The American Far-right Finds its Leader

Observers of the American political scene make errors when they are satisfied with following the policies of the two major parties, as they miss out on the comprehensive picture of political life and neglect influential forces that play a significant role, sometimes escalating according to changing circumstances so that these forces become a major player in the political arena. We mean here, in particular, the forces of the American extreme right,´-or-Far-Right, which has accompanied American history since ancient times, and among its most important manifestations are the supporters of racial discrimination who were framed in organizations and groups covering all states, and their influence on American political life changes up´-or-down according to the multiple variables in the different stages.
The civil society organization SPLC, which is specialized in prosecuting hate groups, as it calls them, has counted more than 830 active groups in all American states, including the Ku Klux Klan, a name given to many old fraternal organizations that believe in white supremacy, anti-Semitism and anti-Catholicism. They used burning on the cross against their opponents, especially Africans, and have groups that still work today depending on twisted methods to avoid prosecution. There are also neo-Nazis, white nationalists, supporters of white supremacy, Supporters of Christian identity, neo-Confederates, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, and others. Note that according to population statistics in 2016, whites constitute 62% of the total population, Hispanics 18%, Africans 13% and Asians 7%. However, the death rate of whites exceeded their birth rate, and about One million immigrants a year acquire US citizenship, most of whom are non-white.
Some organizations have recently emerged in various events, the most important of which is the attack on Congress last January, such as the "Q-Anon" movement, which beliefs in the conspiracy theory that says that there is an alleged secret plan of the so-called "Deep State" in America against President Trump and his supporters, hatched by Democrats. The US government has been infiltrated by an international ring of pedophiles and Satanists, and Trump has been put in power to fight it. Supporters of the movement made their way to Congress with the victory of pro-Q-Anon Marjorie Taylor Greene in Georgia in the 2020 elections, and others are preparing to run in the upcoming legislative elections. According to the "Media Matters" observatory, about 40 people who support the theories of "Q-Anon" ran for the congressional elections in 2022, a record number that indicates an increase in their presence among the hardline whites, her main audience. The FBI has classified the organization as a dangerous one.
As well as the "Proud Boys" organization, which was founded in 2016 in conjunction with Trump s candidacy for the presidency, an extreme right-wing group described as a "misogynistic, anti-immigration group consisting of only white males, adopting neo-fascist ideology and "defending the values of the West", a supporter of Trump, who praised her during his debate with Biden. Its members described themselves as "Western chauvinists" and declared their willingness to carry out acts of violence on behalf of President Trump. They carried out violent attacks against members of the Black Lives Matter movement (BLM) in anti-racism demonstrations.
White Supremacists, which include a range of groups and organizations, including "Oath Guards" that recruit veterans, and "Skinheads" who are characterized by having their heads completely shaved and tattoos on their bodies, and their metal-tipped shoes to attack their opponents. And the "Neo-Nazis" who -dir-ect their hatred of all minorities, especially the Jews, claiming that they refused to integrate into the white race, and believe that America has been deteriorated due to the loss of homogeneity and racial awareness. As well as the "Alt-Right," and their name comes from their accusation of the traditional right, especially the Republican Party, of being weak in front of the liberals. They believe that the "white identity" is under attack from non-white races to undermine the power and civilization of whites. The U.S must go back to its Anglo-Saxon Protestant ancestry. Trump s slogan "Make America Great Again” (MAGA), is another euphemism for the same meaning. Many groups of the American Far-Right are communicating with the likes of them in European countries that are also witnessing a significant rise in their power and influence in the European political arena.
We have mentioned some of the most well-known far-right groups, but it is difficult to list them all. The exact number of members of these groups is not known, but they are estimated in total in the hundreds of thousands. It is necessary to pay attention to one of the important aspects of the power of the extreme right, which is the armed militias that take advantage of the Constitution s permission for Americans to own and carry weapons, such as pistols and automatic rifles, to form armed groups that operate between overt and covert, and sometimes carry out armed operations, the largest of which was the Oklahoma bombing in 1995 and the shooting in the Petersburg synagogue in 2018. Some of them specialize in attacking the demonstrations organized by supporters of the defense of minority rights and liberal democrats in general. When counting the number of their attacks, it is more than the attacks of Islamic extremists in America. After many armed groups were described as "hidden" and "disguised", they became under President Trump more daring in their public appearances and activities. They get training for combat in rural areas and intensify their activities via the Internet and social media. Among the many armed groups emerged names such as "Boogaloo Bois", which advocates ethnic civil war and the overthrow of the US government, the "Three Percent" and others.
Many American political analysts underestimated the power and influence of the extreme right until Trump won the presidency, which enabled the rise of the far-right to become a force to be reckoned with in the political arena. The most obvious expression of this was that they reached the point of attacking the Capitol, the symbol of democracy in the US, trying to overthrow politicians from the two traditional parties to make Trump, their favorite candidate, succeed on the pretext that the elections were stolen and rigged, despite its results that confirmed Biden s victory. Criminal investigations confirmed the participation of the most prominent far-right groups in the attack, including their clothes, banners, flags, and other signs. Some of these groups sought to hide their presence, while others boasted of their affiliations. It is expected that the investigation will show that the attack on the Capitol was not peaceful demonstrations that spontaneously turned violent to occupy the building, but rather a premeditated act, a semi-pre-planned coup by extremist right-wing leaders and groups loyal to President Trump, on which he depends more than his dependence on many Republican Party figures opposed to some of his policies despite the consensus in the conservative and right-wing public policies.
We can sum up the policies of the American extreme right, which brings together most of its organizations and groups, despite its many ramifications, with hostility to foreigners, rejecting the idea of cultural pluralism, portraying immigrants as threats to national identity, causing unemployment and crime, and taking advantage of what the welfare state provides, preventing immigration from countries with colored races, and preventing colored Americans, Jews, and non-Protestant religious minorities from reaching positions of power and influence. On this basis, they strongly resisted the arrival of John F. Kennedy, the first Catholic president, and Barack Obama, the first president of African descent. In addition to opposing social welfare policies, resisting amending the constitution to-limit- citizens possession and carrying of arms, refusing freedom of abortion, and opposing giving equal rights to homosexuals. Its positions on the democratic system fluctuate between trying to take advantage of what it provides from the possibility of public activity, and preferring violence to achieve goals faster than democratic means. The difference between the traditional right and the extreme right is that the first always seeks to achieve its goals through democratic means, while the second calls for forced intervention and the use of violence to achieve the same goals. When some groups of the extreme right prefer democratic means, they follow a method that has proven successful in being used by the European extreme right, which has become involved in governments and parliaments, including even the European Parliament. And through coordinating some of its groups with the extreme right in Europe, it can reach the point of demanding the hegemony of the white race on the world.
After a long history, the far-right organizations have found in President Trump their leader who can achieve their goals,´-or-most of them, if given the opportunity by Congress and the American public. But, despite his reliance on his supporters from the extreme right as a force whose loyalty he does not doubt, unlike some leaders of the Republican Party, he has not yet dared to publicly adopt it for fear of losing large segments of his right-wing voters who oppose the extreme right and its policies. He contented himself with rejecting criticism and praising some of them as American patriots. He could have changed his policy if the coup attempt succeeded after occupying the Capitol Building and rejecting the election results that gave Biden the victory.
As for President Biden, he admitted in his swearing-in ceremony that the extreme right has become a danger and an enemy that must be confronted. He is currently under criticism for not taking sufficient deterrent measures against them. While others believe that confronting the extremists fears will turn into a way to get rid of the regime s opponents. But several organizations, especially armed ones, cannot be dealt with, within the-limit-s of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly guaranteed by the constitution and the democratic system. Perhaps it is necessary to classify them and put them on the list of terrorism, such as political Islam terrorist organizations, and thus deal with them according to the laws of terrorism and not within the democratic laws. So far, there are no laws that make joining these organized far right-wing groups, especially armed ones, a crime. The American criminal law enables criminal charges to be brought against specific incidents and to the people who committed them and not to the organization to which they belong, which is a weak point in the laws that enables them to continue despite the criminalization of specific acts they commit.

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