# Alt-lite > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Alt-lite > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Alt-lite.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt-lite > Source revision: 1357093834 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American right-wing political movement}} {{Not to be confused with|New Right}} {{use mdy dates|date=August 2018}} The '''alt-lite''', also known as the '''alt-light'''{{cite news|url=http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-alt-right-branding-war-has-torn-the-movement-in-two|title=The alt-right branding war has torn the movement in two|last=Marantz|first=Andrew|magazine=The New Yorker|date=June 6, 2017|access-date=June 6, 2017}} and the '''new right''', is a loosely defined [right-wing](/source/right-wing) political movement whose members regard themselves as separate from both mainstream [conservatism](/source/Conservatism_in_the_United_States) and the [far-right](/source/far-right), white nationalist [alt-right](/source/alt-right).{{Cite web |title=Overview |url=https://nationalconservatism.org/about/ |access-date=2025-09-24 |website=National Conservatism |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=National Conservatism: A Statement of Principles |url=https://nationalconservatism.org/national-conservatism-a-statement-of-principles/ |access-date=2025-09-24 |website=National Conservatism |language=en}} The concept is primarily associated with the United States, where it emerged in 2017. The term remained in vogue during the [first Trump administration](/source/First_presidency_of_Donald_Trump). According to [extremism](/source/extremism) scholar George Hawley, ''alt-lite'' was coined by [white nationalists](/source/white_nationalists) as a [pejorative](/source/pejorative) term in an attempt to exclude more moderate figures from the alt-right.{{sfn|Hawley|2017|page=143}} The term ''alt-right'' had previously included "anyone that fell on the right of the political spectrum but had major problems with the [conservative movement](/source/Timeline_of_modern_American_conservatism)", including [populists](/source/Right-wing_populism) and [libertarians](/source/Right-libertarianism).{{sfn|Hawley|2017|page=139}} After the term ''alt-right'' was successfully reclaimed by white nationalists, previous adherents abandoned the term and started calling themselves populists or [civic nationalists](/source/civic_nationalists).{{Cite journal |last=Fowlie |first=Craig |date=2022-05-13 |title=American Anti-Fascism Comes of Age |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/fasc/11/1/article-p139_6.xml |journal=Fascism |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=139–144 |doi=10.1163/22116257-bja10033 |s2cid=248926436 |issn=2211-6257 |quote=Burley is an acute observer of the range of far-right ideological positions, organising strategies and symbolism, and carefully delineates the splits within the movement between the white supremacist factions, the civic nationalist so-called ‘alt-lite’, and the patriot movement of militias and paramilitary groups|url-access=subscription |doi-access=free }} ==History== The term ''alternative right'' was coined by [Paul Gottfried](/source/Paul_Gottfried) but was later adopted by [Richard B. Spencer](/source/Richard_B._Spencer) who sought to use it to promote white nationalist ideas across the political right in the United States; however, there remained differing views on the term; some understood it as an umbrella term for a broad range of rightists outside the [neoconservatism](/source/neoconservatism) then dominant in the U.S. conservative movement, including [paleoconservatives](/source/paleoconservatives), [libertarians](/source/Libertarianism_in_the_United_States), [localists](/source/localism_(politics)), and [right-wing populists](/source/right-wing_populists), as well as white nationalists.{{sfn|Hawley|2017|pp=139–140}} By 2010, many of the non-white-nationalist rightists who used the term distanced themselves from it after it became increasingly apparent that Spencer intended the term as a banner of white nationalism.{{sfn|Hawley|2017|pp=139–140}} In 2016, as the term became popularised in U.S. public discourse, it again came to be used by many people who were not white nationalists but who saw it as a useful term to refer to rightists outside the mainstream conservative movement.{{sfn|Hawley|2017|pp=140–141}} Some have traced the recognition of the alt-lite—as a distinct entity from the alt-right—to what is seen as the consolidation of the alt-right as a white nationalist movement, while the alt-lite is more culturally nationalist. In a speech given to a meeting of white nationalists in November 2016, Spencer (who is often credited with creating or popularizing the term ''alt-right'') quoted [Nazi propaganda](/source/Nazi_propaganda) and declared "Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!" while members of the audience responded to this by giving [Hitler salute](/source/Hitler_salute)s.{{cite news |author=Staff |title='Hail Trump!': Richard Spencer Speech Excerpts |date=November 21, 2016 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o6-bi3jlxk |newspaper=[The Atlantic](/source/The_Atlantic) |access-date=October 30, 2017}} Subsequently, various figures who had been linked to the alt-right distanced themselves from Spencer's remarks, and suggested that two factions had emerged from the alt-right.{{cite web |last=Ziv |first=Stav |url=http://www.newsweek.com/alt-right-or-alt-lite-new-guide-adl-classifies-right-wing-activists-639158 |title='Alt-right' or 'alt-lite'? New guide from ADL classifies right-wing activists |date=July 19, 2017 |work=Newsweek |access-date=July 20, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170720042903/http://www.newsweek.com/alt-right-or-alt-lite-new-guide-adl-classifies-right-wing-activists-639158 |archive-date=20 July 2017 |url-status=live}}{{cite web|author=Staff|date=July 18, 2017|title=From Alt Right to Alt Lite: Naming the Hate |url=https://www.adl.org/news/press-releases/key-leaders-alt-right-vs-alt-lite |access-date=July 18, 2017 |publisher=Anti-Defamation League |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20171025192118/https://www.adl.org/news/press-releases/key-leaders-alt-right-vs-alt-lite |archive-date=25 October 2017}} This was the result of a rift within the wider alt-right movement, between those favoring white nationalism and more moderate forces. Some of the latter group adopted the term Third New Right" (as a follow-on to the earlier [Second New Right](/source/New_Right)) to describe themselves, with [Mike Cernovich](/source/Mike_Cernovich) saying of the division that "the lines are drawn and the fracture is more or less complete".{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-deploraball-idUSKBN14I1Y4 |newspaper=[Reuters](/source/Reuters) |last=Kearney |first=Laila |title=Trump fans' 'Deploraball' party shows rift in alt-right movement |date=December 29, 2016 |access-date=December 29, 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20161229230815/http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-deploraball-idUSKBN14I1Y4|archive-date=29 December 2016}} The term ''alt-lite'' is thought by the [Anti-Defamation League](/source/Anti-Defamation_League) (ADL) to have been created by members of the alt-right to distinguish themselves from right-wing groups and ideologies who support [white supremacy](/source/white_supremacy) and [white nationalism](/source/white_nationalism). According to the ADL, there is crossover and line-toeing between the alt-right and alt-lite groupings, making it difficult or impossible to tell which side of the theoretical line they belong on. This ambiguity contributes to the [alt-right pipeline](/source/alt-right_pipeline), in which supporters of the alt-lite become acclimated to the alt-right.{{Cite book |last1=Ribeiro |first1=Manoel Horta |last2=Ottoni |first2=Raphael |last3=West |first3=Robert |last4=Almeida |first4=Virgílio A. F. |last5=Meira |first5=Wagner |title=Proceedings of the 2020 Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency |chapter=Auditing radicalization pathways on YouTube |date=2020-01-27 |chapter-url= |language=en |pages=131–141 |doi=10.1145/3351095.3372879|isbn=9781450369367 |s2cid=201316434 |doi-access=free }} Historian Joshua Tait argued that the alt-lite "found the most mainstream success. These figures in the alt-lite entered the mainstream by alternating between courting and rejecting the more explicitly racist elements of the alt-right, massively expanding the movement's reach and ultimately placing it inside the White House."{{Cite news |last=Tait |first=Joshua |date=August 10, 2023 |title=What Was the Alt-Right? |work=[Tablet](/source/Tablet_(magazine)) |url=https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/what-was-alt-right}} ===Etymology=== The division between alt-right and alt-lite received further media attention in June 2017 when the two factions found themselves divided over the issue of Spencer's attendance at a Free Speech rally in Washington, D.C.{{cite news |url=https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2017-06-22/ty-article/.premium/the-jewish-provocateur-caught-in-the-far-rights-turf-war/0000017f-ea1d-df5f-a17f-fbdfe66a0000 |title=The Jewish Provocateur Caught in the Turf War as the 'Alt-right' Battles the 'Alt-light' |newspaper=[Haaretz](/source/Haaretz) |last=Krupkin |first=Taly |date=June 22, 2017 |access-date=July 23, 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20170625060213/http://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-1.797372|archive-date=25 June 2017}} Certain individuals protested Spencer's involvement by organizing a competing rally on the same day, with Spencer referring to such individuals as "alt-lite" and saying that "the movement needs a good purge".{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/alt-right-and-alt-lite-conservatives-plan-dueling-conservative-rallies-sunday-in-dc/2017/06/22/242d8de2-56bd-11e7-9fb4-fa6b3df7bb8a_story.html |newspaper=[The Washington Post](/source/The_Washington_Post) |title='Alt-right' and 'alt-lite'? Conservatives plan dueling conservative rallies Sunday in D.C. |last=Moyer |first=Justin |date=June 23, 2017|access-date=27 May 2021|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20190214182049/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/alt-right-and-alt-lite-conservatives-plan-dueling-conservative-rallies-sunday-in-dc/2017/06/22/242d8de2-56bd-11e7-9fb4-fa6b3df7bb8a_story.html?noredirect=on|archive-date=14 February 2019}} The [Unite the Right rally](/source/Unite_the_Right_rally) in 2017 exacerbated tensions between the white nationalist alt-right, who supported and attended the rally, and the alt-lite, who did not and expressed disdain for it.{{sfnm|1a1=Hawley|1y=2017|1p=152|2a1=Atkinson|2y=2018|2p=310}} ''[Breitbart News](/source/Breitbart_News)'' distanced itself from the alt-right and criticized other media outlets that described them in such a manner,{{sfn|Wendling|2018|p=215}} as did [Milo Yiannopoulos](/source/Milo_Yiannopoulos), who insisted he had "nothing in common" with Spencer.{{sfn|Wendling|2018|p=214}} Academic [Angela Nagle](/source/Angela_Nagle) described the alt-lite as "the youthful bridge between the alt-right and mainstream [Trumpism](/source/Trumpism)".{{sfn|Nagle|2017|p=41}} She was of the view that it was the alt-lite, and not the alt-right, which had successfully utilised the [Nouvelle Droite](/source/Nouvelle_Droite)'s ideas about promoting cultural change as a prerequisite for long-term political change.{{sfn|Nagle|2017|pp=40–41}} Nagle characterized Cernovich as a "major figure in the alt-lite milieu".{{sfn|Nagle|2017|p=50}} She also characterized [Alex Jones](/source/Alex_Jones) as being part of it.{{sfn|Nagle|2017|p=51}} ==Beliefs== People associated with the alt-lite have distanced themselves from the [ethnic nationalism](/source/ethnic_nationalism) of the alt-right. As with the alt-right, the alt-lite commonly shows broad support for [Donald Trump](/source/Donald_Trump), [cultural nationalism](/source/cultural_nationalism), and [non-interventionism](/source/non-interventionism). Many in the alt-lite criticize or oppose [political correctness](/source/political_correctness), [Islam](/source/Islam), [feminism](/source/feminism) (sometimes restricted to the [fourth wave](/source/Fourth_wave_feminism)), [LGBT rights](/source/LGBT_rights), [welfare](/source/welfare_spending), and [illegal immigration](/source/illegal_immigration). It has been described as a "[misogynistic](/source/misogynistic)" and "[xenophobic](/source/Xenophobia)" movement by the [Anti-Defamation League](/source/Anti-Defamation_League). Alt-right figures have described ''[Breitbart News](/source/Breitbart_News)'' and [Steve Bannon](/source/Steve_Bannon) as "alt-lite" for presenting a diluted form of alt-right ideas.{{cite news |url=http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-alt-right-analysis-20161121-story.html |title=The 'alt-right' splinters as supporters and critics agree it was white supremacy all along |last=Pearce |first=Matt |date=November 29, 2016 |newspaper=[Los Angeles Times](/source/Los_Angeles_Times) |access-date=May 9, 2017 |issn=0458-3035}} ''[Wired](/source/Wired_(magazine))'' has referred to the alt-lite as "the alt-right's relatively mild-mannered sibling".{{cite news |last1=Ellis |first1=Emma Grey |date=May 10, 2017 |title=The Alt-Right's Newest Ploy? Trolling With False Symbols |url=https://www.wired.com/2017/05/alt-rights-newest-ploy-trolling-false-symbols/ |access-date= |newspaper=[Wired](/source/Wired_(magazine))}} ==Proponents== The [Anti-Defamation League](/source/Anti-Defamation_League) has published a list of people whom it calls alt-lite, consisting of writer and [podcast](/source/podcast) host [Brittany Pettibone](/source/Brittany_Pettibone), [2018 Senate](/source/2018_United_States_Senate_election_in_Virginia) [Republican](/source/Republican_Party_(United_States)) candidate from Virginia [Corey Stewart](/source/Corey_Stewart), [Proud Boys](/source/Proud_Boys) and Vice founder [Gavin McInnes](/source/Gavin_McInnes), English [YouTuber](/source/YouTuber) [Paul Joseph Watson](/source/Paul_Joseph_Watson), conspiracy theorist [Jack Posobiec](/source/Jack_Posobiec), right-wing activist [Kyle Chapman](/source/Kyle_Chapman_(American_activist)), conservative White House correspondent [Lucian Wintrich](/source/Lucian_Wintrich), radio personality [Mike Cernovich](/source/Mike_Cernovich), and media provocateur [Milo Yiannopoulos](/source/Milo_Yiannopoulos).{{Cite web |title=From Alt Right to Alt Lite: Naming the Hate |url=https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounders/from-alt-right-to-alt-lite-naming-the-hate |access-date=2022-11-14 |website=www.adl.org |language=en}}{{cite news |url=https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/1.802361 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170720190539/http://www.haaretz.com/us-news/1.802361 |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 20, 2017 |title='Alt-lite' Trump Supporters Blast ADL Over Inclusion on 'Hate List' |last=Krupkin |first=Taly |date=July 20, 2017 |newspaper=Haaretz |access-date=July 20, 2017}} ==References== ===Footnotes=== {{reflist}} ===Bibliography=== {{refbegin}} *{{cite journal |first=David C. |last=Atkinson |year=2018 |title=Charlottesville and the Alt-Right: A Turning Point? |journal=Politics, Groups, and Identities |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=309–315 |doi=10.1080/21565503.2018.1454330 |s2cid=158189264 }} *{{cite journal |first=Michael |last=Barkun |year=2017 |title=President Trump and the "Fringe" |journal=Terrorism and Political Violence |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=437–443 |doi=10.1080/09546553.2017.1313649 |s2cid=152199771 }} *{{cite book |last=Hawley |first=George |title=Making Sense of the Alt-Right |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-231-18512-7 }} *{{cite book |last=Nagle |first=Angela |title=Kill All Normies: Online Culture wars from 4chan to Tumblr to Trump and the Alt-Right |location=Winchester and Washington |publisher=Zero Books |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-78535-543-1 }} *{{cite book |last=Wendling |first=Mike |year=2018 |title=Alt-Right: From 4chan to the White House |location=London |publisher=Pluto Press |isbn=978-0-7453-3745-6 }} {{Refend}} {{Alt-right footer}} Category:Alt-right Category:Political neologisms Category:2010s neologisms Category:Paleolibertarianism Category:New Right (United States) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Alt-lite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt-lite) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt-lite?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.