[p1necone]

Maybe he didn't quite follow the same trajectory of radicalization/insanity as the rest of the alt-right, but he was definitely a poster child of the movement at some point. Him claiming to not be doesn't really change anything.

[gjsman-1000]

The alt-right a loose collection (with overlaps) of January 6th supporters, anti-vaccination activists, people who believe the election was stolen, white supremacists, and so forth.

Ben Shapiro is pro-vax, does not believe the election was stolen, and has had the FBI arrest alt-right people who made death threats against him multiple times over the years. "Poster child of the movement?" Unless you consider alt-right to be completely the same as far-right, that was never the case. No movement makes death threats against their poster child.

[_-david-_]

Ben Shapiro was one of the people most attacked by the alt-right. The alt right isn't a big fan of Jews after all.

[refurb]

“Alt-right” is just a label slapped on an unacceptable right-of-center viewpoint that attempts to lump it in with racism, authoritarianism, etc.

It’s kind of a useless label at this point, since it’s thrown around so much.

[jjgreen]

According to Wikipedia [1], the term was coined by American white nationalist Richard B. Spencer and shortened to "alt-right" and popularised by far-right participants of /pol/, the politics board of web forum 4chan.

So more a label that they slapped on themselves.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt-right

[refurb]

That Wikipedia article seems like a stretch?

A white nationalist launched a webzine called “The Alternative Right”.

Then “His term was shortened to "alt-right" and popularised by far-right participants of /pol/, the politics board of web forum 4chan.”

So other people used the term alt-right and somehow it’s linked to a webzine?

[jjgreen]

You could always correct that article then.

[refurb]

I could, but I like my sanity!

But anyways, thanks for the link, I wasn't aware that at least wikipedia makes that connection. I've alway heard "alt-right" used as "a vague collection of far right people that fall outside the Republican Party". So they could include white supremacists, but aren't exclusively white supremacists.