The chaos that occurred in Charlottesville this weekend and the incendiary words of President Donald Trump that followed have given the "alt-right" a new antagonist to blame in the "alt-left."
SEE ALSO:The internet attempts to comprehend Trump's unhinged press conferenceSuch is the case with the planned protests that were slated to be carried out at several Google locations around the nation this coming weekend in response to the firing of James Damore, the software engineer who wrote the controversial anti-diversity "manifesto." Organizers have indefinitely postponed the protests, blaming "alt-left terrorist threats."
Trump rattled off the phrase "alt-left" in his fiery press conference on Tuesday, a term extremist researchers have said was made up by the far-right to refer to left-leaning groups they don't like.
Trump seemed to lump a wide array of Charlottesville counter-protesters together in his comments (while at the same time complaining about the media's generalization of protesters spouting Nazi slogans as white supremacists). There's no group that self-identifies as "alt-left," but vocal "alt-right" leaders have maliciously used the label when talking about Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter protesters. The "alt-right" rose to prominence during the 2016 election and includes an amalgam of populists, racists, and white supremacists.
The #MarchOnGoogle protests were spearheaded by Jack Posobiec, a popular figure among members of the "alt-right," best known for helping to propagate the #Pizzagate and Seth Rich conspiracies.
The marches were to take place in nine cities where Google has offices.
Despite our clear and straightfoward statements denouncing bigotry and hatred, CNN and other mainstream media made malicious and false statements that our peaceful march was being organized by Nazi sympathizers.
Following the articles, credible threats from known Alt Left terrorist groups have been reported to and relevant authorities have been notified.
Earlier this week, Posobiec shared a story from CNN, which described the Google protests as being organized by "white nationalists."
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In the wake of the story, Posobiec has lashed out at CNN, calling the report "defamation" and even physically traveled to one of their offices to demand an apology.
Prior to CNN's report, Posobiec said in a previous post that the #MarchOnGoogle events were not "alt-right" rallies, but, rather, "an event for First Amendment supporters from across the country, from all backgrounds, ethnicity, and walks of life" while also denouncing groups like the KKK.
In the wake of Damore's firing, he became something of a cause celeb amongst many online, including some members of the "alt-right." But Damore himself has claimed he doesn't support the "alt-right."
According to Posobiec, one of the threats received over the Google events involved driving a car into the group of protesters, the same act of violence that unfolded in Charlottesville over the weekend.
In that incident, an Ohio man who was there to protest the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee, allegedly drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing a 32-year-old woman, Heather Heyer, and injuring over a dozen others.
Mashablehas reached out to Posobiec for comment.
As for the accusations against the "alt-left," Posobiec and other Trump supporters now seem even more comfortable playing up the shadowy term that Trump made mainstream. Posobiec's used the term a handful of times since the 2016 election.
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And we can expect to see the term thrown into the national discourse even more now as Trump has seemingly drawn a line in the sand for the duration of his presidency.
TopicsGooglePolitics
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