Before Trump, Clinton Democrats Invoked the Term ‘Alt-Left’ to Demonize Critics

(SHADOWPROOF) — Liberal and centrist Democrats did not necessarily coin the label “alt-left,” however, in recent months, the term was popularized by them. It was deployed against anyone on the left who challenged their politics, especially those perceived as supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders or members of the Democratic Socialists of America.

But in a recent press conference, President Donald Trump blamed “both sides” for violence in Charlottesville on August 12. He invoked the “alt-left,” a term largely unknown to the wider public and establishment press, and promoted a false equivalency in remarks rife with apologism for neo-Nazis.

Republican politicians from Speaker Paul Ryan to Senator Marco Rubio condemned Trump for refusing to assign all of the blame to white supremacy groups. And, in the span of seconds, Trump made a label liberals and Democrats had reflexively employed toxic.

Neera Tanden, director of the Center for American Progress and known for her support of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, quickly deleted a tweet sent on the day of the violence. “Have you criticized those on the alt left who want to join with the fascists? There are plenty of ways to find them.”

Similarly, Trump stated, “What about the alt-left that came charging [at] them? Excuse me. What about the alt-left that came charging at the — as you say, the alt-right? Do they have any semblance of guilt?”

“What about the fact they came charging — that they came charging with clubs in their hands, swinging clubs? Do they have any problem? I think they do.” (Note: Unicorn Riot posted video that heavily undermines the claim by Trump that anti-fascist protesters charged with clubs first.)

Trump just said antifa started fight on sat by "charging in swinging clubs" at racists. Video shows the opposite pic.twitter.com/YmLpd5Ow4J

— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) August 15, 2017

The Washington Post’s Alex Horton and Dave Weigel produced a piece attempting to define the genesis of the “alt-left” label. Horton and Weigel acknowledged the term was used by “some right-wing websites, commentators and Fox News personalities” to describe “a violent segment of left-wing activists — the alt-left.”

Both ignored its prevalent use by Clinton Democrats and other centrists and liberals fed up with Sanders supporters and their “purism.”

Several prominent Democrats, who see themselves as a part of #TheResistance, suggested progressive critiques of identity politics and demands from the left were the product of an “alt-left” that increasingly seems to be converging with the worst elements of the “alt-right” (the term for far right groups that includes white nationalists).

Whether through innuendo or straightforward comments, the impetus is the “alt-left” can be just as hateful and uncompromising in its “fringe” politics as far right groups.

Exactly one year ago, Joy Ann Reid, host of MSNBC’s “AM Joy,” tweeted that “alt-left” was a “perfect descriptor.”

Hours after Trump’s remarks, Reid filled in for Chris Hayes on MSNBC’s “All In.” The segment featuring what Trump said omitted the part where he said “alt-left” and explicitly blamed them for charging in with their clubs.

Al Giordano, who Reid once boosted in a piece for The Daily Beast on his pledge to unseat Senator Sanders, previously declared, “Both Alt-Left and Alt-Right are steeped in white supremacist ideology.”

A day after Trump’s remarks, Giordano argued, “People who run around labeling defenders of Civil Rights as ‘centrists’ have lost all rights to say they can’t be called ‘alt-left.’” It appears he still finds the false equivalency has some utility.

Vanity Fair culture critic James Wolcott sounded off in March with a piece titled, “Why The Alt-Left Is A Problem, Too.” It played a part in convincing Democrats to use the term more regularly in their discourse.

“Disillusionment with [Barack] Obama’s presidency, loathing of Hillary Clinton, disgust with ‘identity politics,” and a craving for a climactic reckoning that will clear the stage for a bold tomorrow have created a kinship between the ‘alt-right’ and an alt-left,” Wolcott proclaimed. “They’re not kissin’ cousins, but they caterwaul some of the same tunes in different keys.”

Wolcott even drew attention to a Tumblr dedicated to exposing “Trumpian Leftists.”

Markos Moulitsas, the liberal editor-in-chief of Daily Kos, has gained notoriety in the past year for his smug belief that Republicans deserve poverty and denied disaster relief for voting Trump. He also holds the view that the “alt-left is as devoid of reality as the alt-right.”

The Nation’s Joan Walsh, who was an ardent champion of Clinton during the 2016 Election, tweeted in November, “I am not part of the alt-left that spends its time scapegoating women and people of color for Trump’s election. Nope.”

On July 12, she wrote, “Yeah, the alt-left and right are converging tonight. Time to get off Twitter and let them enjoy one another.”

Eric Boehlert, who is a part of Media Matters for America which was founded by Clinton operative David Brock, concluded the alt right and alt left had converged when Trump seemed to find Julian Assange’s analysis of alleged Russian hacking more credible than U.S. intelligence agencies.

Imani Gandy, known for her presumptuous tweets as @AngryBlackLady, shared in June, “When I saw a certain Intercept progressive deriding ‘identity-obsessed libs’ as ‘SJWs,’ I knew the joining of alt-left & right was complete.”

“I wish all the alt-right and alt-left boys would alt-jump into an alt-volcano,” Gandy quipped.

Sally Albright, a communications strategist for Capitol Waterfront Group and a Clinton Democrat stated in March, “Alt-Left is closer to Alt-Right than the actual left,” and in February, she suggested the “Alt-Left wants to abandon civil rights.”

She responded to people sharing her tweets on the “alt-left” by glibly replying, “These are some of my favorite tweets.”

Eric Garland, who runs a “competitive intelligence” consulting firm, has peddled some of the more baseless conspiracy theories about Russia’s role in getting Trump elected. He also is prone to producing neo-McCarthyist threads on Twitter against “leftists.”

The day of the violence in Charlottesville, Garland tweeted, “The alt right inflames racial tension. The alt-left claims ‘identity politics’ is a ‘distraction’ and shouldn’t be discussed. Coincidence?”

Scroll through Garland’s Twitter feed, and more than twelve hours after Trump’s remarks, there isn’t a single tweet explicitly addressing the false equivalency.

James K. Holder, host of “Not On My Watch TV,” contended, “The Islamophobic Portland Killer was a Sanders-Stein supporter. I keep telling you all that the Alt-Left is as dangerous as the Alt-Right.”

Columnists Arthur Chu, Sady Doyle, Jill Filipovic, and Amanda Marcotte have each promoted the idea that the “alt-left” is a vitriolic faction that has to be dealt with and contained by Democrats. These are the same people that promoted the “Bernie Bro” smear in order to silence critics of Hillary Clinton.

The “alt-left” label received a huge boost earlier this month, as progressives criticized Senator Kamala Harris for her neoliberal record on prisons, policing, and other issues. Democrats see her as a top candidate for a presidential run in 2020 because she is a black woman.

People like Joy Ann Reid would like anyone on the left with concerns about Harris’ career as a prosecutor in California to shut up and give her a pass—just as they demanded Sanders supporters leave Clinton’s neoliberal record alone.

Finally, in the aftermath of violence in Charlottesville, Peter Beinart of The Atlantic wrote about anti-fascist protesters in a piece titled, “The Rise Of The Violent Left.”

“The people preventing Republicans from safely assembling on the streets of Portland may consider themselves fierce opponents of the authoritarianism growing on the American right. In truth, however, they are its unlikeliest allies,” Beinart concluded.

However, as even Republicans themselves understand, these weren’t merely members of their conservative, libertarian, or evangelical base. The people rallying on the streets in Charlottesville with Tiki torches and rifles and Confederate flags and various other symbols of hate were avowed white supremacists.

Hip-hop artist and special education teacher, De’Andre Harris, was assaulted by neo-Nazis in a parking garage as police stood by and did nothing to stop them. He and others faced threats to their safety with white supremacists out inciting violence in the streets.

There simply can be no equivalency between the “alt-right” and the “alt-left.” Nor is the “alt-left” responsible for any threat the rise of the “alt-right” may pose to the country.

It is neo-Nazis and neo-Nazis alone, who are responsible for their acts, and any centrist or liberal Democrat, who equates their acts with the behavior of the “alt-left” or invokes the “alt-left” to marginalize dissent is cravenly attempting to stunt movements for social, economic, racial, and environmental justice, which threaten the Democratic Party establishment.

By Kevin Gosztola / Republished with permission / ShadowProof.com / Report a typo

This article was chosen for republication based on the interest of our readers. Anti-Media republishes stories from a number of other independent news sources. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect Anti-Media editorial policy.

Nauseating Stupidity On Confiscating Homes For The Greater Good

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

When it comes to anti-war pieces and matters of the US government overstepping its bounds in matters of privacy and security, The Intercept is usually spot on.

On matters of social justice, The Intercept puts out some nauseating trash.

Intercept writer Zaid Jilani provides a perfect example with JEREMY CORBYN WANTS TO REQUISITION HOMES OF THE RICH FOR FIRE SURVIVORS — LIKE CHURCHILL DID IN WWII.

BRITISH LABOUR PARTY leader Jeremy Corbyn has a bold proposal to house the survivors of a devastating fire at London’s Grenfell Tower apartment complex in empty luxury homes.

YouGov polling found that Corbyn’s idea is popular among the British public, with 59 percent supporting it. Yet there has been a harsh backlash from the U.K.’s right-wing government and press, which equated his plan with a Marxist plot. “Suggesting requisitioning empty properties when empty student accommodation is available locally is completely in line with his Marxist belief that all private property should belong to the state,” Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen said.

But Corbyn’s plan has historical roots not in Marxist literature or state-run economies, but in his country’s own past.

To help bear the brunt of the Nazi war machine, the British government requisitioned both industrial and residential properties to accommodate soldiers and evacuees, run makeshift schools and hospitals, and train the military, among other uses.

All Corbyn is asking is that the the United Kingdom show the same compassion and patriotism as its forefathers.

Compassion My Ass

Even if one believes that confiscation of property is acceptable in wartime (try telling that to the Jews or US citizens of Japanese descent), does that make it OK now?

Confiscation of private property “for the greater good” is an even bigger government intrusion than spying on people.

Jilani’s article is so idiotic, it should be his last, anywhere.

Tim Price: "The UK Today Feels Like A Very Strange & Disturbing Place"

Authored by Tim Price via SovereignMan.com,

If you have been voting for politicians who promise to give you goodies at someone else’s expense, then you have no right to complain when they take your money and give it to someone else, including themselves.

-Economist Thomas Sowell

It is difficult to know where to begin.

In our election last week, 262 British parliamentary seats fell to a party led by Jeremy Corbyn, a self-confessed Socialist.

Corbyn has also publicly supported the IRA, Hizbollah and Hamas.

Yet his message attracted 12.9 million votes while the United Kingdom is under attack by terrorists. It simply beggars belief.

Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6, the British Secret Intelligence Service, points out that Corbyn, who seeks the office of Prime Minister, would not be cleared to join either his former agency, or GCHQ, or MI5 (the British equivalents of NSA/FBI).

It is said that you get the politicians you deserve. So what on earth did we do to deserve this?

Sadly we are not criticizing a single political party.

While Jeremy Corbyn offered the UK electorate the sort of swivel-eyed Trotskyism that ought to have died out in the 1970s along with flares and safari jackets, Theresa May has been making her own lurch towards the left.

So a plague on both your houses.

Our politics have gone mad, and our markets have gone mad with them. The plain numbers are stark.

Simon Mikhailovich of Tocqueville Bullion Reserve reminds us of those numbers with a sobering tweet:

A bit of math. With the global debt / GDP ratio at 320% and the cost of average debt service at 2%, it takes 6.4% growth per annum just to service the debt. Not happening.

The rise of Socialism will only create more of these financial challenges.

The only sensible and credible responses to the investment challenge of our times can be to diversify broadly, and then invest selectively, and defensively.

(Longstanding readers, along with our clients, will know that we put particular emphasis on Benjamin Graham-style value stocks, systematic trend-following funds, and gold.)

This is also a crisis of education.

How, aside from craven bribery, could so many young Britons flock to the sirens of socialism?

How did so many millions manage to avoid any grasp of history (or choose to ignore it)?

The millennials and Generation Z are right to be angry. They’ve been chewed up by the system.

But last week this anger manifested itself in the form of some socialist Corbyn supporters burning newspapers.

To anyone with a sense of history, the UK today feels like a very strange, and disturbing, place.

Do you have a Plan B?

In "Personal Blow" Theresa May's Two Closest Advisors Quit After Election Debacle

In the aftermath of the stunning loss by Theresa May"s Conservative party in the UK General Elections, bookmakers quickly made Labour"s Jeremy Corbin the odds-on favorite to become the UK"s next Prime Minister, implying May would resign shortly. That contingency, however, got a last minute reprieve when May announced on Friday she would seek to form a minority government with the help of a small Northern Irish party, the far-right Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), extending her political career if only for the immediate future. However, the turmoil within the Conservative Party re-emerged on Saturday when Theresa May was forced to part ways with her two closest advisors, after the PM was warned she faced a leadership challenge unless she sacked Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill.

While senior Tory party figures cautioned earlier against any immediate leadership challenge, saying it would only cause further disruption as Britain prepares to start Brexit negotiations as early as June 19, someone had to take the blame for the crushing electoral setback and according to both AFP and BBC they demanded the heads of May"s joint chiefs of staff, Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, as the price for allowing the 60-year-old to stay in office.

May had relied on Timothy and Hill for advice and support since her previous job at the interior ministry, and their resignations will be a "personal blow."

Announcing his resignation on the Conservative Home website, Timothy urged Tory MPs to "get behind" Mrs May but said nothing should be allowed to get in the way of the process of forming a government and beginning Brexit talks. He said the Conservatives" failure to win was not due to a lack of support for Theresa May and the Conservatives but due to an "unexpected surge" of support for Labour.

He conceded his party had failed to communicate a sufficiently "positive" message to voters and address their concerns over years of austerity and inter-generational divisions, including over Brexit.

"We were not talking to the people who decided to vote for Labour," he said.

Meanwhile, Hill said it had been a pleasure to serve in government and she believed Mrs May would continue as prime minister.

* * *

The resignation of Hill - a combative character who one ex-colleague said had helped create a "toxic" atmosphere at the heart of government. - was confirmed on Saturday by a party spokesman. The news came as May prepared to name the rest of her cabinet, after revealing Friday that her five most senior ministers would remain in their posts.

Timothy said he took responsibility for the Conservative manifesto, including a plan for elderly social care that caused a backlash among many core voters. As AFP adds, prior to the election, she had been widely expected to sack finance minister Philip Hammond following a reported clash over her Brexit strategy.

The Labour party quickly responded with Labour"s deputy leader Tom Watson saying that the PM"s advisers had "taken the fall" for her but tweeted the PM was "responsible for her own defeat".

According to the BBC the pair"s departure bought the PM some "breathing space" following 24 hours of recriminations after the Conservatives lost their overall majority. It noted that the two were so close to the PM that critical MPs believed that, unless they made way, she would not be able to change her leadership style to adopt a more "outgoing, inclusive, responsive, empathetic approach". BBC adds that senior Conservatives had warned the PM they would instigate a leadership contest at a meeting of backbenchers early next week if the pair did not leave, and were confident they could get the required 48 signatures to trigger a contest.

One former minister, Anna Soubry, welcomed the clearout, saying it was the "right thing to do" and saying the PM must "build a consensus" on Brexit and other issues. But Labour"s deputy leader Tom Watson said the PM"s advisers had "taken the fall" for her but tweeted the PM was "responsible for her own defeat".

Who were the PM"s special advisers?

Fiona Hill: Fiercely loyal and seen as a formidable operator, Fiona Hill was at Mrs May"s side for four years at the Home Office, becoming a close confidante of the then home secretary. A former Sky News and Scotsman journalist in her 40s, she led work on the Modern Slavery Act and published her own report on the subject.

She was forced to resign as Mrs May"s special adviser in a 2014 dispute with Michael Gove over who was to blame for briefing newspapers about an increase in extremism in schools. But she was brought back into the fold when Mrs May became PM.

Nick Timothy: The bearded Brummie is the son of a steelworker, who went to grammar school and joined the Conservative Party at the age of 17. He is credited with influencing the PM"s views on social mobility and the need to put the Conservatives "at the service of working people".

His ambition to be a Conservative MP was reportedly thwarted by David Cameron, following a row over special advisers being asked to canvass in a by-election.

"The People Made Their Choice" - Theresa May Vows To Deliver "Full" EU Exit Despite Court Challenge

In the aftermath of last week"s surprising decision by a UK High Court to force a parliamentary vote on Article 50, a hard - or even soft - Brexit suddenly has been put in question, having thrown the government"s plans to launch a two-year divorce process by the end of March into disarray, and sending the Pound soaring. So in her first public statement since the vote, British Prime Minister Theresa May, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, said she is confident of overturning the ruling and vowed that she would deliver a full exit from the European Union, hitting back at critics of her Brexit strategy who have threatened to try to block the process in parliament.

In her op-ed, May signaled she would resist any attempt to force her to change her approach to leaving the EU:

"The people made their choice, and did so decisively. It is the responsibility of the government to get on with the job and to carry out their instruction in full," May wrote. She said members of parliament who regretted the referendum result "need to accept what the people decided".

May"s government, which has provided little detail about its plans for Britain"s future relationship with the EU, has said that having to set out a detailed negotiating strategy to parliament would put it at a disadvantage in the talks. "While others seek to tie our negotiating hands, the Government will get on with the job of delivering the decision of the British people," May said in a separate statement ahead of a trade visit to India on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the head of Britain"s opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, said in a newspaper interview that he would try to block the commencement of divorce talks with the EU if the government does not agree to his Brexit demands.

Adding to the confusion, arch-eurosceptic and the man who led the UKIP"s successful Brexit campaign, Nigel Farage said there was a growing movement to keep Britain within the EU"s tariff-free single market - a scenario he called a "half-Brexit" that went against the referendum result.

"If the people in this country think that they"re going to be cheated, they"re going to be betrayed, then we will see political anger the likes of which none of us in our lifetimes have ever witnessed in this country," he told the BBC.  Echoing commentary from Deutsche Bank, Farage also told ITV that Theresa May should call an early general election to avoid a "betrayal" of the public over Brexit, Nigel Farage has told Good Morning Britain.

According to Reuters, parliament could in theory block Brexit because most members supported staying in the EU in June"s referendum. But many lawmakers have signalled they would be willing to reverse their position to reflect the referendum result. "I think it is highly unlikely that parliament would not, in the end, back a decision to trigger Article 50," health minister Jeremy Hunt told the BBC, referring to the EU treaty mechanism for launching divorce proceedings.

However, in welcome news for pound bulls, last week"s court ruling could allow lawmakers to temper the government"s approach, however, making a "hard Brexit" - where tight controls on immigration are prioritised over remaining in the single market - less likely.

Corbyn also told the Sunday Mirror that Labour"s "Brexit bottom line" would require guarantees for access to the single market for exporters, continued protection of workers" rights, safeguards for consumers and the environment, and pledges that Britain would make up any loss of EU capital investment. He said he would welcome an early national election if May refused to meet his demands. But the next one is not due until 2020, and the government has so far resisted pressure to dissolve parliament and seek a stronger mandate.

"I think a general election is frankly the last thing that the government wants .. It"s the last thing that the British people want," Hunt said.

A government appeal against the High Court ruling is expected to be considered by Britain"s Supreme Court early next month. May has said she still plans to invoke Article 50 by the end of March.

"We need to turn our minds to how we get the best outcome for our country," she said in the statement issued by her office. "That means sticking to our plan and timetable, getting on with the work of developing our negotiating strategy and not putting all our cards on the table – that is not in our national interest and it won’t help us get the best deal for Britain."

And as the UK political chaos has returned, adding another variable for investors to contemplate in the coming months, the next big risk event on Europe"s horizon is the December 4 Italian referendum on amending the Italian Constitution, which according to journalist Alessandra Quattrocchi, will be primarily a moment of truth for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

She said that the referendum would be more about revealing the level of public support for Renzi, than about the constitutional reform itself. Many people will vote “No” because “they hope to oust Renzi from our government,” she said, adding that sending a message to Renzi is “the main reason why they are against it.”

So as a major page of political uncertainty closes in the US with Tuesday"s presidential election, it is set to once again reopen in Europe.