Online Antagonism of the Alt-Right in the 2016 Election

Buoyed by the populist campaign of Donald Trump, the “alt-right,” a loose political movement based around right-wing ideologies, emerged as an unexpected and highly contentious actor during the election cycle. The alt-right promoted controversy through provocative online actions that drew a consider...

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Main Author: Niko Heikkilä
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: European Association for American Studies 2017-08-01
Series:European Journal of American Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/12140
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author Niko Heikkilä
author_facet Niko Heikkilä
author_sort Niko Heikkilä
collection DOAJ
description Buoyed by the populist campaign of Donald Trump, the “alt-right,” a loose political movement based around right-wing ideologies, emerged as an unexpected and highly contentious actor during the election cycle. The alt-right promoted controversy through provocative online actions that drew a considerable amount of media attention. This article focuses on the role of the “alt-right” in the 2016 election by examining its visual and rhetorical efforts to engage the political mainstream in relation to the campaigns of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. In particular, the alt-right’s unique style and internal jargon created notable confusion and also attracted interest by the media, while its promotional tactics included the use of social media and Internet memes, through which the movement came to epitomize online antagonism in the 2016 election.
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spelling doaj-art-0fce38a5a6204a9ebf8575dd943743652025-01-06T09:09:37ZengEuropean Association for American StudiesEuropean Journal of American Studies1991-93362017-08-0112210.4000/ejas.12140Online Antagonism of the Alt-Right in the 2016 ElectionNiko HeikkiläBuoyed by the populist campaign of Donald Trump, the “alt-right,” a loose political movement based around right-wing ideologies, emerged as an unexpected and highly contentious actor during the election cycle. The alt-right promoted controversy through provocative online actions that drew a considerable amount of media attention. This article focuses on the role of the “alt-right” in the 2016 election by examining its visual and rhetorical efforts to engage the political mainstream in relation to the campaigns of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. In particular, the alt-right’s unique style and internal jargon created notable confusion and also attracted interest by the media, while its promotional tactics included the use of social media and Internet memes, through which the movement came to epitomize online antagonism in the 2016 election.https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/12140Internetalt-rightanti-establishmentwhite nationalismradical rightonline movements
spellingShingle Niko Heikkilä
Online Antagonism of the Alt-Right in the 2016 Election
European Journal of American Studies
Internet
alt-right
anti-establishment
white nationalism
radical right
online movements
title Online Antagonism of the Alt-Right in the 2016 Election
title_full Online Antagonism of the Alt-Right in the 2016 Election
title_fullStr Online Antagonism of the Alt-Right in the 2016 Election
title_full_unstemmed Online Antagonism of the Alt-Right in the 2016 Election
title_short Online Antagonism of the Alt-Right in the 2016 Election
title_sort online antagonism of the alt right in the 2016 election
topic Internet
alt-right
anti-establishment
white nationalism
radical right
online movements
url https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/12140
work_keys_str_mv AT nikoheikkila onlineantagonismofthealtrightinthe2016election