The GOP Is Not The Enemy

The party certainly leaves much to be desired, but it’s the only vehicle the Online Right has for political change

Should the Right dump Donald Trump?

That was the question posed at a recent debate hosted by right-leaning publication UnHerd. The debate primarily centered on British and European concerns (which makes sense since it was held in the UK) and their particular issues. But it’s not a question only those across the Atlantic are asking. It’s something commonly brought up in the U.S.

There are two different types that suggest dumping Trump. One is the Never Trumper types who want the pre-Trump party back. The others are those who think Trump needs to be jettisoned to allow an even more right-wing force to emerge. Both think that they will get what they want with the 47th president gone from the picture. Only the former is in touch with reality. If he proves a failure or is even removed from office, that will hurt the “New Right,” regardless of whether they hate him or not. This event would leave greater room for those with resources and institutional power to take the reins. That is not the Online Right.

Whether we like it or not, the Online Right’s fortunes are tied to Trump. It will still exist no matter what happens, but its ability to influence real-world politics depends on the success of the man in the White House. This faction does not have a mass following, money, organizational capacity, or prominent personalities capable of winning elections. The Online Right has managed to punch above its weight due to its creativity, internet savvy, and appeal to youth. It’s managed to gain a foothold within the conservative movement and its discourse due to its Trump connection. It’s not guaranteed that advantage remains with Trump gone.

Before Trump, these ideas were completely marginalized and had zero influence over American politics. That changed when Trump entered politics. Then it became normal to call for immigration restriction and attack anti-white racism. Tired Reaganite platitudes were cast aside in favor of the memes and language of the Online Right. This was made possible by the Online Right adopting Trump as its avatar as he won elections. Since traditional conservatives didn’t like the Don, that allowed these previously marginalized voices to emerge to articulate support for the Trumpian moment.

It’s a symbiotic relationship where MAGA supplies the people and political power while the Online Right offers the ideas and memes. The Online Right can’t build a mass movement on its own. It needs a vehicle to attach itself to spread its ideas. The Alt Right tried to make itself into a separate mass movement with disastrous results. Charlottesville destroyed the tiny movement and forced it back to the internet. In spite of that failure, people persist in not learning any real lessons from it.

This is evident when right-wingers insist the most important thing for the Right to do is dump Trump and the GOP. The most common alternatives are:

• move to a rural compound

• get a few dozen guys to march around in masks

• start a “third party” that never competes in elections

• vote Democrat to accelerate the “collapse”

These ideas have been tried several times before with no real success. Any person with common sense would understand that they seem counterproductive, especially when considering how Online Right ideas reached the mainstream. Trump’s electoral victories made right-wing views popular and forced conservatism to engage with them. None of the four proposals did that.

It’s an unpopular thing to say in the Online Right, but the GOP is the only option. Unlike the alternatives, it can compete in elections and put our people into power. To reiterate, the Online Right has no mass following, money, or organizational ability. (The far right’s history of trying to form large political groups is a real comedy of errors.) For all the GOP’s faults, it at least has those three things. It should be seen as a tool, not as an enemy.

The biggest misconception that drives dumping Trump/the GOP is the delusion that the masses are on the Online Right’s side. Every National Socialist, monarchist, anarcho-capitalist, and other niche ideologue believes the people, deep down, agree with everything he says. One of the many angry responses to my “BASED in theory, libtard in practice” column argued for this point in insisting I got the Online Right completely wrong. In the article, I wrote: “The Online Right’s power comes from its ability to weaponize memes and social media to convince normies to back policies and ideas they wouldn’t otherwise consider.”

The commenter argued this was a grievous error, claiming the Online Right’s value came from making it socially acceptable to express what the people truly thought. The argument assumes the majority is secretly BASED and that Online Right views are very popular. Only censorship stifles these views.

This beggars belief. Ordinary experience and polling shows that people are not in fact that BASED. That doesn’t mean they can’t back immigration restriction, DEI bans, or sensible crime policies. The public is a mercurial beast, after all. But the people are not committed to race realism, authoritarian governance, anti-egalitarianism, or even white identity. They find all these things off-putting when boldly stated. You’re not going to find much support for explicit racial separation in a country where 94 percent of the country is fine with interracial marriage.

When put into funny memes and policy terms of opposing left-wing extremism, normies can support some of what these ideas entail. But the normies aren’t secretly thinking what the Online Right is saying.

It’s important to remember that the majority of Americans are rather “bluepilled.” They view racism as one of the worst things imaginable. They don’t want to associate with extremism, at least not in their real day-to-day life. They need to feel that ideas they come to embrace are normal and mainstream. That can only be done through powerful institutions such as the presidency and the GOP. An internet-based attempt at a street movement will not provide that.

The Online Right should hope Trump is a good president. Otherwise, it will be perceived as our failure as well. Trump enacted radical Right ideas in office. The media and GOP establishment will be happy to attribute his downfall as president to that factor. If the public rejects his successor running on that legacy, that will obviously be a setback for the Right. This will empower the party to moderate away from Trumpism and give the old guard a chance to restore its power.

The moderate Trump haters are well-positioned to try this takeover. Unlike the Online Right, they have several politicians and donors on their side. All we have are podcasters, internet shitposters, and a decent number of conservative activists under 30. That’s not enough to make a viable political party. The Online Right’s attempts to field their own candidates aren’t going so well, as evident with Casey Putsch in Ohio.

It’s not necessary to like Trump or think everything he does is amazing to recognize the link between MAGA and the Online Right. Trump’s success is the Online Right’s gain, and his failures are its losses.

The only way for the Online Right to remain relevant is to expand its foothold within the mainstream Right. With Trump, that’s possible. Without him, there’s a good chance that opportunity is taken away.

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