I had almost completely forgotten about white nationalist Richard Spencer, who was last relevant about forty billion news cycles ago. But, some news: he endorsed…Joe Biden. Some other news: Joe Biden’s not interested. Can’t imagine why not!
Newsweek reports that Spencer, who is (in)famous for coining the phrase “alt-right” but also for getting punched out on camera, now thinks the alt-right is over.
“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 tweeted on Monday. “I plan to vote for Biden and a straight democratic ticket. It’s not based on ‘accelerationism’ or anything like that; the liberals are clearly more competent people.”
Then this happened:
I would bet big money that this “endorsement” is less about Spencer thinking the alt-right is over and more Spencer recognizing that he is over, and therefore needs to do something headline-worthy.
Anyway, the Biden campaign isn’t having it.
“When Joe Biden says we are in a battle for the soul of our nation against vile forces of hate who have come crawling out from under rocks, you are the epitome of what he means,” Andrew Bates, the campaign’s rapid-response director, tweeted, according to Business Insider. “What you stand for is absolutely repugnant. Your support is 10,000% percent unwelcome here.”
Over the years, Spencer’s championed things like “ethnic cleansing,” European “ethno-states,” and alleged domestic abuse, and was briefly the posterchild for the rampant resurgence of white supremacy, so it’s not, uh, shocking that the Biden campaign might want to distance themselves a bit. May the universe banish Spencer back to irrelevance for good.