extremism

Kathleen Belew: "Lone Wolf" Label Obscures Key Networks of Far Right Extremism

While hardly representative of all veterans, the far right in the 20th and 21st centuries has actively recruited former military members into their networks. 

Whatever the Result on Tuesday, Don't Expect the GOP to Go "Back to Normal"

by Cas Mudde

It's become clear that, win or lose, the hard right and conspiracy theorists are too prominent in the Republican base for the party to stop catering to them. 

The Line Between Rhetoric and Political Violence is Fading Fast

by Matthew Dallek

By rhetorically signalling contempt for the government, public institutions, and their opponents, the leaders of the Republican Party are failing to maintain the separation of politics and violence.

The White Nationalist Fringe is Moving to the Center of the Republican Party

by Annika Brockschmidt

The embrace of the white nationalist right by the Republican Party is reflected in the fact that Marjorie Taylor Greene's political endorsement is, second to Trump's, the most sought-after for party candidates. 

Extremism Expert: America's Biggest Threat is Within, Needs New Approach

by Cynthia Miller-Idriss

"Because extremist ideas are no longer limited to an isolated, lone-wolf fringe, the United States needs a public health approach to preventing violent extremism."

David Brooks: My Conservatism is Dead

Is today's conspiratorial and ethnonationalist conservatism a break from the Burkean roots of the movement and its highest ideals? David Brooks says it is. What happens next? 

Extremism Didn't Begin with Trump, and Won't End with Him Either

by Joseph Lowndes

Pat Buchanan never succeeded in winning the Republican nomination, but he did as much as anyone to shape the politics of grievance and the image of beseiged white America that drives the party's base today. 

Religious Militancy Overseas and Its Messages at Home

"Recognizing jihad as a diverse and historically evolving practice makes it possible to cast aside the biggest misconception in the West, namely that it is an instantiation of medieval barbarism left over from less enlightened times."

When They Fantasize About Killing You, Believe Them

by Hussein Ibish

A veteran Middle East scholar warns that the rising violence of right-wing rhetoric in the US is an indicator of violence not far behind. 

From the Past, a Chilling Warning About the Extremists of the Present

“Do they want armed revolution and race war or are they seeking to enter politics?” said historian Kathleen Belew. “Do they want to burn it down or do they want to take over?”

Marjorie Taylor Greene is Just the Latest Radical White Woman Poisoning Politics

by Elizabeth Gillespie McRae

White women have been active participants in creating and advancing the politics of white supremacy and eliminationist conspiracy theorizing. Marjorie Taylor Greene's antics are nothing new. 

History Reveals the Danger of Republicans Indulging Marjorie Taylor Greene

by Austin Nicholson

Allowing Marjorie Taylor Greene to accrue seniority and committee leadership will bring her dangerous, conspiratorial and bigoted thinking into the mainstream of policymaking. 

The Republican Retreat From Governance

Dartmouth history professor Bethany Moreton argues that the GOP focus on social issues (and embrace by some of QAnon) isn't divorced from economic policy, but reflects the political decision to forego any social provision for child care and health. 

Opinion: Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Vile New Antics Highlight A 50-Year GOP Story

Washington Post Political Columnist Greg Sargent says that Marjorie Taylor Greene's conspiratorial bigotry reflects a historical problem with the Republican Party: the porous boundary between the mainstream and the extremist fringe. But that boundary is weaker than ever today.

Can the Republican Party be Saved?

Geoffrey Kabaservice is the author of "Rule and Ruin," a history of the Republican Party since 1950. He discusses the party's turn toward right-wing radicalism with Vox's Sean Illing. 

Kansas Newspaper Equates Mask Mandate With Holocaust, Drawing Fire

Rabbi Moti Rieber, executive director of Kansas Interfaith Action, said most if not all comparisons of current political events to the Holocaust are “odious” and said it’s “incoherent” to equate an action designed to save lives with mass murder. 

Four Years Embedded with the Alt-Right

Documentarian Daniel Lombroso followed several prominent white nationalist media figures for his documentary film White Noise, which will screen on June 20 through AFI. 

The Private Militias Providing "Security" for Anti-Lockdown Protests, Explained

Nicole Hemmer and Jared Yates Sexton offer historical perspective on the growing presence of armed groups at protests. 

Historians Weigh In: Are we returning to an age of political extremes?

Seven leading historians assess whether we are witnessing the dawn of a new era of extremism.

This Is When Muslims in the Middle East Turned to Extremism

by Richard Drake

It started with a treaty few in the West even remember: The Treaty of Sèvres (1920)