Etymology Abbreviation of alternative right, equivalent to alt- + right, due to it being an alternative to conventional American right-wing and Republican ideologies. The word took its current meaning from a website called 'Alternative Right' created by Richard Spencer and Colin Liddell in 2010, being used only sporadically prior to 2010. The word became prominent in 2015 with the rise of Donald Trump. In 2025, the beginning of Trump's second term, many formerly distinctive alt-right positions have merged into the mainstream right.
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An amorphous movement of right-wing white nationalists opposed to multiculturalism and egalitarianism by race and sex, mostly active on the Internet.
So a right without a Buckley will probably be smaller, and uglier to boot. I would expect this alt-right to be a lot more vigorously opposed to the civil rights movement than OTL's. It will also be much less relevant, and probably not snag a certain Californian actor. I predict, then, that America, on the whole, looks a bit more like a Western European social democracy, but with a right wing that looks (hmm...thinking...) well, looks almost fascist.2003 March 31, Andrew Reeves, “Re: VDI: William F. Buckley Jr.”, in soc.history.what-if (Usenet), retrieved 16 Nov 2016, message-ID <fd61b1a1.0303310802.1540fd2f@posting.google.com>:
"But the cultural conflict between these two post-revolutionary styles — between frat guys and feminist bluestockings, Gamergaters and the diversity police, alt-right provocateurs and 'woke' dudebros, the mouthbreathers who poured hate on the all-female 'Ghostbusters' and the tastemakers who pretended it was good — is likely here to stay."2016 August 14, Ross Douthat, “A Playboy for President”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 13 Aug 2016:
2 more examples
The choice is between a polemicist with deep ties to the alt-right movement, or a conventional policy professional with an open channel to the political establishment that Trump ran against, but which he needs to pass an agenda.2016 November 12, Stephen Collinson, “The mystery of Donald Trump’s White House”, in CNN:
At the risk of putting my own work out of date, I believe that chapter of the alt-right story that my book was about—the anonymous online trolling culture, the constant evasions and ironic styles, the hodge-podge of disparate groups united by the “anti-PC” crusade—is over and a new one has begun. The alt-right in the strict sense will now become more isolated, more focused and unambiguous—and perhaps more militant.2017 August 15, Angela Nagle, “Goodbye, Pepe”, in The Baffler:
Etymology Abbreviation of alternative right, equivalent to alt- + right, due to it being an alternative to conventional American right-wing and Republican ideologies. The word took its current meaning from a website called 'Alternative Right' created by Richard Spencer and Colin Liddell in 2010, being used only sporadically prior to 2010. The word became prominent in 2015 with the rise of Donald Trump. In 2025, the beginning of Trump's second term, many formerly distinctive alt-right positions have merged into the mainstream right.