Written by Kyle Smart.

There has been a recent rise of support for Republican nominee Donald Trump and the alternative right at Metea. There are questions that many people may have about the alternative right.  What is it? Why are they behind Trump? Are they racist? What are their views? As a self-proclaimed supporter of the alternative right, I will answer these questions and analyze why this movement has become popular among some students at Metea.

Defining the alternative right has been largely debated by the media and political scientists. According to some, the alternative right is everything horrible about the world: racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, transphobic, and “basket of deplorables.” I and others who have looked at the movement without bias from the media view the alternative right as an umbrella term of many right wing beliefs (libertarianism, conservatism, tea party right wingers, etc.) with the goal of isolating the establishment of both the Republican and Democrat parties, supporting freedom of speech, and breaking the bondage of identity politics.

The alternative right “headquarters” is an imageboard online known as 4chan, however very recently there have been several media outlets embracing the movement such as Infowars.com and Breitbart.com. Contrary to popular belief, Donald Trump did not create or is responsible for the the alternative right movement. The alternative right is largely a reactionary movement to establishment politics, corrupt media, the politically correct, victim mentality, and social justice culture. Those with opinions that do not conform with progressive ideology are branded as racist, bigoted, and as using hate speech, even when such opinions may be widely supported by factual evidence. This is why some individuals in the alternative right will use controversial language to “trigger” or “troll” others. These labels have been thrown around to such an extent that they have become virtually meaningless in today’s society and unfortunately probably allows true racism to fly under the radar.  In response, some in the alternative right will “troll” with language to feed the progressive narrative.  A perfect example of this is the “Pepe the Frog” meme that has been labeled a white supremacy symbol by Hillary Clinton, media members, and the Anti-Defamation League among others. Pepe the Frog now stands in infamy with the swastika and the SS symbol.  Absurd on the very surface, it should not take a genius to discover that this is obvious trolling.

I’m sure some critics of this piece will point to institutional systemic racism and discrimination that exists in society. Perhaps there is some truth to this, the problem is that all the institutions kids my age have been involved with, public schools and college, perpetuate a progressive narrative. Where are the conservative and libertarian clubs at Metea? There are none. Would a faculty member even sponsor a conservative group?  I have my doubts. Members of the alternative right are also highly critical of many moderate Republicans, who have largely tried to marginalize us. This is a big concern to the movement because many feel like there is no place for young conservatives and libertarians in either party.

Many millennials, especially at Metea, have been extremely anti-establishment, supporting candidates on both the right and left. Many students were supporters of the anti-establishment candidate on the left, Bernie Sanders. He was against Hillary Clinton and the establishment Democrats. Millennials loved Bernie for breaking down the establishment lines. The alternative right is the same sense as the Bernie Sanders movement except it’s to the right political spectrum and still going strong. Why is the alternative right largely supporters of Donald Trump? Largely because the establishment is against him, Goldman Sachs, George Soros, the Koch brothers, the Bushes, and the Clintons among others.  If the Sanders supporters want another anti-establishment revolution to rally behind, they are more than welcome in the alternative right. The difference between the alternative right and the Bernie revolution is that the alternative right is about changing the culture to allow freedom of opinion and speech and to help place individuals in a position to succeed. We support a cultural revolution rather than a political one.

So why is there a recent rise in popularity of this movement at Metea and other high schools and colleges across America? Metea, not unlike many high schools and universities, promotes a culture of anti-conservatism. The popularity in the alternative right comes from people being fed up with this. This is why conservatives and libertarians at Metea have flocked to the alternative right. They feel like they are being silenced and the only way to not be silenced is to be as outgoing for Trump as possible because they have simply stopped caring what they are labeled. The words used to slander us have lost all meaning due to overuse.