Donald Trump Jr. and his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle , were recently booed off stage during an appearance at the University of California in Los Angeles, which was intended to promote Trump Jr.’s new book, Triggered: How The Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us . Given that Trump Jr. is purportedly open to dialogue, the crowd began to boo him and Guilfoyle after learning that he would not be answering questions.
According to a Twitter thread by Matthew Sheffield — the host of the Theory of Change podcast who has been researching the recent reemergence of the alt-right — the incident was the culmination of an alt-right campaign spearheaded by Nick Fuentes, an American YouTuber who attended the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville that led to the death of Heather Heyer. Sheffield claims that Fuentes has been “rebuilding the alt-right under a Christian nationalist banner” to connect with GOP voters more effectively.
After Charlottesville, members of the alt-right reportedly split into competing groups: the original leaders in a faction that is interested in the “European fascist aesthetic,” and Fuentes’ faction, which merges white nationalist views and a “Christian supremacist framework” — something he believes that Christian conservatives will be more receptive to.
Fuentes is allegedly taking aim at groups like Turning Point USA — Charlie Kirk’s organization, which organized Trump Jr.’s event — that push libertarian arguments. Fuentes’ team reportedly attacks these groups and their members as sell-outs as opposed to real Republicans, a narrative that Sheffield highlights has been dominant in GOP politics for approximately 50 years.
“Fuentes fans have stacked college tour events organized by grift groups like TPUSA, Young Americans for Freedom, and overwhelmed the question and answer lines posing questions that expose how little the conservative establishment cares about social conservative ideas.”
Trump Jr.’s refusal to answer questions allowed Fuentes’ team to expose his perceived hypocrisy, Sheffield wrote. Another example that he spotlights is the low priority that many social conservatives place on stopping LGBT rights. He points to libertarian Christian David French, who has faced “scathing attacks” for claiming that Christians should accept the fact that America will likely never vote to roll back same-sex marriage or criminalize abortion.
Although Sheffield notes the alt-right is small, which is one reason the GOP purportedly blows them off, he added that Trump Jr. and others who have been heckled — including Texas Representative Dan Crenshaw — don’t appear to know how to push back against people further right on the political spectrum.
“One last point is that grifter conservatives like Charlie Kirk, Don Jr, Ben Shapiro and others like them have built their brand on ‘free speech’ absolutism and by saying stupid and offensive things,” he writes.
“Of course, they were never actually concerned about free speech,” he concludes, highlighting that the “posture” of free speech leaves such conservatives open to attacks from anyone that was more “offensive and more brazen,” so long as they also operate under the purported mission of protecting Christian values.
As The Inquisitr previously reported, white nationalist Richard Spencer, who coined the term “alt-right,” is viewed as the leader of the movement, which often promotes racial segregation, white identitarianism, and right-wing politics.
Spencer was invited on CNN back in July for an appearance during which he criticized President Donald Trump, which led many to criticize the network for giving him a platform.
