Dugin Endorses Insane Clown Populism

It’s now the new ‘alternative right’

Russian propagandist Alexander Dugin called for Americans to form a third party of disaffected MAGA elements. He claims 35 percent of voters are “perplexed, dazed and confused American patriots” who deserve representation. “There is maybe first time in the US history the opportunity to start new political project,” Dugin argued in a typo-ridden X post. “Something like Populist Party, People’s Party, or America. Main slogan - Death to Baal! Save our children! Down the whole Epstein elite!”

One could call this party the “Insane Clown Party.” It would be devoted to the same conspiracy theories, hysteria, and need for entertainment as QAnon–now coupled with hatred for Trump. This party does not represent a third of American voters, nor would it win any races. But it would have a lot of appeal on the internet and disrupt the American Right. It also has appeal beyond the Right, as parts of the Left adopt Critical Pedo Theory and other conspiratorial notions dear to certain right-wingers. “Death to Baal!” screams Insane Clown Populism.

Dugin’s main goal is to advance Russian power and undermine America. In the past, he felt the Alt Right and MAGA were the best vehicles for this agenda. Now he sees it in the newly emergent “alternative right” of the 2020s. This new force is “beyond left and right,” but it casts out the identitarianism of the old Alt Right in favor of an inclusive conspiratorial populism. Dugin understands this is more popular (at least on the internet) than what the Online Right traditionally advocated for and more likely to serve his ends.

As mainstream conservatism embraces Online Right ideas, this new alternative right offers the chance for disaffected rightists to still be “dissidents.” It also offers up the dream of many right-wingers to link up with leftists in a shared fight against the elite. All it takes is for the Right to shed the identitarianism and unite with their diverse comrades against “Baal.”

For many years, the Online Right called itself the “Dissident Right.” They needed a new term to escape the taint of the “Alt Right” label. This was the most conveniently available. There certainly were “dissident” aspects of the Right at this time. Governments all over the world condemned its ideas as the equivalent to terrorism and social media platforms heavily censored them. One could lose your job, your bank account, and even your freedom just for speaking DR views.

It’s a different situation today. Now the world’s wealthiest man and U.S. government accounts share these views to millions of people on a regular basis. It’s no longer dissident if it’s informing the current presidential administration and the conservative movement. It’s gone mainstream, and for some that’s a problem. They don’t want to be conservatives, even if that means that conservatives now tackle the identity issues. It’s too boring and complacent. They want something exciting and “revolutionary.” Some have reacted to the mainstreaming of the Online Right by reveling in neo-Nazism and other unpalatable aspects. But this is self-limiting. Smarter figures have turned to conspiratorial populism as more fertile ground in which to gain a large audience and stand apart from normal conservatism.

The Right’s fascination with conspiratorial populism isn’t a new phenomenon. QAnon was huge during the first Trump term and conservative influencers were eager to champion Insane Clown Populism throughout the early 2020s. These could range from believing that Damar Hamlin was replaced by a body double to blaming black violence on the Nephilim. While stupid, it usually had the goal of driving support for right-wing candidates and causes. The ICP was strongly pro-Trump and saw him as a persecuted figure by the regime.

But that’s changed. The ICP now mostly supports anti-Trump assumptions. The president has fallen on the wrong side of Critical Pedo Theory and, according to the internet, appears to be delivering America’s worst defeat in its history with the Iranian conflict. Hence, Dugin’s desire to form a third party out of MAGA’s discontents.

Dugin realizes that the conspiratorial populism focus can attract more people than a strict commitment to identitarianism. As I wrote last month:

It paints a clear picture of bad elites and good people. Bad things happen because the bad establishment is in charge, not the good people. We need radical change to correct this state of affairs. The exact details of what these bad elites are doing is up to the individual influencer and his own political preferences. But the general picture remains largely the same. This is easier to get across than resorting to theory drawn from Marxism, libertarianism, or identitarianism. It’s just an us vs. them–and there’s a whole lot more of “us” than there is of “them.”

That makes it very inclusive. Something like identitarianism would exclude a great number of people. Conspiratorial populism, on the other hand, welcomes all, regardless if you’re black, brown, white, Asian, man, woman, gay, straight, socialist, conservative, libertarian, Christian, Muslim, or even Jewish (though that’s the most contended identity in this thinking). You just gotta believe in the conspiracy theories about the bad elite. That’s it. This allows influencers to have far bigger audiences than they would with more restrictive ideological framings.

If you’re an influencer, whether Left or Right, it’s smart for your bottom line to appeal to this sentiment. Dave Smith and Hasan Piker may technically be on the opposite sides of the political spectrum, but many of their opinions sound exactly alike due to this appeal to conspiratorial populism. The Young Turks moved away from Democratic boosterism to internet populism. Similarly, Megyn Kelly veered away from standard conservatism to this.

It is the most popular form of internet politics and it unites a diverse coalition of figures. It helped Trump in 2024, but it doesn’t help him anymore.

For all intents and purposes, this is the new alternative right. With conservatism more focused on identity issues and ideas from the Online Right, the only way to distinguish yourself is to focus on conspiratorial populism. It gives you a much broader audience than mere anti-Trump white identitarianism and allows one to connect with the Left. The internet loves it, and it may seem like the voice of the Silent Majority if you get all your news from X dot com.

Dugin knows what he’s doing. He doesn’t want America to be made great again. He wants it to be weak and divided so Russia and other powers can do as they please. There’s a conversation to be had about America’s relationship with Russia, but one should always be skeptical about agreeing with a man who wants your country destroyed.

Dugin recognizes the Insane Clown Party is a problem for America. It’s capable of deluding people’s sense of reality and can turn them against their own country. It’s too popular to be ignored, and it can win over people from many walks of life. There’s little chance it could sustain a political party, but that doesn’t matter. It can still impact elections by convincing some people on how to vote

That’s enough for Dugin to want Americans to rally to its banner.

You can now preorder Scott Greer’s new book, “Whitepill: The Online Right and the Making of Trump’s America,” from this link.