The American Far Right Is Not a Glitch, Part 2a

Conspiracy Politics and Reactionary Populism (continued)

Apr 04, 2025

The Manosphere

The Manosphere evolved from a niche online subculture into an expansive, monetized radicalization pipeline. Through "pickup artistry", "alpha male" coaching, and "red pill" influencers, it funneled male anxiety and discontent into reactionary political grievance. Online forums, YouTube channels, and social media platforms became ideological echo chambers where rage was sold as empowerment, loneliness was reframed as sovereignty, and any internalized feeling of defeat was scapegoated on others. At its core, there is a mythology: that cisgender, heterosexual men were under siege, undermined by feminism, queer liberation, racial justice, and modernity. This worldview is steeped in entitlement and shame, where hierarchy is considered natural, and egalitarianism is portrayed as tyranny.

Roosh V (Daryush Valizadeh) emerged as a central figure during the Manosphere's rise, gaining notoriety for his prolific writings on pickup artistry, sex tourism, and so-called male self-improvement. Through his blog, Return of Kings, and a series of self-published books, he espoused a worldview grounded in biological essentialism, misogyny, and male dominance, depicting women either as submissive conquests or existential threats to male sovereignty.

Jordan Peterson helped bring Manosphere ideas into the mainstream, cloaking them in a veneer of psychological expertise, mythology, and self-help. His 2018 bestseller 12 Rules for Life framed traditional gender roles as both natural and necessary, presenting masculinity as a bulwark against the chaos of liberalism and feminism.

Stefan Molyneux employed the language of philosophy and logic to propagate misogynistic, genetic determinist, and white nationalist views. His online presence attracted disaffected young men by presenting himself as a rational "truth-teller," while pushing deeply authoritarian and patriarchal beliefs.

By 2020, the Manosphere had become a scalable entry point into authoritarian chauvinism. It taught men to interpret their social, economic, and sexual struggles not as systemic challenges but as personal betrayals by feminists, progressives, and marginalized communities. The Manosphere presented a gateway to fascism disguised as self-help, delivered with TED Talk charisma, soft lighting, and minimalist branding. Its ideology remains rigid and violent, imagining men as natural rulers, women as reproductive property, and democracy as a feminized failure.

Anti-LGBTQ+ and Anti-Trans Backlash

After the Obergefell v. Hodges decision effectively legalized same-sex marriage on June 26, 2015, many right-wing activists and politicians began pivoting their preoccupation. With marriage equality cemented as law, the next target became transgender rights, zeroing in on bathroom access, youth healthcare, and participation in sports. The far right needed a new scapegoat, and trans people were used as a symbol of "moral collapse."

As Donald Trump's political influence surged, so did a right-wing culture war campaign against gender nonconformity. Think tank white papers, right-wing influencer rhetoric, and social media disinformation all echoed the same nonsense talking points, framing trans existence as:

A conspiracy to "mutilate" children
A "Marxist" plot to dissolve the family
A mental illness encouraged by "groomers," "perverts," and "degenerates."

This moral panic accelerated in 2020 as public attention shifted toward racial justice in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, and the far right doubled down on transphobia as an attempted unifying wedge issue. Protests against Drag Story Hour events exploded across the country, fueled by false narratives of child endangerment. While drag performers are not the same as transgender people (drag is a form of performance art that may or may not reflect one's gender identity), the two were deliberately conflated in right-wing rhetoric to stoke fear and aggression. Meanwhile, bathroom bills and bans on gender-affirming care for minors proliferated in red states, framed as "parental rights" or "protecting children."

So-called "gender critical feminists," more accurately described as TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminists), played a key role in laundering transphobia into mainstream discourse. Their rhetoric, cloaked in feminist parlance, is rooted in biological essentialism, enforcing rigid gender binaries and reducing womanhood to reproductive anatomy. While claiming to challenge patriarchy, they increasingly align, both ideologically and politically, with the far-right movement. Their "feminism" is not about liberation but exclusion: a reactionary chauvinism disguised as empowerment.

Fascism requires a constructed enemy, an "impure" force imagined to threaten the integrity of the body politic. In today's far-right ecosystem, trans people have been propagandized to be that enemy: a living symbol of disorder, impurity, and cosmopolitan decay. Their existence is framed not only as deviant but often as apocalyptic.

The real-world consequences have been devastating. Anti-LGBTQ+ violence has surged. Armed protests at Pride events, drag performances, and LGBTQ+ community centers have become increasingly common. Groups like the Proud Boys and other paramilitary formations have launched intimidation campaigns targeting trans-inclusive spaces. Police departments and state legislatures have responded with selective silence or direct participation.

Dozens of states have introduced or passed laws restricting trans healthcare, trans-inclusive education, and even basic trans visibility. What began as a manufactured cultural panic has hardened into legislative persecution—now a core pillar of the contemporary right-wing platform.

Conspirituality and Wellness Fascism

As the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe in early 2020, public dread, social isolation, and institutional mistrust collided to produce a perfect storm of moral panic. The New Age wellness community, long associated with yoga, clean eating, and spiritual self-help, mutated into a shockingly effective delivery system for far-right ideology.

Decades of distrust toward Big Pharma, mainstream media, and medical authority were reframed as evidence of a grand spiritual awakening. Wellness influencers, yoga teachers, and naturopaths began broadcasting increasingly conspiratorial content, including:

Vaccines as depopulation weapons
The "Plandemic" conspiracy documentary
5G networks and Bill Gates as tools of global surveillance and control
New World Order paranoia
Claims of "energy warfare," "frequency manipulation," and "DNA activation."

This fusion of spirituality and conspiracy—commonly referred to as conspirituality—rejected material analysis in favor of intuition, emotional resonance, and metaphysical certainty. Its aversion to scientific and structural thinking, coupled with a fixation on purity, made it structurally compatible with fascism. Many conspiritualists transitioned seamlessly into QAnon networks, anti-government militias, and even white nationalist circles—insisting that "love and light"required purging the world of "low vibrations." Increasingly, those "low vibrations" were equated with queerness, trans rights, critical race theory, and global multiculturalism.

Influencers like JP Sears and Russell Brand shifted from wellness satire and spiritual self-help into full-blown right-wing conspiracism. Figures such as Krystal Tini and Guru Jagat bridged lines between Kundalini yoga and far-right ideology, using spiritual language to justify authoritarian narratives. Jordan Peterson amplified public distrust in modern medicine and institutional expertise through his absurd all-meat diet and pseudo-scientific interpretation of Jungian psychology and social analysis centered on authority, hierarchy, and rigid gender norms.

Alex Jones and Trump insiders such as Kash Patel capitalized on this moral panic by selling supplements, detox kits, and immunity boosters marketed as "natural" alternatives to vaccines. These schemes were ideological tools reinforcing the belief that truth is hidden, institutions are inherently corrupt, and salvation comes through personal enlightenment and distrust of the collective.

The Intellectual Dark Web

Between 2017 and 2021, a loosely affiliated group of authors, podcasters, professors, and YouTube personalities emerged under the banner of the Intellectual Dark Web (IDW). Framing themselves as reasonable dissidents and courageous truth-tellers, this group positioned itself against so-called "political correctness." However, behind their self-proclaimed image of enlightenment and reason, the IDW served a more insidious purpose: intellectualizing reactionary chauvinism, laundering reactionary chauvinistic ideology, and constructing a pipeline from liberal skepticism to authoritarian politics for a mainstream, often liberal-leaning audience.

Jordan Peterson, a Canadian psychologist, first rose to prominence in 2016 by publically opposing Bill C-16, which added gender identity protections to Canada's human rights law. He falsely claimed the law would compel speech, launching him into celebrity status among anti-trans activists and conservative libertarians alike. Ben Shapiro, a fast-talking conservative pseudo-intellectual, brought a facade of logic and law-school bravado to explicitly colonial positions. A devout Zionist, Shapiro routinely defends Israeli military aggression while casting Palestinians as inhuman.

Sam Harris, a neuroscientist and prominent figure of the New Atheist movement, cultivated an image of measured rationality. Harris hosted Charles Murray, co-author of The Bell Curve, treating Murray's debunked race-and-IQ theories as misunderstood academic inquiry. Rather than challenge Murray's claims, Harris painted the backlash as censorship by the "regressive left." Joe Rogan, a comedian and podcast juggernaut, operates with a global audience and a reputation for open-mindedness. Rogan provided an uncritical platform to some of the most dangerous figures in contemporary politics. He hosted Alex Jones (Sandy Hook denier and conspiracy peddler), Gavin McInnes (founder of the Proud Boys), Stefan Molyneux (white nationalist and scientific racist), Douglas Murray, and Milo Yiannopoulos—figures deeply embedded in networks of white nationalism, misogyny, and authoritarianism. Rogan's laid-back charisma and fascist talking points were rendered palatable—even cool.

In practice, the Intellectual Dark Web:

Dismissed or denied the existence of systemic racism
Opposed trans rights, especially access to gender-affirming care
Used the rhetoric of "free speech" to platform fascist-adjacent guests without pushback
Repackaged white, patriarchal grievance as classical liberalism and civil debate
Promoted pseudoscience and dietary extremism (e.g., carnivore diets) as part of a broader rejection of institutions and expertise

The IDW's function provided the vocabulary, aesthetics, and intellectual scaffolding to justify bigotry and hierarchy without using slurs or swastikas. Instead, it used long-form podcasts, data visualizations, psychological jargon, and appeals to evolutionary biology.

It didn't shout. It reasoned.

It didn't incite. It "debated."

It didn't recruit. It "raised questions."

The result was a fully algorithm-optimized on-ramp to authoritarianism, tailored for the disaffected, the anxious, and the curious. What looked like open dialogue was actually ideological grooming.

The First Trump Administration and the Freedom Caucus

The First Trump administration emboldened the far right by actively governing through its logic. Executive power was exerted to legitimize fascist processes under the exterior of nationalism, law and order, and religious liberty.

Within months of taking office, Trump signed a flurry of executive orders that targeted Muslims, immigrants, and refugees, including the infamous “Muslim Ban,” the expansion of ICE raids, and family separation policies at the border. He praised white supremacist groups as “very fine people,” called Black Lives Matter a hate group, and offeredfull-throated support to police forces during nationwide protests following the murder of George Floyd. He described countries in Africa and the Caribbean as “shithole nations,” referred to COVID-19 as the “China virus,” and routinely flirted with the aesthetics and language of authoritarian strongmen.

While Trump stoked this violence from the White House, Congress had its far-right insurgency taking root in the House Freedom Caucus.

Originally formed as a Tea Party offshoot, by Trump’s first term, the Freedom Caucus had transformed into the legislative engine of authoritarian grievance politics. Members like Jim Jordan, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, and Lauren Boebert echoed QAnon conspiracies, defended armed militias, and launched relentless attacks on public education, trans youth, and racial justice organizers. They:

Opposed all COVID-19 public health policy
Framed drag queens and gender-affirming care as existential threats to children
Defended Trump’s election lies
Collaborated with January 6 organizers or supported them rhetorically
Popularized “groomer” language to manufacture moral panic against LGBTQ+ communities

Their talking points moved from fringe YouTube rants into formal legislation. The Freedom Caucus helped build the infrastructure for legal fascism, pushing internet paranoia and conspiracism into school board policies, book bans, and national security platforms.

Hate crimes and acts of domestic terrorism increased significantly during the Trump administration. Multiple studies and FBI reports from 2017 to 2021 documented a surge in violent extremist activity, including high-profile attacks targeting racial, religious, and LGBTQ+ communities. Here are a few notable events.

March 20, 2017 – New York City, New York: A man traveled to New York with the intent to target Black men, resulting in the fatal stabbing of an individual. His actions were driven by white supremacist beliefs.
May 26, 2017 – Portland, Oregon: An individual, espousing white nationalist views, fatally stabbed two people and injured another on a train after passengers confronted him for directing hate speech at two women of color.
August 5, 2017 – Bloomington, Minnesota: An explosive device was detonated at a mosque, causing significant damage but no injuries. The attack was motivated by anti-Muslim sentiments.
August 12, 2017 – Charlottesville, Virginia: During the Unite the Right rally, a participant drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one person and injuring several others. The rally was organized by white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups.
September 24, 2017 – Antioch, Tennessee: A gunman opened fire at a church, killing one person and injuring seven others. The perpetrator was reportedly motivated by a desire to retaliate for a previous church shooting.
January 10, 2018 – Orange County, California: A 19-year-old gay Jewish student was murdered by a former classmate with ties to a neo-Nazi terrorist organization.
February 14, 2018 – Parkland, Florida: A 19-year-old former student opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, killing 17 people and injuring 17 others. The shooter had a history of violent behavior and expressed extremist and racist views online.
October 22 – November 1, 2018 – Multiple Locations: A series of mail bombing attempts targeted prominent critics of the U.S. President, including Democratic politicians and media figures.
October 24, 2018 – Jeffersontown, Kentucky: An individual killed two African-American individuals at a grocery store, following a failed attempt to enter a predominantly Black church.
October 27, 2018 – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: An armed individual attacked the Tree of Life synagogue during Shabbat services, killing eleven congregants and injuring others. The assailant was motivated by antisemitic beliefs and conspiracy theories about Jewish organizations facilitating immigration.
March 24, 2019 – Escondido, California: An arson attack targeted a mosque, causing damage but no injuries. Graffiti left at the scene referenced previous mosque shootings.
April 27, 2019 – Poway, California: A gunman opened fire inside the Chabad of Poway synagogue during Passover services, resulting in one death and multiple injuries. The attacker cited white supremacist ideologies and referenced previous attacks as inspiration.
August 3, 2019 – El Paso, Texas: A shooter targeted a Walmart frequented by Hispanic shoppers, killing 23 people and injuring dozens. He released a manifesto expressing fears of a "Hispanic invasion," echoing the Great Replacement conspiracy theory.
December 10, 2019 – Jersey City, New Jersey: Two individuals attacked a kosher grocery store, resulting in the deaths of three civilians and a police officer. The perpetrators were associated with extremist groups holding antisemitic views.
May 29 – June 6, 2020 – Oakland and Ben Lomond, California: An individual with ties to the "boogaloo" movement carried out attacks resulting in the deaths of a federal security officer and a sheriff's deputy. The attacks were part of an anti-government agenda aiming to incite civil unrest.
November 28, 2020 – Bellingham, Washington: Two women conducted attacks aiming to derail trains by placing shuntson railroad tracks, posing significant risks to public safety.
January 6, 2021 – Washington, D.C.: A violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol during the certification of the Electoral College results. The attack was driven by false claims of election fraud and involved individuals from various far-rightand extremist groups.
April 2, 2021 – Washington, D.C.: An individual rammed his vehicle into a barricade at the U.S. Capitol, killing one officer and injuring another. The attacker had expressed support for extremist ideologies
November 30, 2021 – Oxford Township, Michigan: A 15-year-old student carried out a school shooting, resulting in four deaths and multiple injuries. Investigations revealed the perpetrator's interest in extremist ideologies.

January 6, 2021 – The Insurrection

The January 6th attack on the United States Capitol was the culmination of years of escalating far-right radicalization, disinformation, and authoritarian grievance politics. The attack was fueled by lies about the 2020 election, amplified by Donald Trump and a network of allied politicians, media figures, and online conspiracy ecosystems. Participants included militia groups, QAnon believers, Proud Boys, white nationalists, and rank-and-file Trump supporters alike, united by a shared belief that American democracy had been “stolen” by a cabal of elites, immigrants, socialists, and illegal voters.

Armed rioters broke through barricades, beat police officers with flagpoles, erected gallows, and chanted about executing elected officials, all while livestreaming themselves in tactical gear from the Senate floor. Confederate flags were waved inside the Capitol. Anti-Semitic symbols appeared on clothing. “1776” was invoked as a war cry for white reaction. The very institutions of governance were under siege.

Alex Jones – Conspiracy theorist, Infowars founder; major figure in Stop the Steal amplification, wellness grift, and COVID-era disinformation.
Andrew Anglin – Neo-Nazi propagandist and founder of The Daily Stormer.
Ben Shapiro – Conservative commentator and IDW figure.
Donald Trump – 45th U.S. President who emboldened white nationalist and authoritarian movements.
Douglas Murray – Author and IDW figure known for anti-immigration and Islamophobic rhetoric.
Enrique Tarrio – Afro-Cuban former leader of the Proud Boys.
Faith Goldy – Canadian commentator known for white nationalist views.
Gavin McInnes – Founder of the Proud Boys.
Guru Jagat – Kundalini yoga teacher who merged wellness with conspiracy.
Jack Posobiec – Far-right activist and disinformation promoter.
Jason Kessler – Organizer of the 2017 Unite the Right rally.
Jim Jordan – Republican Congressman and Freedom Caucus leader.
Joe Rogan – Podcast host who platformed numerous far-right figures.
Joey Gibson – Founder of Patriot Prayer, a far-right protest group.
Jordan Peterson – Psychologist and author affiliated with the IDW.
JP Sears – Comedian and influencer turned conspiracist.
Krystal Tini – (No Wikipedia page currently available)
Lauren Boebert – Congresswoman aligned with far-right and QAnon rhetoric.
Lin Wood – Attorney and conspiracy theorist.
Marjorie Taylor Greene – QAnon-supporting Congresswoman.
Matt Gaetz – Congressman and Trump loyalist.
Michael Flynn – Former National Security Advisor and QAnon supporter.
Mike Enoch – (Redirects to The Right Stuff) – White nationalist podcaster.
Milo Yiannopoulos – Alt-right provocateur.
Russell Brand – Actor and influencer who embraced conspiracist content.
Sam Harris – Neuroscientist and IDW figure.
Sidney Powell – Trump-aligned attorney who promoted election conspiracies.
Stefan Molyneux – Online philosopher known for white nationalist views.
Steve Bannon – Trump strategist and executive at Breitbart News.
Tusitala “Tiny” Toese – Proud Boys street enforcer affiliated with violent protest actions.

This overview of the American far right continues in Part IV: 2021–2024, and Part V: 2024–Present, to be published in a forthcoming post.