Richard Bertrand Spencer, 42, is an American neo-Nazi, propagator of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and white supremacist, infamous for his activism on behalf of the alt-right movement in 2016 and 2017. And then something completely different happened.
On Monday, Spencer tweeted: “The MAGA/Alt-Right moment is over. I made mistakes; Trump is an obvious disaster; but mainly the paradigm contained flaws that we now are able to perceive. And it needs to end. So be patient. We’ll have another day in the sun. We need to recover and return in a new form.”
The MAGA/Alt-Right moment is over. I made mistakes; Trump is an obvious disaster; but mainly the paradigm contained flaws that we now are able to perceive. And it needs to end. So be patient. We’ll have another day in the sun. We need to recover and return in a new form.
— Richard ? Spencer (@RichardBSpencer)
He then tweeted: “I plan to vote for #Biden and a straight democratic ticket.”
Which he followed with this tweet in the form of a pro-Biden campaign ad, stating, “I’m on Team Joe!” and “Liberals are clearly more competent.”
— Richard ? Spencer (@RichardBSpencer)
Spencer, founder of the Alt-Right movement, is the president of the National Policy Institute, a White Supremacist think tank, and is in charge of the Washington Summit Publishers (WSP), and he’s been using both to spew anti-Semitic and racist books, bizarre researches, and annoying news articles.
On May 6, 2017, Spencer tweeted: “There’s a long tradition of Jews reserving the Holocaust as *the* extra special, sacred genocide.”
On June 18, 2017, he tweeted: “Greg Johnson on how the Jews created homophobia and prevented Aryans from being pansexual. Very creepy stuff,” and “Because of the distorting lens of the Jewish media, it is easy to think that all homosexuals are promoters of the Jewish agenda. And leftist gays really are repulsive.”
On July 4, 2017, he shared an image on Twitter suggesting Jews control CNN.
In the summer of 2017, Spencer was the organizer of the march at the University of Virginia that featured Nazis with torches who chanted “Jews will not replace us,” “Blood and Soil,” and “sieg heil.”
Tweeter user Paul Joseph Watson responded: “White supremacist Richard Spencer has publicly endorsed Joe Biden for president, leading Trump supporters to wonder if the media will ask Biden to disavow Spencer as vociferously as they demanded Trump disavow David Duke.”
And fellow alt.right warrior named Ulfric tweeted in response: “LOL, Richard did the right thing endorsing Democrats. He has got all these people flaming mad. Deep inside they know they won because of our guys in 2016. The energy is gone without them. So are the votes.”
There’s no telling if all Spencer is going for is an embarrassment to Joe Biden, frustration at President Trump’s failure so far to raise his poll numbers, or maybe the guy is just a crazy Nazi, which was always a distinct possibility.
The Democrats responded swiftly. Biden’s campaign disavowed Spencer’s endorsement shortly after he had posted it, suggesting he was part of the “vile forces of hate who have come crawling out from under rocks.” The rapid-response director for Biden’s campaign, Andrew Bates, tweeted that what Spencer stands for is “absolutely repugnant,” telling Joe’s latest fan, ” When Joe Biden says we are in a battle for the soul of our nation against vile forces of hate who have come crawling out from under rocks, you are the epitome of what he means. What you stand for is absolutely repugnant. Your support is 10,000% percent unwelcome here.”
When Joe Biden says we are in a battle for the soul of our nation against vile forces of hate who have come crawling out from under rocks, you are the epitome of what he means. What you stand for is absolutely repugnant. Your support is 10,000% percent unwelcome here. https://t.co/86reJEoTCd
— Andrew Bates (@AndrewBatesNC)