The alt-right, or alternative right, is a loosely connected and somewhat ill-defined grouping of white supremacists/white nationalists, white separatists, anti-semites, neo-Nazis, neo-fascists, neo-Confederates, Holocaust deniers, conspiracy theorists and other far-right fringe hate groups.Alt-right beliefs have been described as isolationist, protectionist, antisemitic and white supremacist, frequently overlapping with neo-Nazism, identitarianism, nativism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia, antifeminism, misogyny and homophobia, right-wing populism and the neoreactionary movement. The concept has further been associated with several groups such as American nationalists, paleoconservatives, anarcho-capitalists, national-anarchists, paleolibertarians, Christian fundamentalists, neo-monarchists, men's rights advocates and the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump. White supremacist Richard B. Spencer initially promoted the term in 2010 in reference to a movement centered on white nationalism; according to the Associated Press, he did so to disguise overt racism, white supremacism, neo-fascism and neo-Nazism.The term drew considerable media attention and controversy during and after the 2016 United States presidential election. The Trump administration has included several figures who are associated with the alt-right, such as Senior Advisor to the President Stephen Miller, Special Assistant to the President Julia Hahn, former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, former Deputy Assistant to the President Sebastian Gorka and former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon. In 2016, Bannon described Breitbart as the platform for the alt-right, with the goal of promoting the ideology. After Trump's election, other Republican candidates for office, such as Roy Moore, Corey Stewart, Josh Mandel, Joe Arpaio and Paul Nehlen, ran with the support of the movement. On the other hand, Republicans and conservatives such as Ben Shapiro and Cory Gardner and members of the conservative Heritage Foundation have condemned the alt-right for its racism, antisemitism and prejudice. According to a Southern Poverty Law Center report published in February 2018, over 100 people have been killed and injured in 13 attacks by alt-right-influenced perpetrators since 2014. Political scientists and leaders have argued that it should be classified as a terrorist or extremist movement. The report expressed strong concern about the alt-right, claiming that its ideologies are radicalizing young, suburban white males and helped inspire the 2014 Isla Vista killings, the Charleston church shooting, the Quebec City mosque shooting, the vehicle ramming attack at the Unite the Right rally, the Umpqua Community College shooting as well as other lower-profile attacks and acts of violence. In 2017, terrorist attacks and violence affiliated with the alt-right and white supremacy were the leading cause of extremist violence in the United States, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
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