David Neiwert Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Verso
Like the proverbial overnight sensation that actually took years, the roots of Donald Trump’s alt-right America stretch back to the 1990s, to patriot militias, white supremacists and Tea Party activists.
Emboldened by right-wing media, they found a common object of loathing in the first black president. Their unlikely messiah was a Donald Trump, but is it accurate to call him an ideologue?
Investigative journalist David Neiwert has tracked US extremists for more than two decades.
He talks to Paul Thomas about the result: his book Alt-America: The Rise of the Radical Right in the Time of Trump.
About the author
David Neiwert is a prize-winning investigative journalist based in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest correspondent for the Southern Poverty Law Center. His most recent of several books include Alt-America: The Rise of the Radical Right in the Age of Trump and Of Orcas and Men: What Killer Whales Can Teach Us.
Photo: Word Christchurch
This audio was recorded in partnership with 2018 Word Christchurch Festival. Its next season is scheduled for May 2019, and the full festival returns in 2020.
