美国国家公共电台 NPR What You Need To Know About The Alt-Right Movement

What You Need To Know About The Alt-Right Movement

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

You know, the presidential campaign has really tipped into brutal¹ new territory, with both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump² accusing one another of racism³ and bigotry⁴. Yesterday morning, the Clinton campaign released a video featuring white supremacists backing Donald Trump, and then Hillary Clinton came out swinging in a 30-minute speech in Reno, Nev. She laid out her case for Trump as a, quote, "profoundly dangerous racist⁵."

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HILLARY CLINTON: No one should have any illusions about what's really going on here. The names may have changed. Racists now call themselves racialists. White supremacists now call themselves white nationalists. The paranoid fringe now calls itself alt-right, but the hate burns just as bright.

GREENE: OK, that was Hillary Clinton there yesterday. Donald Trump, we should remember, called Hillary Clinton a bigot at a rally in Mississippi on Wednesday night. Yesterday, ahead of Hillary Clinton's speech, he suggested that his opponent was going to try and label people who support him.

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DONALD TRUMP: She lies, and she smears⁶, and she paints decent Americans, you, as racists. She bullies⁷ voters who only want a better future and tries to intimidate⁸ them out of voting for a change.

GREENE: All right, we want to spend a little time this morning looking at what it means to be alt-right. That was the term that Hillary Clinton used in her speech. And she's just the latest to pick up this term for a small radical⁹ fringe. To talk about this, we've reached Nicole Hemmer. She's a professor of presidential history at the University of Virginia, and she has a book coming out soon called "Messengers Of The Right: Conservative Media And The Transformation¹⁰ Of American Politics." Professor Hemmer, good morning.

NICOLE HEMMER: Good morning.

GREENE: So you've spent time studying the alt-right and you write about them, so just tell us who they are.

HEMMER: So it's actually kind of hard to know the exact contours of the alt-right since it's mostly an online community. It doesn't really have any sort of in-person organization. But it's a group that has a mix of beliefs about white nationalism, about anti-feminism, about anti-progressivism.

And it's also about, at least in part, saying the most unthinkable thing possible because they believe that that strikes a blow against political correctness. And they see political correctness really as the greatest threat to their liberty. So they believe that saying racist or anti-Semitic things - it's not an act of hate but an act of freedom. And I think that attitude is key to understanding this alt-right.

GREENE: You know, I have interviewed a lot of supporters of Donald Trump who say that they don't like political correctness. They say, you know, when Donald Trump speaks, it's like he is saying the kinds of things that we like saying when we're drinking beers in our backyard. But they would never consider themselves as racist. I mean, do you agree when Hillary Clinton seems to be painting a lot of supporters of Donald Trump as - as alt-right, as racist?

HEMMER: I think that she was saying that Donald Trump's rhetoric¹¹ and his policies opens the door to mainstream¹² the alt-right and to mainstream these hate groups. I didn't necessarily hear her as saying that all Donald Trump supporters were members of the alt-right. I actually think that the alt-right represents a very small percentage of Trump supporters. But the danger here is that they're amplified¹³ and they're legitimized by the Trump campaign. I certainly don't think that the majority of Trump's supporters in any way comport¹⁴ to this alt-right that Clinton was talking about.

GREENE: So she is getting some criticism for giving the alt-right more of a platform than they might have had otherwise. But doesn't Donald Trump have to own some of that by bringing on Steve Bannon as the campaign CEO? He owns Breitbart, this conservative news media outlet¹⁵. They've claimed to be the platform for the alt-right. So, I mean, describe the link between Trump and the alt-right.

HEMMER: So the alt-right was attracted to Trump. They see him as a vessel¹⁶ for getting their ideas out there. But it was the hiring of Steve Bannon and this connection with Breitbart that brought the alt-right to the front of the conversation. You know, Breitbart - you mentioned that it was conservative. It doesn't actually define itself any more as conservative, not even really right wing. They define themselves as populist nationalist. And over the past year, they have really become the mainstream source for the alt-right, so the way that it gains legitimacy¹⁷. So by putting Breitbart front and center in his campaign, Trump has elevated the alt-right. Journalists were going to be writing about this, and have been writing about it, since Steve Bannon was brought on to the campaign.

GREENE: What is Trump trying to do by bringing Bannon on?

HEMMER: You know, it's difficult to discern exactly what's going on. I think he sees Bannon as someone who can package his provocativeness¹⁸ in a more appealing way. I think that was also the idea behind bringing in Roger Ailes, bringing in Kellyanne Conway...

GREENE: These are his new big campaign people.

HEMMER: Right. I think it's about trying to find a way to take his message, which I think he believes in, but to make it more appealing to a broader swath of people. I think he was scared by his plummet¹⁹ in the polls and he's looking for a way to turn that around and believes these people can do it.

GREENE: So in a sense, I mean, what we have here is a moment when Donald Trump needs more supporters. He feels like, you know, that sort of message about political correctness might draw more people in, might whip up more support. Hillary Clinton is hoping that a lot of people will see this connection to a group that is considered white nationalist and they might say, you know, I don't want to be part of this campaign at all.

HEMMER: Right. You should think about Hillary Clinton's alt-right speech as a direct response to Donald Trump's attempt to pivot²⁰. She's reminding those undecided voters that whatever the new moderate face of Donald Trump might be, here are the things that he has said, and here are the implications of the things that he's said and the people who he's brought into his campaign. And so she's really reaching out to that group and trying to bat back any attempt by the Trump campaign to pivot.

GREENE: Professor Hemmer, thanks so much for talking to us. We appreciate it.

HEMMER: Thanks for having me.

GREENE: That's Nicole Hemmer. She is a professor of presidential history at the University of Virginia, and she's the author of a forthcoming book called "Messengers Of The Right: Conservative Media And The Transformation Of American Politics."

POST-BROADCAST CLARIFICATION: Hillary Clinton said Thursday that Donald Trump has a “profoundly dangerous” disregard for the nation’s values and that he is “a man with a long history of racial discrimination.” She did not refer to him as a “profoundly dangerous racist” as the introduction to this report could imply.

1 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

4 bigotry   

n.偏见，偏执，持偏见的行为[态度]等

参考例句：

• She tried to dissociate herself from the bigotry in her past.她力图使自己摆脱她以前的偏见。
• At least we can proceed in this matter without bigotry.目前这件事咱们至少可以毫无偏见地进行下去。

5 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

6 smears   

污迹( smear的名词复数 )； 污斑； （显微镜的）涂片； 诽谤

参考例句：

• His evidence was a blend of smears, half truths and downright lies. 他的证词里掺杂着诽谤、部份的事实和彻头彻尾的谎言。
• Anything written with a soft pencil smears easily. 用软铅笔写成的东西容易污成一片。

7 bullies   

n.欺凌弱小者, 开球 vt.恐吓, 威胁, 欺负

参考例句：

• Standing up to bullies takes plenty of backbone. 勇敢地对付暴徒需有大无畏精神。
• Bullies can make your life hell. 恃强欺弱者能让你的日子像活地狱。

8 intimidate   

vt.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• You think you can intimidate people into doing what you want?你以为你可以威胁别人做任何事？
• The first strike capacity is intended mainly to intimidate adversary.第一次攻击的武力主要是用来吓阻敌方的。

9 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

10 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

11 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

12 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

13 amplified   

放大，扩大( amplify的过去式和过去分词 )； 增强； 详述

参考例句：

• He amplified on his remarks with drawings and figures. 他用图表详细地解释了他的话。
• He amplified the whole course of the incident. 他详述了事件的全过程。

14 comport   

vi.相称，适合

参考例句：

• His behavior did not comport with his office.他的行为与他的职务很不相称。
• A judge should comport himself authoritatively.法官举止必须要庄严。

15 outlet   

n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄

参考例句：

• The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
• Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。

16 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

17 legitimacy   

n.合法，正当

参考例句：

• The newspaper was directly challenging the government's legitimacy.报纸直接质疑政府的合法性。
• Managing from the top down,we operate with full legitimacy.我们进行由上而下的管理有充分的合法性。

18 provocativeness   

Provocativeness

参考例句：

19 plummet   

vi.(价格、水平等)骤然下跌；n.铅坠；重压物

参考例句：

• Mengniu and Yili have seen their shares plummet since the incident broke.自事件发生以来，蒙牛和伊利的股票大幅下跌。
• Even if rice prices were to plummet,other brakes on poverty alleviation remain.就算大米价格下跌，其它阻止导致贫困的因素仍然存在。

20 pivot   

v.在枢轴上转动；装枢轴，枢轴；adj.枢轴的

参考例句：

• She is the central pivot of creation and represents the feminine aspect in all things.她是创造的中心枢轴，表现出万物的女性面貌。
• If a spring is present,the hand wheel will pivot on the spring.如果有弹簧，手轮的枢轴会装在弹簧上。