, it allows people with violent views about violence against women or about the regression of women’s’ right to legitimize their voices in a more mainstream sense.