The Republican Party Is Soaked in White Supremacy - But Is It A Hate Group

4/1/22, 8:14 PM The Republican Party is soaked in white supremacy -- but is it a hate group?
a hate group? - Raw Story - Celebrating 18 Years of Independent Journalism
The Republican Party is soaked in white supremacy --

but is it a hate group?
By John Stoehr - Commentary
Published March 31, 2022
'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville (Screengrab)
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Guns, abortion, immigration – what binds these “hot button” issues together in the
Republican mind? Well, white supremacy, obviously.
I say “obviously” because there was a long period in my life when I thought the
defense of whiteness at society’s center, which is clear when you bother looking,
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The Republican Party is soaked in white supremacy -- but is it a hate group? - Raw Story - Celebrating 18 Years of Independent Journalism
couldn’t be right. It was just too simple.
But then I learned, thanks to effort, study and the influence of people who knew
better, that white supremacy is no simple thing at all. It can’t be, as it’s the principle
organizing the whole of our society.
Guns
America’s first Black president was reelected more than a month before the Sandy
Hook massacre during which 20 first-grade kids were shot to pieces down the road
from where I live in New Haven.
The Republicans had a choice to make. They could turn away from a seditionary
interpretation of the Second Amendment and toward good and sensible gun
legislation to prevent other kids dying in cold blood.
Or they could lean into a seditionary interpretation of the Second Amendment on

account of democracy having yielded another term for the first Black president who
signaled the end of “our way of life.”
Do the right thing – let kids live? Do the wrong thing – let kids die? You know the
answer. The Republicans and their white supporters would rather die, literally, than
be replaced at the center of power. It was a fateful choice. The land is soaked by the
blood of legions.
Dead kids were the price for protecting whiteness.
Abortion
The Republicans are sacrificing the lives of children on the altar of whiteness while
appearing oh-so-concerned about unborn children. But the pro-life movement
doesn’t fear for all kids, just white ones.
Pro-life means pro-white.
Beneath rhetoric about life and personhood is a pernicious anxiety about living in a
democracy in which white people are outnumbered.
Or worse, replaced.
That anxiety occasionally rears its head as when former White House press secretary
4/1/22, 8:14 PM The Republican Party is soaked in white supremacy -- but is it a hate group? - Raw Story - Celebrating 18 Years of Independent Journalism
That anxiety occasionally rears its head, as when former White House press secretary
Kayleigh McEnany said this week that Christians have "got to be bold. You know, the
[antidote] to darkness is light. And the [antidote] to a really grim future is filling the
world with a lot of Christian babies who could bring that light to the world."
To be sure, anti-abortionists are bent on putting women back in the home, making
them subordinate to the authority of their husbands and otherwise reaffirming the
primacy of the “nuclear family.”
But obedient women are a consequence, not an end. The goal is preventing white
women, who get the most abortions, from aborting their pregnancies, thus
repopulating the country with white people.
A proper democracy is a white democracy and you don’t get that by letting every
Tomás, Chico and Harry participate, not when white women have fewer babies and
nonwhite ones have more. America was founded on
Anglosaxonjudeochristiancodeforwhite values.
They’ll be damned if it doesn’t stay that way!
Immigration
To recap:
Some white Christian men are going beyond the law, with their semi-automatic rifles
and their equally armed pals in law enforcement, to terrorize nonwhite people back
to society’s margins. Other white Christian men are using the law to force white
women to give birth.
One group clears the way for the product of the other’s labor. Together they
constitute two legs of the three-legged stool of white supremacy.
Immigration is obviously the other leg. But as “gun rights” isn’t about guns and “pro-
life” isn’t about “life,” immigraton isn’t about immigrants.
“We’re being attacked on our southern border,” said Stew Peters, a fascist webcaster.
“They don’t talk about this, because the great replacement is real. White, Christian
Americans, America first patriots, people who believe in conservative core values –
they want them out. The Democrat Party claims to be anti-discrimination yet they
discriminate against certain groups all the time. Are you willing to say the modern
Democrat Party embraces racism against white people?”
Peters was kicked off Spotify last year. When asked for comment, he inadvertently
synthesized white fear of replacement: Spotify is “the propaganda arm of the
communist, globalist genocidal machine, hellbent on the destruction of freedom,
Christianity and truth.”
There you have it.
Is the GOP a hate group?
We typically look at guns, abortion and immigration as separate and distinct issues.
Some might insist they are unrelated. But you can’t properly understand them in
isolation. They are all of a piece.
They have in common fear – the white fear of being replaced. This fear animates
virtually everything the Republicans say and do, because it animates virtually
everything their media and supporters say and do.
The white fear of replacement used to be fringe. Thanks to the Republicans, no

longer. Does that make the GOP a hate group?
I asked the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Rachel Carroll Rivas.
What’s the status of hate groups in America?
Every year, the Southern Poverty Law Center puts out a flagship report summarizing
our research of the trends of the hard right.
In 2021, the year after the insurrection on January 6, 2021, the hard-right movement
converged around a willingness to engage in political violence, inflict harm and deny
legally-established rights.
We documented that a number of groups active in communities declined to 1,220

hate and anti-government extremist groups. These numbers do not demonstrate a
decline in the power of the hard right.
Honestly, these harmful ideas have become so commonplace that card-carrying

membership is less and less necessary.
The full embrace of technologies that easily spread messages to individuals has far-
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reaching implications. Particularly, livestreaming. It has become a preferred tool for

organizing, fundraising and spreading false conspiracy theories and hard-right
propaganda.
We consider the hard right of today inherently anti-democratic.
The groups reject equality and pluralism. They work to build a hierarchical order that
pushes some groups out. It's authoritarian! Groups are often conspiratorial, racist
and nationalistic. Targeted people know this personally. They include: people of
color, women, LGBTQ people, religious minorities, immigrants and non-Christians.
We documented 733 hate groups and 488 antigovernment groups in 2021. There are
also 65 new groups listed in 2021.
Is koshing how hate groups go mainstream?
Conspiracies underpinning the hate movement focus on a nefarious "other" as an

enemy who threatens to take away liberty and power.
These ideas mobilize resentment against [outgroups]. Leaders working against these
enemies are held up, even if they are authoritarians.
Is there a conspiracy theory that looms above others?
In 2021, the "great replacement" was prevalent and problematic.
Conspiracies targeting the government include sub-conspiracies around martial law,

gun confiscation, the "New World Order” and FEMA.
These are rooted in racist, antisemitic and nativist beliefs.
The false conspiracy about the "Big Lie" of a fraudulent election in 2020 was a
constant theme throughout the last year.
Because antisemitism fuels white nationalist ideas against the Black struggle for civil
rights, conspiracies around voting and policies addressing inequality are often a
manifestation of old hateful ideas.
To what extent are these hate groups aware of each other?
Hate groups operate fairly independently, especially at the local level. However, the
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-- but is it a hate group? - Raw Story - Celebrating 18 Years of Independent Journalism
hard right as a social and political movement has many people and groups
overlapping in their activities and their ideas.
Global awareness depends on the group and its specific ideology.
Cross organizing and recruiting between groups is highly concerning, particularly

when hard-right groups interact with groups with more legitimate power and
authority in our communities.
Those interactions push hard-right ideas deeper into the mainstream.
Does the GOP satisfy any of the SPLC's criteria for hate groups?
We raise concern about decisions by some GOP officials to spread conspiracies as

well as interact with identified hate and antigovernment groups, including open
white nationalists.
Would it be more accurate to say individual Republicans, rather than the whole party,
satisfy the SPLC's criteria for hate groups?
We don't do individuals. We do hate groups.
Some members of the Republican Party have engaged in extremist activity and have
pushed ideologies we monitor, expose, counter and work to prevent. You can see the
report for a few examples that include US Reps. Matt Gaetz, Paul Gosar and Madison
Cawthorn.
So that's a yes?
We have criteria for groups.
The report this year delves more deeply into the hate and anti-government
movements and their harmful tactics
Shrewd answers. Two more questions. How bad a problem are private militias? What
is their history of violence (in brief).
In 2021, we documented 92 militia groups. They have obsessions with field-training

exercises, guns and uniforms like those in the military.
They hold an absolutist and warped interpretation of the Second Amendment.

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Because these groups engage in firearms training and have a history of violence, we
believe they are concerning.
Some militia groups were present at the J6 insurrection, including the Oath Keepers
and Three Percenters. Dozens have been charged with crimes, including the rare and
serious conspiracy charge.
On the local level, militia groups intimidate and harass local communities. This
includes border militias targeting migrants and humanitarian groups. It includes
intimidation of local democracy entities, like school boards. They often manipulate
followers into believing they are aggrieved and use that belief to organize. They don't
allow for safe and inclusive participation on important issues.
In 2021 many militia groups became more covert. They are feeling greater scrutiny
by the media, public and law enforcement after J6.
They will emerge stronger if the pressure doesn't continue.
The numbers are down. Is that because the ideas are going mainstream or because
the law is cracking down? Mix of both?
The mainstreaming of hard-right ideas is definitely a factor.
As I mentioned before, the motivation to be a "card-carrying" member is diminished

now that many of their harmful ideas are so openly supported by public figures,
political activists and media pundits.
The full impact of the legal crackdown is yet to be determined.
In the case of the Oath Keepers, their centralized structure, attempt to be more
mainstream and recruitment among law enforcement officers have figured into how
they are affected by the arrests and charges. The organization is in disarray right now
and their chapter activity is down. They account for a significant sum of the reduced
numbers.
However, groups like the Proud Boys, which also played a role in J6 insurrection, and
are very problematic, have grown in 2021. Perhaps this is due to their organizational
structure not being as centralized or the lack of concern about "appearances" by their
membership.
To address the threat of the hard right, we will need the public, civil leaders, the
news media and the legal sector to keep scrutinizing and holding accountable those
who are tearing us apart and harming democracy. It has to be a holistic approach,
starting with prevention.
We can't let false conspiracies and hateful ideas stand as the truth.
We have a more positive and hopeful story to tell.
John Stoehr is a fellow at the Yale Journalism Initiative; a contributing writer for the Washington
Monthly; a contributing editor for Religion Dispatches; and senior editor at Alternet. Follow him
@johnastoehr.
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4/1/22, 8:14 PM The Republican Party is soaked in white supremacy -- but is it a hate group?

a hate group? - Raw Story - Celebrating 18 Years of Independent Journalism

The Republican Party is soaked in white supremacy --

'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville (Screengrab)

couldn’t be right. It was just too simple.

Or they could lean into a seditionary interpretation of the Second Amendment on

Dead kids were the price for protecting whiteness.

Pro-life means pro-white.

They’ll be damned if it doesn’t stay that way!

Democrat Party embraces racism against white people?”

There you have it.

Is the GOP a hate group?

The white fear of replacement used to be fringe. Thanks to the Republicans, no

I asked the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Rachel Carroll Rivas.

What’s the status of hate groups in America?

We documented that a number of groups active in communities declined to 1,220

Honestly, these harmful ideas have become so commonplace that card-carrying

reaching implications. Particularly, livestreaming. It has become a preferred tool for

We consider the hard right of today inherently anti-democratic.

Is koshing how hate groups go mainstream?

Conspiracies underpinning the hate movement focus on a nefarious "other" as an

Is there a conspiracy theory that looms above others?

In 2021, the "great replacement" was prevalent and problematic.

Conspiracies targeting the government include sub-conspiracies around martial law,

These are rooted in racist, antisemitic and nativist beliefs.

To what extent are these hate groups aware of each other?

Global awareness depends on the group and its specific ideology.

Cross organizing and recruiting between groups is highly concerning, particularly

Those interactions push hard-right ideas deeper into the mainstream.

We raise concern about decisions by some GOP officials to spread conspiracies as

We don't do individuals. We do hate groups.

We have criteria for groups.

In 2021, we documented 92 militia groups. They have obsessions with field-training

They hold an absolutist and warped interpretation of the Second Amendment.

They will emerge stronger if the pressure doesn't continue.

The mainstreaming of hard-right ideas is definitely a factor.

As I mentioned before, the motivation to be a "card-carrying" member is diminished

The full impact of the legal crackdown is yet to be determined.

We have a more positive and hopeful story to tell.

Stories Chosen For You

Review of Enrique Tarrio's phone in January unlocked evidence

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