the alt right

White Nationalist Leader Richard Spencer Says, ‘America Belongs to White Men’

Richard Spencer Photo: Courtesy of CNN

White nationalist leader Richard Spencer continued to espouse his dangerous rhetoric during an unauthorized speech at Texas A&M last night, which was met with widespread protests.

To a crowd of approximately 400, Spencer — whose cry of “Hail Trump” infamously prompted a Hitler salute at an ‘alt-right’ gathering last month — praised Trump as “the first step toward white identity politics in the United States.” While a few in the audience clapped, most of the attendees appeared to be there in dissent, jeering Spencer as he spoke. According to a student reporter, there were at least two potential altercations during the speech and some students had to be escorted out.

“Whether it’s nice to say that or not, we won, and we got to define what America means,” Spencer declared. “That means we got to define what this continent means. America at the end of the day belongs to white men.”

Like the alt-right movement at large, Spencer’s rhetoric is an ugly blend of racism and misogyny working in tandem. At a press conference in advance of his speech, he derided feminism as having “seduced many women into thinking that ‘Oh, men are wrong, I need to be myself, I need to have a career, I need to do this.’”

“They wake up,” he added, “they’re 45, they’re living with cats and they’re extremely unhappy.” (Add cats to the list of groups Spencer apparently hates.)

Also at the presser, Spencer mocked the school president and the students demonstrating against him. “The fact that the president of Texas A&M University has created the world’s largest safe space, I think we might need to call Guinness,” he said. “It shows the power of the ideas. He’s actually making us much more powerful. He is demonstrating the truth that our ideas are important.”

Hundreds of students protested against Spencer’s speech, which was not authorized by the school but was organized by a former student who rented out a space on campus. According to reports, two non-student demonstrators were arrested, and videos and images show riot police clashing with protestors. University officials roundly condemned Spencer’s visit as being “in direct conflict with our core values,” while the school organized a university-wide event called Aggies United to counter Spencer’s hateful views.

White Nationalist Says, ‘America Belongs to White Men’