Richard B. Spencer
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Richard Bertrand Spencer (born May 1978) is an American neo-Nazi, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, and
white supremacist White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...
. A former editor, he is a public speaker and activist on behalf of the alt-right movement. He advocates for the reconstitution of the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
into a White racial empire, which he believes will replace the diverse European ethnic identities with one homogeneous "
White identity White identity is the objective or subjective state of perceiving oneself as a white person and as relating to being white. White identity has been researched in data and polling, historically and in social sciences. There are however polarized pos ...
". Spencer has advocated for the enslavement of Haitians by Whites and the ethnic cleansing of racial minorities from the United States, additionally expressing admiration for the political tactics of
American Nazi Party The American Nazi Party (ANP) is an American far-right and neo-Nazi political party founded by George Lincoln Rockwell and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. The organization was originally named the World Union of Free Enterprise Nation ...
founder
George Lincoln Rockwell George Lincoln Rockwell (March 9, 1918 – August 25, 1967) was an American far-right political activist and founder of the American Nazi Party. He later became a major figure in the neo-Nazi movement in the United States, and his beliefs, st ...
. He was a featured speaker at the August 2017
Unite the Right rally The Unite the Right rally was a white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, from August 11 to 12, 2017. Marchers included members of the alt-right, neo-Confederates, neo-fascists, white nationalists, neo-Nazis, ...
in Charlottesville, Virginia, among other neo-Nazi rallies that Spencer has headlined. Spencer has repeatedly used Nazi gestures and rhetoric in public. In early 2016, Spencer was filmed giving the
Nazi salute The Nazi salute, also known as the Hitler salute (german: link=no, Hitlergruß, , Hitler greeting, ; also called by the Nazi Party , 'German greeting', ), or the ''Sieg Heil'' salute, is a gesture that was used as a greeting in Nazi Germany. Th ...
in a karaoke bar, and leaked footage also depicts Spencer giving the ''Sieg Heil'' salute to his supporters during the August 2017 Charlottesville rally. After Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, Spencer urged his supporters to "party like it's 1933," the year Hitler came to power in Germany. In the weeks following, Spencer quoted
Nazi propaganda The propaganda used by the German Nazi Party in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's dictatorship of Germany from 1933 to 1945 was a crucial instrument for acquiring and maintaining power, and for the implementation of Nazi polici ...
and denounced
Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
. At a conference Spencer held celebrating the election, Spencer cried: "Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!"; subsequently
Mike Enoch Michael Enoch Isaac Peinovich (born 1977) more commonly known as Mike Enoch, is an American neo-Nazi, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, Holocaust denier, blogger, and podcast host. He founded the alt-right media network '' The Right Stuff'' and ...
led a number of Spencer's supporters in performing a Nazi salute and a chant similar to the chant. In early-to-mid-2017, when Spencer's following was at its height, his supporters would give him the ''Sieg Heil'' salute when he entered a room.Andrew Marantz (2019). ''Antisocial: Online Extremists, Techno-Utopians, and the Hijacking of the American Conversation'', pp. 330–331 Following the Unite the Right rally, Spencer has been involved in several legal issues. After the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, during which an alt-right supporter drove his car into a group of counter-protesters, killing one and injuring at least 19 others, Spencer was sued as part of ''
Sines v. Kessler ''Sines v. Kessler'' was a civil lawsuit against various organizers, promoters, and participants in the Unite the Right rally, a white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017. The trial began in October 2021, ...
'' for allegedly acting as a "gang boss" and inciting the killing. On November 23, 2021, the jury found Spencer liable on two counts and were unable to reach verdicts for another two, awarding $25 million in total damages. Three supporters of Spencer were charged with attempted homicide following his October 2017 speech at the
University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
. Following an appeal by the Polish government, he was banned from the Schengen Area in 2018, having been banned previously in 2014 after being deported from Hungary.


Early life

Richard Bertrand Spencer was born in 1978 in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, Massachusetts, the son of ophthalmologist Rand Spencer and Sherry Spencer ( née Dickenhorst), the heiress to cotton farms in Louisiana. He grew up in Preston Hollow,
Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
, Texas. Spencer attended
St. Mark's School of Texas The St. Mark's School of Texas is a nonsectarian preparatory day school for boys in grades 1–12 in Dallas, Texas, United States, accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest. History St. Mark's traces its origins to the T ...
, then Colgate University for one year before transferring to the
University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...
. In 2001, he received a
Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
in English Literature and Music from the
University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...
and, in 2003, a
Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...
in the Humanities from the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...
. From the summer of 2005 into 2006, Spencer attended Vienna International Summer University. From 2005 to 2007, he was a PhD student in Modern European intellectual history at Duke University. He joined the Duke Conservative Union, where he met future
President Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
's senior policy advisor Stephen Miller. His former website says he did not complete his PhD at Duke in order "to pursue a life of thought-crime".


Activities


Early activities

From March to December 2007, Spencer was the assistant editor at ''
The American Conservative ''The American Conservative'' (''TAC'') is a magazine published by the American Ideas Institute which was founded in 2002. Originally published twice a month, it was reduced to monthly publication in August 2009, and since February 2013, it has ...
'' magazine. According to founding editor Scott McConnell, he was fired from ''The American Conservative'' because his views were considered too extreme. Spencer spoke about the
Duke lacrosse case The Duke lacrosse case was a widely reported 2006 criminal case in Durham, North Carolina, United States in which three members of the Duke University men's lacrosse team were falsely accused of rape. The three students were David Evans, Collin ...
and credits it with changing the course of his career. From January 2008 to December 2009, he served as the executive editor of ''
Taki's Magazine ''Taki's Magazine'', called ''Takimag'' for short, is an online magazine of politics and culture published by the Greek paleoconservative commentator and socialite Taki Theodoracopulos and edited by his daughter Mandolyna Theodoracopulos. Initia ...
,'' a libertarian online magazine published by
Taki Theodoracopulos Panagiotis "Taki" Theodoracopulos (; el, text=Παναγιώτης "Τάκης" Θεοδωρακόπουλος ; born 11 August 1936) is a Greek journalist and writer. He has lived in New York City, London, and Gstaad. Early life and education ...
. He has claimed credit for coining the term alt-right in 2008 in order to differentiate himself from "mainstream American conservatism", although
Paul Gottfried Paul Edward Gottfried (born November 21, 1941) is an American paleoconservative political philosopher, historian, and writer. He is a former Professor of Humanities at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. He is editor-in-chief of the paleocons ...
argues that both he and Spencer created the term. In March 2010, Spencer founded AlternativeRight.com, a website he edited until 2012. In January 2011, he became the owner and executive director of Washington Summit Publishers. In January 2011, Spencer became president and director of the
National Policy Institute The National Policy Institute (NPI) is a white supremacist think tank and lobbying group which is based in Alexandria, Virginia. It lobbies for white supremacists and the alt-right. Its president is Richard B. Spencer. It has been largely ina ...
(NPI), a White supremacist think tank based in Virginia, which was once run from his mother's $3 million summer house. George Hawley, an assistant professor of political science at the
University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...
, has described NPI as "rather obscure and marginalized" until Spencer became its president. Spencer was invited to speak at
Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...
in 2010 and Providence College in 2011 by
Youth for Western Civilization Youth for Western Civilization (YWC) was a far right student group registered as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the United States. The group became a corporation in 2006 and began actively organizing in 2008. Kevin DeAnna founded the ...
. In 2012, he founded ''Radix Journal'' as a biannual publication of Washington Summit Publishers. Contributions have included articles by
Kevin B. MacDonald Kevin B. MacDonald (born January 24, 1944) is an American antisemitic conspiracy theorist, white supremacist, and retired professor of evolutionary psychology at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). In 2008, the CSULB academic se ...
, Alex Kurtagić, and
Samuel T. Francis Samuel Todd Francis (April 29, 1947 – February 15, 2005), known as Sam Francis, was an American columnist and writer. He was a columnist and editor for the conservative ''Washington Times'' until he was dismissed after making racist remarks at ...
. He also hosts a weekly podcast, "Vanguard Radio." In 2014, Spencer was deported from
Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
, Hungary. Under terms of the
Schengen Agreement The Schengen Agreement ( , ) is a treaty which led to the creation of Europe's Schengen Area, in which internal border checks have largely been abolished. It was signed on 14 June 1985, near the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, by five of the t ...
, he was banned for three years from 26 countries in Europe after trying to organize the National Policy Institute Conference, a conference for White nationalists.


Alt-right leader

On January 15, 2017, the day of
Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
's birthday, Spencer launched the AltRight Corporation and its website ''altright.com'', another commentary website for alt-right members. According to Spencer, the site is a
populist Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term develop ...
and
big tent A big tent party, or catch-all party, is a term used in reference to a political party's policy of permitting or encouraging a broad spectrum of views among its members. This is in contrast to other kinds of parties, which defend a determined i ...
site for members of the alt-right. Swedish publisher Daniel Friberg of
Arktos Media Arktos Media is a publishing company known for publishing authors of the European New Right, as well as translating European far-right literature into English. History Arktos was founded in India in 2009 by Swedish businessman and former ac ...
is co-founder and European editor of the site. The
Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white s ...
of the United States describes the common thread among contributors as
antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
, rather than White nationalism or White supremacy in general. Contributors to AltRight.com have included Henrik Palmgren and
Jared Taylor Samuel Jared Taylor (born September 15, 1951) is an American white supremacist and editor of ''American Renaissance'', an online magazine espousing such opinions, which was founded by Taylor in 1990. He is also the president of ''American Ren ...
. On February 23, 2017, Spencer was removed from the
Conservative Political Action Conference The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC; ) is an annual political conference attended by conservative activists and elected officials from across the United States and beyond. CPAC is hosted by the American Conservative Union (ACU) ...
, where he was giving statements to the press. A CPAC spokesman said he was removed from the event because other members found him "repugnant". On May 13, 2017, he led a torch-lit protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, against the vote of the city council to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee, the commanding general of the
Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
Army of Northern Virginia The Army of Northern Virginia was the primary military force of the Confederate States of America in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was also the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most oft ...
during the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
. Spencer and
David Duke David Ernest Duke (born July 1, 1950) is an American white supremacist, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, far-right politician, convicted felon, and former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. From 1989 to 1992, he was a membe ...
were among those who led the crowd in chants of "You will not replace us," and " Blood and soil".
Michael Signer Michael Signer is an American attorney, author, and politician who served as mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia. Early life and education Signer is the son of Marjorie B. Signer, a communications director, and Robert Signer, a newspaper assignm ...
, the mayor of Charlottesville, called the protest "horrific", and stated that it was either "profoundly ignorant" or intended to instill fear among minorities "in a way that hearkens back to the days of the KKK". In August 2017, Spencer was listed as an organizer on posters promoting the Charlottesville, Virginia,
Unite the Right rally The Unite the Right rally was a white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, from August 11 to 12, 2017. Marchers included members of the alt-right, neo-Confederates, neo-fascists, white nationalists, neo-Nazis, ...
. It attracted counter-protesters, and violence broke out. One rightist drove his car into a group of counter-protesters, killing one woman and wounding 30 so severely they needed hospital treatment.nbc29.com: "ADL Lists Kessler, Other 'Unite The Right' Speakers as White Supremacists"
, July 25, 2017
In November 2017,
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
removed from Spencer's account the blue checkmark that, reported ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', "the company gives to prominent accounts to help readers ensure they are authentic". Spencer told ''The Post'' he was worried this would lead to Twitter banning people like him. He later joined the social network Gab. In November 2019, Milo Yiannopoulos released an audio recording allegedly of Spencer using racist slurs immediately after the 2017 Unite the Right rally. Spencer said he did not recall making the remarks, but did not deny the voice on the recording was his. On the tape, Spencer is heard saying "Little fucking
kike The word ''kike'' () is an ethnic slur for a Jew. Etymology The earliest recorded use of the word dates to the 1880s.
s. They get ruled by people like me. Little fucking
octaroon In the colonial societies of the Americas and Australia, a quadroon or quarteron was a person with one quarter African/ Aboriginal and three quarters European ancestry. Similar classifications were octoroon for one-eighth black (Latin root ''oc ...
s. My ancestors fucking enslaved those little pieces of fucking shit."


Public speaking

During a speech Spencer delivered in mid-November 2016 at an alt-right conference attended by approximately 200 people in Washington, D.C., Spencer quoted
Nazi propaganda The propaganda used by the German Nazi Party in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's dictatorship of Germany from 1933 to 1945 was a crucial instrument for acquiring and maintaining power, and for the implementation of Nazi polici ...
in the original German and denounced
Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
. Audience members cheered and gave the
Nazi salute The Nazi salute, also known as the Hitler salute (german: link=no, Hitlergruß, , Hitler greeting, ; also called by the Nazi Party , 'German greeting', ), or the ''Sieg Heil'' salute, is a gesture that was used as a greeting in Nazi Germany. Th ...
when he said, "Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!" and extended his right arm with a glass to toast that victory. Spencer later defended their conduct, stating that the Nazi salute was given in a spirit of "irony and exuberance". It was later reported that Spencer had given the Nazi salute at a
karaoke Karaoke (; ; , clipped compound of Japanese ''kara'' "empty" and ''ōkesutora'' "orchestra") is a type of interactive entertainment usually offered in clubs and bars, where people sing along to recorded music using a microphone. The music i ...
bar in April 2016. Additionally, in 2017, sources indicate Spencer pressured followers to give him the ''Sieg Heil'' salute when he entered a room. Leaked texts between Spencer and Eli Mosley indicate that those who refused to give the Nazi salute to Spencer, such as Jason Kessler, were stigmatized within the movement. Groups and events which Spencer has spoken to include the
Property and Freedom Society The Property and Freedom Society (PFS) is a right-wing, anarcho-capitalist political organization located in Bodrum, Turkey. Founded in May 2006 under the stewardship of Hans-Hermann Hoppe, a Rothbardian political theorist and Professor Emeritus ...
, the ''
American Renaissance The American Renaissance was a period of American architecture and the arts from 1876 to 1917, characterized by renewed national self-confidence and a feeling that the United States was the heir to Greek democracy, Roman law, and Renaissance ...
'' conference, and the HL Mencken Club. In November 2016, an online petition to prevent Spencer from speaking at
Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...
on December 6, 2016, was signed by thousands of students, employees, and alumni. A protest and a university-organized counter-event were held to coincide with Spencer's event. On January 20, 2017, Spencer attended the
inauguration of Donald Trump The inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States marked the commencement of Donald Trump's term as president and Mike Pence as vice president. An estimated 300,000 to 600,000 people attended the public ceremony hel ...
. As he was giving an impromptu interview on a nearby street afterwards, a masked man punched Spencer in the face, then fled. A video of the incident was posted online, leading to divergent views on whether the attack was appropriate. Shortly after the violent
Unite the Right rally The Unite the Right rally was a white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, from August 11 to 12, 2017. Marchers included members of the alt-right, neo-Confederates, neo-fascists, white nationalists, neo-Nazis, ...
in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017, the
University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
denied Spencer's request for a September 2017 speaking opportunity, citing public safety grounds after opposition from students and locals of Gainesville, Florida. Due to safety reasons, he was also denied speaking requests at
Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...
and Michigan State University in August 2017. In September 2017, Cameron Padgett, who tried to book Spencer, sued MSU; he was represented by Kyle Bristow, an MSU alumnus. On August 16, during a television interview with Israeli Channel 2 anchor Danny Kushmaro, Spencer claimed that "Jews are vastly over-represented in... 'the establishment', that is,
Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight school ...
educated people who really determine policy". Spencer's National Policy Institute, David Duke, Stefan Molyneux, and ''American Renaissance'' magazine were among the white nationalist outlets banned by
YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
from their platform in late June 2020 for not following the platform's policies on hate speech.


Public response


Speech at the University of Florida

After the University of Florida's August 2017 denial of Spencer's request to speak the following month, Floridian lawyer Gary Edinger threatened to sue the university for violating the
First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
by prohibiting Spencer from speaking despite being a publicly funded institution. The university subsequently reached an agreement with Edinger allowing Spencer to speak on October 19, 2017. Florida Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency for Alachua County on October 16, saying: "I find that the threat of a potential emergency is imminent" as a result of Spencer's appearance. On October 19, 2017, Spencer spoke at the Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on university grounds. In addition to Spencer, the speakers included Eli Mosley of
Identity Evropa Identity Evropa () was an American neo-Nazi and white supremacist organization established in March 2016. It was rebranded as the American Identity Movement in March 2019. In November 2020, the group disbanded. Leaders and members of Identity Ev ...
, a white supremacist group from California, and
Mike Enoch Michael Enoch Isaac Peinovich (born 1977) more commonly known as Mike Enoch, is an American neo-Nazi, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, Holocaust denier, blogger, and podcast host. He founded the alt-right media network '' The Right Stuff'' and ...
, a white nationalist blogger. The event's security costs reportedly amounted to an estimated $600,000. It drew about 2,500 protestors, vastly outnumbering Spencer's supporters."Behind-scenes logistics at protest let officers control chaos"
''
The Gainesville Sun ''The Gainesville Sun'' () is a newspaper published daily in Gainesville, Florida, United States, covering the North-Central portion of the state. The paper is published by Lynni Henderson, the paper's Executive Editor is Douglas Ray and the edi ...
''
The speech, which was Spencer's first public appearance after the Charlottesville rally, was disrupted by loud protests. When drowned out by chants from the audience, he grew visibly frustrated, stating that the protestors were interfering with his freedom of speech. He added: "You are all engaged in what's known as the heckler's veto." According to Clay Calvert, director of the Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project at the
University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications The College of Journalism and Communications is an academic college of the University of Florida. The centerpiece of the journalism programs at UF is WUFT, which consists of both a WUFT (TV) Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Public television a ...
, non-violent protesting, booing and suggesting that the speaker leave was not a heckler's veto in law. The speech and the concurrent protests were largely peaceful. Later that day, three of Spencer's supporters were arrested on felony charges following an alleged discharge of a firearm, directed at protestors leaving the event. The three suspects were residents of Texas who had traveled to Florida to hear Spencer speak. According to the Gainesville Police Department, they had shouted "Hail Hitler" and gave Nazi salutes immediately before the alleged attack. Authorities said that two of the suspects had known links to extremist groups. The men had participated in the August 2017
Unite the Right rally The Unite the Right rally was a white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, from August 11 to 12, 2017. Marchers included members of the alt-right, neo-Confederates, neo-fascists, white nationalists, neo-Nazis, ...
, where Spencer had been scheduled to speak. All three were charged with attempted homicide. In the aftermath of the October 19 events,
Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
declined Spencer's request to allow him to speak on campus, citing "substantial risk to public safety". In response, a lawyer representing Spencer's associate and organizer of his speaking tour filed a lawsuit against the university.


Opposition in Montana

The
National Policy Institute The National Policy Institute (NPI) is a white supremacist think tank and lobbying group which is based in Alexandria, Virginia. It lobbies for white supremacists and the alt-right. Its president is Richard B. Spencer. It has been largely ina ...
think tank, AlternativeRight.com, and
Radix Journal Washington Summit Publishers (WSP) is a white nationalist publisher based in Augusta, Georgia, which produces and sells books on race and intelligence and related topics. The company is run by white supremacist Richard B. Spencer, who is also dire ...
all use the same mailing address in
Whitefish, Montana Whitefish ( Salish: epɫx̣ʷy̓u, "has whitefish") is a town in Flathead County, Montana, United States. According to the 2020 United States Census, there were 7,751 people in the town. History Long before the first Europeans came to Whitefish ...
. In 2013, a dispute with
neoconservative Neoconservatism is a political movement that began in the United States during the 1960s among liberal hawks who became disenchanted with the increasingly pacifist foreign policy of the Democratic Party and with the growing New Left and count ...
lobbyist Randy Scheunemann at
Whitefish Mountain Resort Whitefish Mountain Resort is a ski resort in the western United States, located at Big Mountain in northwestern Montana. It is west of Glacier National Park in the Flathead National Forest, from the town of Whitefish, west of Columbia Fa ...
in
Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...
drew public attention to Spencer and his political views. In 2014, a pro-tolerance group affiliated with the Montana Human Rights Network rallied against Spencer's residency in Whitefish. In response, the city council approved a non-discrimination resolution. In December 2016, Republican Representative
Ryan Zinke Ryan Keith Zinke (; born November 1, 1961) is an American politician and businessman. Zinke, a member of the Republican Party, served in the Montana Senate from 2009 to 2013 and as the U.S. representative for Montana's at-large congressional d ...
, Republican Senator
Steve Daines Steven David Daines ( ; born August 20, 1962) is an American politician and former corporate executive serving as the junior United States senator for Montana since 2015. A Republican, he served as the U.S. representative for Montana's at-lar ...
, Democratic Senator
Jon Tester Raymond Jon Tester (born August 21, 1956) is an American farmer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Montana, a seat he has held since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, Tester is the dean of Montana's congressi ...
, Democratic Governor Steve Bullock and Republican Attorney General Tim Fox condemned a neo-Nazi march that had been planned for January 2017. The community of Whitefish organized in opposition to the event, and the march never occurred. Also in December 2016, Spencer announced he was considering an independent run for
Montana's at-large congressional district Montana is represented in the United States House of Representatives by one at-large congressional district, among the 435 in the United States Congress. The district was the most populous U.S. congressional district, with just over 1 million c ...
in the 2017 special election, although he ultimately did not enter the race.


European Union bans

European governments and media have responded to his visits. During his speaking tour in Hungary in 2014, Spencer was mocked by the Hungarian newspaper for his call for "a white Imperium" through a revival of the Roman Empire, and for his claim to be a "racial European", ideas that the newspaper called contrived and without any basis in
European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD 500), the Middle Ages (AD 500 to AD 1500), and the modern era (since AD 1500). The first early ...
. In the aftermath of his visit, Hungarian Prime Minister
Viktor Orbán Viktor Mihály Orbán (; born 31 May 1963) is a Hungarian politician who has served as prime minister of Hungary since 2010, previously holding the office from 1998 to 2002. He has presided over Fidesz since 1993, with a brief break between ...
pressed through legislative measures which banned his entry and condemned Spencer. The government of Poland has also banned him from entering the country and condemned Spencer, citing his Nazi rhetoric, the anti-Polish and anti-Slavic racism of the Nazis, and the Nazis' genocide of Slavic peoples during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. In July 2018, Spencer was detained at
Keflavík Airport Keflavík (pronounced , meaning ''Driftwood Bay'') is a town in the Reykjanes region in southwest Iceland. It is included in the municipality of Reykjanesbær whose population as of 2016 is 15,129. In 1995, Keflavik merged with nearby Njarðv ...
in
Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...
,
Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
en route to Sweden and was ordered by Polish officials to return to the United States; the successful effort of the Poles to ban Spencer from other parts of Europe arises from the
Schengen Agreement The Schengen Agreement ( , ) is a treaty which led to the creation of Europe's Schengen Area, in which internal border checks have largely been abolished. It was signed on 14 June 1985, near the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, by five of the t ...
.


Views


White identity

Spencer believes in
white pride White pride and white power are expressions primarily used by white separatist, white nationalist, fascist, neo-Nazi and white supremacist organizations in order to signal racist or racialist viewpoints. It is also a slogan used by the prominen ...
and the unification of a pan-European "
white race White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view. Description of populations as ...
" in a "potential racial empire" resembling the
Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...
. In an interview with
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
, he was criticized for an apparent inconsistency or lack of clarity in his definition of white, with his interviewer saying that Spencer defined Syrians as white in the context of Steve Jobs's role in developing the iPhone, but described them as a non-white presence in Europe in the context of the Syrian refugee crisis. In 2013, the Anti-Defamation League called Spencer a "leader" in white supremacist circles, and said that after leaving ''The American Conservative'', he rejected
conservatism Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...
, because he believed its adherents "can't or won't represent explicitly white interests". While being interviewed by
David Pakman David Pakman (born February 2, 1984) is an Argentine-born American progressive talk show host and political commentator. He is the host of the YouTube and Twitch talk radio program ''The David Pakman Show''. Pakman was born in Buenos Aires, Ar ...
, he was asked if he would condemn the Ku Klux Klan and
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
, he refused by saying: "I'm not going to play this game", while stating that Hitler had "done things that I think are despicable", without elaborating on which things he was referring to. In a 2016 interview for ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' magazine, Spencer said he rejected white supremacy and the slavery of nonwhites, preferring to establish America as a
white ethnostate A White ethnostate is a proposed type of state in which residence or citizenship would be limited to whites, and non-whites, such as Blacks, Asians, Jews, Middle Easterners and North Africans and Hispanics would be excluded from citizenship. Wi ...
. He also advocates the creation of a white ethnostate in Europe that would be open to all "racial Europeans". Jason Wilson in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' has argued that Spencer and other white nationalists are appropriating some elements of
socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
rhetoric to critique a "notion of capitalism centered on stereotypes of Jews". According to political scientist Tamir Bar-On, Spencer defends "racialist and anti-Semitic agendas" of the Old Right under a new metapolitical guise, acting as a cultural influencer rather than a direct political actor, and using various media outlets to "disseminate his views to ordinary people in an accessible manner". Audio of Spencer speaking in Charlottesville in August 2017 was leaked by Milo Yiannopoulos in November 2019, in which Spencer reacted to the aftermath of the Unite the Right rally and the death of Heather Heyer, saying, "Little fucking
kike The word ''kike'' () is an ethnic slur for a Jew. Etymology The earliest recorded use of the word dates to the 1880s.
s... get ruled by people like me. Little fucking
octoroon In the colonial societies of the Americas and Australia, a quadroon or quarteron was a person with one quarter African/ Aboriginal and three quarters European ancestry. Similar classifications were octoroon for one-eighth black (Latin root ''oc ...
s... my ancestors fucking enslaved those little pieces of fucking shit.... They look up and see a face like mine looking down at them. That's how the fucking world works. We are going to destroy this fucking town."


Ethno-nationalism

According to the
Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white s ...
, Spencer has advocated for a white homeland for a "dispossessed white race", and called for "peaceful ethnic cleansing" to halt the "deconstruction" of what he describes as "white culture". To this end he has supported what he has called "the creation of a White ethnostate on the North American continent", an "ideal" that he has regarded as a "reconstitution of the
Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...
". Spencer claims to be a "white Zionist" and praised Israel's Jewish nation-state law, saying: "Jews are, once again, at the vanguard, rethinking politics and sovereignty for the future, showing a path forward for Europeans." His position was described as disingenuous as the alt-right does not usually support Zionism. Prior to the UK vote to leave the EU, Spencer expressed support for the multi-national bloc "as a potential racial empire" and an alternative to "American hegemony", stating that he has "always been highly skeptical of so-called ' Euro-Skeptics'".


Nazi rhetoric

Spencer has made frequent use of Nazi rhetoric and gestures in his public speeches. He called
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
's 2016 presidential election "the victory of will", a phrase evoking the title of
Leni Riefenstahl Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl (; 22 August 1902 – 8 September 2003) was a German film director, photographer and actress known for her role in producing Nazi propaganda. A talented swimmer and an artist, Riefenstahl also became in ...
's ''
Triumph of the Will ''Triumph of the Will'' (german: Triumph des Willens) is a 1935 German Nazi propaganda film directed, produced, edited and co-written by Leni Riefenstahl. Adolf Hitler commissioned the film and served as an unofficial executive producer; his n ...
'' (1935), a Nazi-era propaganda film. Spencer urged his supporters to "party like it's 1933," the year Hitler came to power in Germany. In the weeks following, Spencer quoted
Nazi propaganda The propaganda used by the German Nazi Party in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's dictatorship of Germany from 1933 to 1945 was a crucial instrument for acquiring and maintaining power, and for the implementation of Nazi polici ...
and denounced
Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
. At a conference Spencer held celebrating Trump's election, he mentioned the "mainstream media" in those terms: "or perhaps we should refer to them in the original German: ''Lügenpresse''", meaning 'lying press' or 'press of lies', a term frequently used by Joseph Goebbels in Nazi propaganda. Spencer ended his speech with: "Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!", and a number of his supporters gave the Nazi salute and chanted in a similar fashion to the chant. Spencer also admires
George Lincoln Rockwell George Lincoln Rockwell (March 9, 1918 – August 25, 1967) was an American far-right political activist and founder of the American Nazi Party. He later became a major figure in the neo-Nazi movement in the United States, and his beliefs, st ...
, the founder of the
American Nazi Party The American Nazi Party (ANP) is an American far-right and neo-Nazi political party founded by George Lincoln Rockwell and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. The organization was originally named the World Union of Free Enterprise Nation ...
, for using "shock as a positive means to an end".


Donald Trump and Joe Biden

Spencer supported
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
in the
2016 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2016 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2016 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *7 January: Kiri ...
. Following Trump's appointment of
Steve Bannon Stephen Kevin Bannon (born November 27, 1953) is an American media executive, political strategist, and former investment banker. He served as the White House's chief strategist in the administration of U.S. president Donald Trump during t ...
as chief White House strategist and senior counselor, Spencer said Bannon would be in "the best possible position" to influence policy. In November 2018, however, Spencer told his followers: "The Trump moment is over, and it's time for us to move on." The Southern Poverty Law Center reported that, around the same time, the white nationalist movement as a whole was dissatisfied with Trump's presidency. In a July 2019 interview on CNN, he called Trump's tweet about four congresswomen (telling them to "go back" to where they came from) "racist". He believed Trump was practicing a "con game" in not clearly developing a white nationalist agenda as Trump "gives us nothing outside of racist tweets, and by racist tweets, I mean tweets that are meaningless and cheap". In 2020, following the assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, Spencer said that he regretted voting for Trump. In August of that year, Spencer said that he planned to vote for Joe Biden and the straight Democratic ticket in the November election. "The MAGA/Alt-Right moment is over. I made mistakes; Trump is an obvious disaster; but mainly the paradigm contained flaws that we now are able to perceive. And it needs to end," Spencer wrote. "So be patient. We'll have another day in the sun. We need to recover and return in a new form." The Biden campaign renounced his support.


Gender roles

During the 2016 United States presidential election, Spencer tweeted that women should not be allowed to make foreign policy. He also stated in an interview with ''The Washington Post'' that his vision of America as a white ethnostate includes women returning to traditional
roles A role (also rôle or social role) is a set of connected behaviors, rights, obligations, beliefs, and norms as conceptualized by people in a social situation. It is an expected or free or continuously changing behavior and may have a given indiv ...
as childbearers and
homemakers Homemaking is mainly an American and Canadian term for the management of a home, otherwise known as housework, housekeeping, housewifery or household management. It is the act of overseeing the organizational, day-to-day operations of a house ...
. In October 2017, when asked his opinion on American women having the right to vote, he said: "I don't necessarily think that that's a great thing" after stating that he was "not terribly excited" about voting in general. Spencer opposes
same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...
, which he has described as "unnatural" and a "non-issue", commenting that "very few gay men will find the idea of monogamy to their liking". Despite his opposition to same-sex marriage, Spencer barred people with anti-gay views from the National Policy Institute's annual conference in 2015.


Health care

Spencer supports legal access to abortion, in part because he believes it would reduce the number of
black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...
and
Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...
people, which he says would be a "great boon" to
white people White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view. Description of populations as ...
. Spencer also supports a national single-payer health care system because he believes it would benefit white people.


Christianity

Spencer is an atheist, although he also believes that the Christian church previously held some pragmatic value, because Spencer believes that it helped unify the white population of Europe. He opposes traditional Christian values as a moral code, due to the fact that Christianity is a universalizing religion, rather than an ethnic religion. Spencer references his views on Christianity as being influenced by the German philosopher
Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...
. Citing Nietzsche's criticism of anti-Semitism and nationalism, Scott Galupo writing for ''
The Week ''The Week'' is a weekly news magazine with editions in the United Kingdom and United States. The British publication was founded in 1995 and the American edition in 2001. An Australian edition was published from 2008 to 2012. A children's ed ...
'', Sean Illing for ''Vox'', and Jordan Harris for ''
The Courier-Journal ''The Courier-Journal'', also known as the ''Louisville Courier Journal'' (and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''), is the highest circulation newspaper in Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett and billed as "Part of the ''USA Today'' Net ...
'' have described Spencer's interpretation of Nietzsche's philosophy as incorrect. Spencer's ''Radix Journal'' has promoted paganism, running titles such as "Why I am a pagan". Spencer has also described himself as a "cultural Christian".


Geopolitics

Spencer states he voted for Democrat
John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party, he ...
over incumbent Republican
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
during the 2004 United States presidential election, because Bush stood for "the war". Spencer criticized President Trump's administration for escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran. In January 2020, Spencer tweeted: "To the people of Iran, there are millions of Americans who do not want war, who do not hate you, and who respect your nation and its history. After our traitorous elite is brought to justice, we hope to achieve peace, reconciliation, and forgiveness." Spencer has advocated for the US pulling out of
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
, and called Russia the "sole white power in the world". His former partner, Nina Kouprianova, under her pen name Nina Byzantina referred to herself as a "Kremlin troll leader" and regularly aligned to Kremlin talking points, with ties to
Aleksandr Dugin Aleksandr Gelyevich Dugin ( rus, Александр Гельевич Дугин; born 7 January 1962) is a Russian political philosopher, analyst, and strategist, who has been widely characterized as a fascist. Born into a military intelligen ...
, a far-right ultranationalist Russian leader in the
Eurasianism Eurasianism (russian: евразийство, ''yevraziystvo'') is a political movement in Russia which states that Russian civilization does not belong in the "European" or "Asian" categories but instead to the geopolitical concept of Eurasia, ...
movement and writer of '' Foundations of Geopolitics''. The webzine founded by Spencer in 2010, called Alternative Right, accepted direct contributor pieces from Dugin. Kouprianova has translated several books written by Dugin. The books were later published by Spencer's publishing house, Washington Summit Publishers.


Libertarianism

In the late 2000s, Spencer was involved in the libertarian movement, supporting
libertarian Republican In American politics, a Libertarian Republican is a politician or Republican Party member who has advocated Libertarian policies while typically voting for and being involved with the Republican Party. Beliefs and size The Republican Party has ...
presidential candidate Ron Paul and hosting him at his discussion club, the Robert Taft Club. Spencer later disavowed libertarianism as incompatible with white nationalism, and in 2017 he came into conflict with libertarians after reportedly attempting to "crash" an International Students for Liberty conference.


Influences

According to political scientist Tamir Bar-On, "Spencer's key intellectual influences are largely those thinkers concerned with winning the 'cultural war' against egalitarianism, liberal democracy, capitalism, socialism, and multiculturalism," citing Nietzsche, the German Conservative Revolution (including
Carl Schmitt Carl Schmitt (; 11 July 1888 – 7 April 1985) was a German jurist, political theorist, and prominent member of the Nazi Party. Schmitt wrote extensively about the effective wielding of political power. A conservative theorist, he is noted as ...
,
Ernst Jünger Ernst Jünger (; 29 March 1895 – 17 February 1998) was a German author, highly decorated soldier, philosopher, and entomologist who became publicly known for his World War I memoir '' Storm of Steel''. The son of a successful businessman and ...
, and
Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th ce ...
), French New Right theorists like
Alain de Benoist Alain de Benoist (; ; born 11 December 1943) – also known as Fabrice Laroche, Robert de Herte, David Barney, and other pen names – is a French journalist and political philosopher, a founding member of the Nouvelle Droite ("New Right"), and ...
and
Guillaume Faye Guillaume Faye (; 7 November 1949 – 6 March 2019) was a French journalist, writer, and leading member of the French New Right. Earlier in his career, anti-Zionism permeated his work; later on, criticism of Islam became prominent in his writi ...
, along with other far-right figures such as
Julius Evola Giulio Cesare Andrea "Julius" Evola (; 19 May 1898 – 11 June 1974) was an Italian philosopher, poet, painter, esotericist, and radical-right ideologue. Evola regarded his values as aristocratic, masculine, traditionalist, heroic, and defiant ...
,
Francis Parker Yockey Francis Parker Yockey (September 18, 1917 – June 16, 1960) was an American fascist and pan-Europeanist ideologue. A lawyer, he is known for his neo- Spenglerian book '' Imperium: The Philosophy of History and Politics'', published in 1948 u ...
,
Aleksandr Dugin Aleksandr Gelyevich Dugin ( rus, Александр Гельевич Дугин; born 7 January 1962) is a Russian political philosopher, analyst, and strategist, who has been widely characterized as a fascist. Born into a military intelligen ...
, and "US right-wingers with a penchant for race-driven politics or anti-Semitism" like
Sam Francis Samuel Lewis Francis (June 25, 1923 – November 4, 1994) was an American painter and printmaker. Early life Sam Francis was born in San Mateo, California,
,
Jared Taylor Samuel Jared Taylor (born September 15, 1951) is an American white supremacist and editor of ''American Renaissance'', an online magazine espousing such opinions, which was founded by Taylor in 1990. He is also the president of ''American Ren ...
, and
Kevin B. MacDonald Kevin B. MacDonald (born January 24, 1944) is an American antisemitic conspiracy theorist, white supremacist, and retired professor of evolutionary psychology at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). In 2008, the CSULB academic se ...
.


Legal issues


''Sines v. Kessler''

In June 2020, Norman K. Moon, the federal district judge presiding over ''
Sines v. Kessler ''Sines v. Kessler'' was a civil lawsuit against various organizers, promoters, and participants in the Unite the Right rally, a white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017. The trial began in October 2021, ...
'', a civil rights lawsuit that stemmed from the violence at the Unite the Right rally in 2017, allowed Spencer's lawyer, John DiNucci, to withdraw from the case, on the grounds that Spencer owed DiNucci a significant amount in legal fees, and also was not cooperating with him in preparing the case; Spencer thereafter represented himself. At the time of DiNucci's withdrawal, Spencer also faced a $500 fine and two weeks in a county jail in Montana if he did not pay over $60,000 he owed to the ''
guardian ad litem A legal guardian is a person who has been appointed by a court or otherwise has the legal authority (and the corresponding duty) to make decisions relevant to the personal and property interests of another person who is deemed incompetent, calle ...
'' representing his children's interests in Spencer's ongoing divorce proceedings there. Ultimately, Spencer avoided going to jail after settling the debt. On November 23, 2021, the jury reached a mixed verdict in the case. Along with the other defendants, Spencer was found liable on two counts; civil conspiracy under Virginia state law, and race-based harassment or violence. The jury deadlocked on the remaining two charges of conspiracy to commit racially motivated violence, and whether defendants had knowledge of the conspiracy and failed to prevent it from taking place. Jurors awarded more than $25 million in total damages, with Spencer personally liable for $700,000 in punitive damages. Spencer stated he would appeal the judgement, saying the "entire theory of that verdict is fundamentally flawed." Roberta Kaplan meanwhile said that the plaintiffs' lawyers plan to refile so that a new jury can decide on the deadlocked claims.


Personal life

In 2010, Spencer moved to
Whitefish, Montana Whitefish ( Salish: epɫx̣ʷy̓u, "has whitefish") is a town in Flathead County, Montana, United States. According to the 2020 United States Census, there were 7,751 people in the town. History Long before the first Europeans came to Whitefish ...
. He says he splits his time between Whitefish and
Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county ...
, although he has said he has lived in Whitefish for over 10 years and considers it home. As of 2017, Spencer was renting an apartment in Alexandria, Virginia. He moved out in August 2018. Prior to his marriage, Spencer's dating history included Asian women, which he has said predates his white nationalism, though this evaluation is disputed. Spencer married Nina Kouprianova in 2010, with whom he has two children. He separated from Kouprianova, a Russian-Canadian with
Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
roots, in October 2016; in April 2017, Spencer said he and his wife were not separated and were still together. In October 2018, Kouprianova accused him, in divorce documents, of multiple forms of abuse.Palmer, Ewan (October 24, 2018).
"White Nationalist Richard Spencer Accused of Physical Abuse by Wife, Attacking Her While Pregnant."
''Newsweek.com''. Retrieved January 26, 2019.
Kouprianova provided hours of recordings and text messages to the press in order to substantiate her allegations. Court documents detailed emotional abuse, financial abuse, and violent physical abuse, including when Kouprianova was four months pregnant, and frequently in front of their children. According to media reports, the recordings and text messages show Spencer telling his wife that he will "fucking break ernose," encouraging her to commit suicide, and apologizing for previous incidents of physical abuse. A caregiver to the children testified in court about Spencer's abuses towards both her and Kouprianova. Spencer denied all allegations made against him, and was not charged with a crime.


References


Bibliography

* *


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spencer, Richard B. 1978 births Alt-right writers American atheists American conspiracy theorists American neo-Nazis Articles containing video clips Duke University alumni Great Replacement conspiracy theorists Identitarian movement Living people Montana Independents People deported from Sweden People from Alexandria, Virginia People from Arlington County, Virginia People from Boston People from Dallas People from Whitefish, Montana St. Mark's School (Texas) alumni University of Chicago alumni University of Virginia alumni