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Late the night before the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, Richard Spencer, the de facto leader of the white nationalist movement calling itself the Alt-Right, texts me to say he'll be there not to disrupt, he insists, but to ask questions after the "Anti-Alt-Right speeches on [the] main stage." The next day, at the Gaylord Convention Center just outside of Washington, D.C., there is no Q&A, but Spencer, who gleefully attracts a throng of reporters everywhere he goes, holds forth outside the hotel ballroom. Dan Schneider, the executive director of the American Conservative Union, which hosts the conference, has just decried the Alt-Right as a "sinister organization that is trying to worm its way into our ranks." Spencer denounces the speech as "stupid" and "pathetic."

Inside the ballroom, four Republican governors are speaking about how they are "reclaiming America's promise," something reporters might have covered in years past to glean glimmers of presidential ambitions. But Trump and his success at electrifying the Alt-Right has changed all that. Instead, dozens of reporters cluster around Spencer, who most recently made headlines for eliciting Nazi salutesat a conference he hosted in November, and becoming the butt of a meme about whether it is acceptable to punch Nazis.

Surrounded by media, Spencer persists for so long that organizers eject him from the conference. No matter: His mission is accomplished.

Schneider, rather than provoking a serious discussion of the conservative movement's relationship with the Alt-Right, has thrown up a straw man. The Alt-Right, he says (correctly) are "anti-Semites," "racists" and "sexists." But, he adds (incorrectly), they do not emerge out of conservatism's own trenches. Instead, he maintains, "they are garden variety left-wing fascists."

That is, as one of the morning's other speakers, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, has said, an "alternative fact." The origin story of the Alt-Rightis one of far-right, authoritarian white nationalists who broke with movement conservatism, and toiled in relative obscurity until Trump's campaign elevated them to the national stage.

Schneider insists to Rolling Stone that the term Alt-Right originated with "a Jewish man" who sought a break from George W. Bush's foreign policy, but that the racists have "wormed their way in, stolen the term intentionally so they could deceive people about who they are." (Schneider did not name the Jewish man, but Paul Gottfried, who is credited with coming up with the term "Alt-Right" with Spencer, claims that "America is no longer a republic or a liberal democracy," a view for which he "was banished from the mainstream of political discourse," according to a profile in Tablet.)

Spencer says the Alt-Right "was always about a right wing that was against the conservative movement, it was against George W. Bush in its origins." In other words, the Alt-Right's opposition to conservatism was not confined to foreign policy. Spencer mocks Schneider, derisively saying he is unaware that "garden variety left-wing fascists were so numerous," and insists that the ranks of the Alt-Right are. As if on cue, a CPAC attendee pops in to ask Spencer for selfie while saying, "Praise kek," the Alt-Right's homage to its "god" of "meme magic."

Like conservatives' baseless claims that protesters at marches or town halls are paid leftist protesters, Schneider's effort to depict the Alt-Right as a creature of the left is a denigration of anything that disrupts their mirage that Trumpism is a spectacularly successful restoration of America's greatness. But even attendees at CPAC see through Schneider's characterization. Nick Gricus, a student at DePaul University, calls it a "deflection mechanism." The Alt-Right, Gricus says, "is bigotry. That's not a partisan definition."

The dissonance between Schneider's speech and a series of events leading up to it show how his effort to peg the movement as left-wing is a sign of deep anxiety of how Trumpism, fueled by the Alt-Right, is altering conservatism, and how the movement may have lost control over defining itself. (Why else would the ACU have opened its conference with a series of speeches intended to explain what conservatism stands for?)

Last summer, Steve Bannon, the former Breitbart executive who is now chief strategist to Trump, boasted that his publicationis "the platform for the Alt-Right." Just days ago, the ACU was forced to disinvite Milo Yiannopoulos, a (now former) Breitbart editor with a long history of racism, sexism, Islamophobia and xenophobia. He was poised to be toasted at CPAC until an anonymous conservative group called the Reagan Battalion exposed radio interviews in which he praised pedophilia and the world finally discovered ACU's bridge too far. Although Yiannopoulos was ultimately shunned, Bannon is given the rock-star treatment in an interview with ACU Chairman Matt Schlapp, conducted on the main stage, and without a single mention of the Alt-Right.

Schneider has little to say about Bannon's characterization of Breitbart, saying only that the definition is "fuzzy" and he gave his speech so people could "have clarity on this." The Alt-Right, he adds, has "nothing to do with the American tradition" and is "inconsistent with the very idea of conservatism."

Yet the Alt-Right sees in Trump and Bannon signs that conservatism is being abandoned for nationalism. "Trump is stumbling toward a nationalist ideology," Spencer tells reporters. "In that way, he has a connection with the Alt-Right, he has a deeper connection with us than he has with conservatives." Bannon, too, while not Alt-Right, Spencer says, "seems to be open to other ideas besides just the conservative pabulum." He cites Bannon's own references to Alexandr Dugin, the far-right Russian writer, and the Italian fascist Julian Evola, both deeply influential to the Alt-Right.

Spencer also praises Bannon's deputy, Stephen Miller, whom he knew while they were both students at Duke, as someone who appears "very committed ... toward nationalism, and that we have a sovereign right to determine our future."

Bannon signals his and the Trump administration's break with movement conservatism in the interview with the ACU's Schlapp. "There's a new political order being formed out of this," he says. He repeatedly extols Trump's "economic nationalist agenda." The "center core of what we believe, that we are a nation with an economy, not an economy just in some global marketplace with open borders," says Bannon. "We are a nation with a culture and a reason for being," he adds, with words redolent of Spencer's self-described "identitarianism." Bannon pitches the CPAC crowd: "I think that's what unites us."

Regardless of whether they understand what the Alt-Right is, or how it is altering conservatism, Trump has already drawn new devotees to CPAC. Devon Hunter, a University of California-Merced student, sporting a Make America Great Again hat, says Trump made him more interested in the gathering. As for the Alt-Right, Hunter says its "a monster that the left points to and that the right doesn't want anything to do with."

Thomas Melvin, a retired school principal from Charleston, South Carolina, also has come to his first CPAC, though he had followed it on television in the past. He says Trump is the reason he's here. "People are happy because he's doing what he said he'd do," says Melvin. Even "Republicans who were against him are supporting him now," he says. "They know he's got a heart for America."

Watch Donald Trump's Speech at CPAC 2017.

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CPAC's Flirtation With the Alt-Right Is Turning Awkward - RollingStone.com

Steve Bannonwho may or may not be alt-right, depending on who you askwith Reince Priebus at CPAC on Thursday.

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Having it both ways: Michelle Goldberg reports on the odd hypocrisy of the Conservative Political Action Conference, the organizers of which are trying to simultaneously denounce and welcome the alt-right. A case in point: Kicking out punching victim Richard Spencer but giving Steve Bannon a prime speaking spot.

Star power: Willa Paskin examines the role of celebrities in an America thats governed by one. Some, like Katy Perry, are loudly straddling the line separating politics from entertainment, while others, such as Taylor Swift, are being deemed sympathizers for staying mum. In an era of unique polarization, stars have been weaponized by the right and left in a zero-sum game of embarrassment and consolation, Paskin observes.

No bogus data: At least for now. Jordan Weissmann debunks a Wall Street Journal scoop that warned that Trumps White House might be fiddling with U.S. trade figures for political gain.

Get out and see Get Out: Aisha Harris calls the new horror flick, helmed by comedian Jordan Peele, a classic, hitting that sweet spot between scary and hilarious, and laying bare the many layers of Americas historic treatment of the black body.

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The Angle: Who Likes the Alt-Right Edition - Slate Magazine

Heres a fact for the media to chew on: The deep state is here.

As outlined in Foreign Policy, the concept of the deep state is nothing new. But the Trump presidency may serve as the galvanizing force that links some of the formal established Democratic opposition forces, including MoveOn.org, government unions and Black Lives Matter with the informal deep-state cadre of disgruntled liberal bureaucrats, the hostile mainstream media and the usual suspects on the left.

Its a troubling phenomenon, with anti-Trump organizations and Democratic-aligned civil servants conspiring to actively work against the incumbent government.

There might not be any central command guiding the deep-state actions, but its not hard for card-carrying Democratic party members, the mainstream media, liberal think tanks, government unions and other anti-Republican liberals of various stripes to naturally form into a collective grain that runs contrary to whatever elected Republicans in Congress and now in the White House want to accomplish.

Its just like when a school of fish move in unison, choreographed not because of some planned effort, but because it is in their nature. The bias against President Donald Trump has become frantic, and the Democrats and their allies in the media overreach almost daily in attacking the president and Republicans in general.

Deep state is a sexy new label being used in Washington to describe embedded anonymous bureaucratic bias against President Trump and Republican rule. Specifically, the deep state is leaking documents, making confidential conversations public, pushing rogue social media accounts and otherwise acting in an underhanded manner to discredit the president, his Cabinet and the policy objectives of the Republicans.

The use of encrypted chat programs to communicate and the continued leaks to various media outlets are just the start. Their tactics are beginning to spread to other Democratic sympathizers and form a continuous partisan assault both from within the government and from outside groups.

At some level, this shouldnt be surprising.

The 2016 election was so vitriolic, and the Democrats belief that Hillary Clinton would be the next president was so strong, that their defeat carried extra weight. Members of the Democratic coalition are already firmly entrenched within the federal government and among the surrounding intelligentsia. They have the ability to feed their supporters information, giving the activists more reason to protest, which in turn conflates the liberal hype around the actions of the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress. Its a vicious cycle.

At the same time all this is going on, the left has taken to painting Republicans with a broad brush as the alt-right. Well, as best I can tell, the alt-right is just a new way for the left to call Republicans racists and Nazis without actually having to say those terms out loud.

To me, the deep state is real. The alt-right is not. The deep state may not be fully developed quite yet, but as the Democrats regain their footing and begin to coordinate and try to further and further damage the presidents credibility, it will have a detrimental impact on how our democracy functions and will further erode the publics trust in government.

Ed Rogers is a contributor to The Washington Posts PostPartisan blog, a political consultant and a veteran of the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush White Houses and several national campaigns.

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'Deep state' is real 'alt right' is fake - Fairfield Daily Republic

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Tribune News Service 4:52 p.m. CT Feb. 24, 2017

AFP/Getty Images Stephen Bannon left Breitbart to join the Trump campaign.(Photo: MANDEL NGAN, Mandel Ngan, AFP/Getty Images)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (TNS)

President Donald Trump can no longer dodge and distract from the cold reality that his administration has granted a platform for white supremacists and anti-Semites to advance their twisted causes. His failure to lead has helped members of the alt-right expand their reach.

On Tuesday, Trump finally spoke out, but only after nearly 200 gravestones were overturned at a Jewish cemetery near St. Louis. Nationwide, Jewish organizations are warning about a spike in bomb threats and harassment aimed at Jews.

The anti-Semitic threats targeting our Jewish community at community centers are horrible and are painful and a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil, Trump stated.

Hours earlier, former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton prodded Trump to speak out about the St. Louis area attack, whose perpetrators and motives remain unknown.

Trump has inflicted serious damage upon himself with shoulder-shrugging responses to questions about anti-Semitism. Questioned last Wednesday about the failure of a White House statement on Holocaust Remembrance Day to mention the slaughter of 6 million Jews, Trump answered by reminding reporters of his Electoral College margin over Clinton.

The following day, Trump called on an Orthodox Jewish reporter during a news conference. The reporter questioned him about a nationwide rise in anti-Semitic attacks. Trump interrupted, ordered the reporter to sit down and be quiet, then declared himself to be the least anti-Semitic person that youve ever seen in your entire life.

The president doth protest too much. Actions speak louder than words, and the most damaging action Trump has taken to undermine his least anti-Semitic title was to name Stephen K. Bannon as his chief White House strategist and member of the National Security Council. Before taking the job, Bannon headed Breitbart News, a website Bannon described last year as the platform for the alt-right.

The Southern Poverty Law Center defines the alt-right as a set of far-right ideologies, groups and individuals whose core belief is that white identity is under attack by multicultural forces using political correctness and social justice to undermine white people and their civilization.

When Bannon left Breitbart, Milo Yiannopoulos took over as editor. Not once has the Trump administration challenged Breitbarts alt-right alignment or urged the website to moderate its postings. But on Monday, the Conservative Political Action Conference did cancel a keynote address by Yiannopoulos not for his advocacy of abhorrent right-wing views but because Yiannopoulos had recorded a video that favors loosening laws against pedophilia. Yiannopoulos resigned from Breitbart on Tuesday.

Against that backdrop, Trumps belated condemnation of anti-Semitism rings hollow. The Anne Frank Center called it pathetic.

Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, has every reason to demand wider official acknowledgment that anti-Semitism is alive and kicking. Hate mongers will have a prominent friend as long as Trump keeps Bannon in the White House.

2017 St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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White House finally recognizes the damage from embracing 'alt-right' - Corpus Christi Caller-Times

February 23, 2017 Richard Spencer, a white nationalist and a leader of the so-called "alt-right" movement, says he has been booted from the Conservative Police Action Committee (CPAC) by organizers who disagree with his views.

CPAC spokesman Ian Walters told NBC that Mr. Spencers ticket had been refunded, saying that his views were "repugnant."

A controversial figure, Spencer is credited with coining the term alt-right, which refers to a branch of the right-wing that has roots in white supremacy. Spencer has also addressed crowds where his cry of "Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!" was met with what looked like Nazi salutes. His presence has spurred outrage and protest at venues around the nation.

I think everyone everyone recognizes that there has to be identity politics in the world, that white people defined the United States and we're now experiencing an increasing minority status, he told NBC Thursday, noting that he had credentials and had spent about an hour at the event speaking with attendees and the media before he was politely asked to leave.

Unfazed, Spencer said that attendees, especially younger ones, expressed more interest in his new ideas than those of aging conservatives.

The fact is, people want to talk to me, he said. They dont want to talk to these boring conservatives.

Conservatives have decried what they see as a politically correct movement over the past several years, arguing that liberal snowflakes are too easily offended by controversial speech. President Trump garnered favor among large swaths of voters using brash rhetoric and that exact argument, rallying against new societal norms that have made some take pause when choosing their words, especially relating to religion, gender, and race.

But recent action on the part of conservatives could show that there is a line to be drawn when it comes to allowing free expression, at least on platforms that represent their party.

Spencers removal comes just days after CPAC disinvited Milo Yiannopoulos, a former editor at the right-wing news outlet Breitbart, from speaking at the conference. While Mr. Yiannopoulos has received backlash over the years for his disparaging comments about women, minorities, Muslims, and transgender people, it was unearthed comments in which he advocates for pedophilia that led CPAC to cancel his appearance.

While some have called those who push the envelope on free speech by adopting offensive language heroic, others have noted that using the First Amendment for the purpose of shocking the masses and stoking controversy isnt the best way to show appreciation for the right.

Its the principle thats heroic, not the people that push the bounds of the principle, Ken Paulson, president of the First Amendment Center, told The Christian Science Monitor earlier this week. If you want to have a public examination of the First Amendment, there are thousands of hardworking men and women who can provide remarkable perspective and can do it in a way that doesnt scorch the earth.

Spencers dismissal from CPAC followed a speech earlier Thursday that addressed growing concerns about the conservatives entanglement with the alt-right.

Dan Schneider, executive director of American Conservative Union, which runs CPAC, denounced the alt-right as anti-Semitic, racist, and sexist on Thursday, a move many moderates and Democrats have been calling on officials to do for months.

But in doing so, he argued that the group was on the extreme left, not the right, as many have accepted.

There is a sinister organization that is trying to warp its way into our ranks, Mr. Schneider said in one of the conferences first addresses. We must not be deceived by [a] hateful, left-wing fascist group.

As CPAC continues, many conservatives hope that leaders will find a new way to define themselves during a period of uncertainty.

"I think the conservative movement is hopeful, but wary," Tim Phillips, president of Koch-brothers-backed Americans for Prosperity, told the Associated Press prior to the conference.

This report contains material from the Associated Press.

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CPAC dismisses Richard Spencer: How conservatives are severing alt-right ties - Christian Science Monitor