In the ongoing far-right threat to democracy and human rights, there have been many changes in the months since the January 6th insurrection. More than one thousand far-rightists have been arrested. Leaders of the far-right paramilitary Oath Keepers and the racist street-fighting Proud Boys found guilty of seditious conspiracy.
Some have called this “the beginning of the end” of the far-right’s march from the margins to the mainstream. Rather, as IREHR founder Leonard Zeskind recently noted, the data suggests this is the “end of the beginning.” While one period of far-right activity may be concluding, we are witnessing the dawn of a dangerous new era of far-right mobilization.
The arrests and negative attention have altered, not ended the far-right’s trajectory. The far-right was bolstered by legions of new recruits during the pandemic, the backlash against the movement for Black lives, and the insurrection to overturn the 2020 election. For example, IREHR tracked over 2.4 million people who joined far-right COVID denial groups. Most of these 2.4 million were new recruits; nearly half of them were women. Both trends are atypical and alarming.
Battle-hardened by fights over masks and mandates, clashes over “CRT” and drag shows, and a revolt to “Stop the Steal” and overturn the election, an unprecedented number of new activists were radicalized in the last period. The type of deep radicalization seen among movement activists used to take years; now, it happens in months.
We track more than a thousand far-right groups across the country, both in real communities and across dozens of online platforms. This movement presents itself in many different styles: from tactical-vest paramilitarism to Yoga-mom conspiracism, to revival-tent Christian nationalism, to youthful preppy white nationalism. While the packaging may look different, it conceals a remarkably consistent ideological composition.
From the Margins to the Mainstream
The movement has also succeeded in creating a pipeline for those ideas into corridors of power. In 2022, IREHR identified an astonishing 875 state legislators across the country who joined various far-right groups. Legislators involved in these groups sponsored and helped pass a wide range of bills that threaten civil and human rights. Far-rightists have even targeted local sheriffs for recruitment.
Moreover, far-right ideas once confined to the furthest fringes are now registering in public opinion polls. A recent Dangers to Democracy survey found that one in five Americans still believes the 2020 election was stolen. The same poll found a significant influence of far-right ideas in the mainstream.
- 1 in 8 (12.4%) believe the government is run by Satan-worshiping pedophiles (a staple of “QAnon-style” antisemitic conspiracism).
- 1 in 11 (9.3%) believe it is justified to use force to “prevent the teaching of CRT in schools.”
- 1 in 12 (8.5%) believe it is justified to use force to “preserve the rights of whites.”
Driven by the tropes undergirding most prominent far-right conspiracies, antisemitism is also on the rise–particularly among young people. A recent study found that about 1 in 5 Americans believe some classical antisemitic tropes. It also found that the age gap in antisemitism has vanished, with people under 30 holding antisemitic beliefs at nearly the same rate as those over 30.
Core white nationalist themes of white dispossession are also rising in popularity. Another survey found that over a third of respondents felt that America’s changing demographics are a threat to white Americans and their culture and values. It also found that seven out of ten Republicans said they believe in the ideas that constitute the “great replacement” theory—an idea cited by several recent white nationalist mass murderers. It also found that 44% of Americans agree that the “U.S. seems headed toward a civil war in the near future.”
At the same time, white nationalist propaganda distribution increased last year. Hate crimes were up, particularly against Asian Americans and the Jewish community. And violence, like last year’s mass murders at an LGBTQIA+ bar in Colorado Springs and at a supermarket in Buffalo’s Black community, remains a threat.
The disturbing trends in the data didn’t happen spontaneously. It is the bitter fruit of far-right organizing and mobilization efforts. To stop the problem, you have to stop the movement. And while legal action is important, it will not carry the water for the rest of us. Now, at the “end of the beginning,” is a crucial time to expand efforts that unmask and oppose the ideas this movement is built upon. Only then will we turn back this threat to democracy and protect human rights.