The Right Will Not Save Us from the Far-Right
The notion that moderate conservatives are our best chance to stop white nationalism is a dangerous fantasy
Adam Serwer’s latest piece in the Atlantic “Only the Right Can Defeat White Nationalism” is amazing.
I’m amazed by it.
To be specific, I’m amazed at how Serwer can spend most of the article so thoroughly detailing the historical roots and present reality of white supremacy, then somehow go in the direction opposite of where these facts should lead him.
Serwer opens by talking about the recent shootings carried out by white nationalists and the peculiar threat of far-right terrorism. He argues that while groups like ISIS merely pose a threat to the physical person of Americans, white nationalism can cause a much deeper harm to American society.
His main thesis:
[T]here are actually two challenges posed by white nationalism: One is the threat posed to American communities by attacks like the one in El Paso, which law enforcement can and should prevent. The other is the threat the ideology the attackers support poses to American democracy, which can be defeated only through politics, and only by the American people themselves.
