How Conservatives Killed the Conversation on Race and Crowned the Alt-Right Their New Messiah

The conservative backlash to the Black Lives Matter movement wasn’t born out of some deep philosophical difference. It was born out of pure, unfiltered panic. Panic that the country might actually have to reckon with the idea that systemic racism exists. Panic that the police might not be perfect. Panic that someone, somewhere, might kneel during the national anthem and make them think about someone else’s pain.

When that panic wasn’t enough conservatives embraced the alt-right, that lovable band of “free thinkers” whose idea of intellectual rebellion is posting racist memes and complaining that women won’t date them. Conservatives didn’t just tolerate the alt-right they gave them a platform, a microphone, and a seat at the table. Nothing rallies a conservative crowd faster than fear: fear of immigrants, fear of Black people marching for justice, fear of the country changing into something that doesn’t look like a 1950s sitcom.

Conservatives didn’t stumble into this mess they cultivated it. Every time they mocked wokeness, every time they defended heritage over history, every time they told us racism was over because Obama once smiled on TV, they laid the groundwork for the alt-right to bloom like mold in the basement of American politics.

Now, the party that used to call itself the defender of American values has become a refuge for grievance and paranoia. The alt-right doesn’t need to shout from the shadows anymore — it has a prime-time slot, a campaign slogan, and a seat in the White House. 

Tell us again how it’s all about “freedom.”