‘Heil Trump’ White Supremacist Richard Spencer Mulls Run for Congress From Montana
Image by Reddit/Youtube
By Dave Goldiner December 18, 2016
Richard Spencer, the “alt-right” darling who famously shouted “Heil Trump” at a victory celebration, is considering running for Congress.
The rising star of the white nationalist movement says he may toss his hat — or should we say white gown? — into the ring for the Montana at-large seat being vacated by Ryan Zinke, who has been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as head of the Environmental Protection Administration.
“I’m taking it very seriously,” he told the Huffington Post. “It’s an exciting prospect.”
Aside from comparing Trump to the Fuhrer, Spencer made headlines by silencing a Texas rabbi by comparing white nationalism to Zionism during a college speech.
Spencer is one of the most prominent leaders of the far right who enthusiastically backed Trump in an effort to take the movement mainstream. Even though the president-elect disavowed the movement’s support, he and close associates regularly retweeted messages from the “alt-right.”
Republican leaders said they doubted Spencer would gain much traction and Democrats demanded that the GOP quickly shun him.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Dive In
-
Fast Forward Despite ceasefire, residents of northern Israel are wary of return, fearing another Oct. 7
-
Fast Forward ‘September 5’ focuses on news, not Jews, in dramatizing 1972 Munich attack on Israeli Olympians
-
Fast Forward An Israeli cafe chain launched by and for Oct. 7 survivors is expanding to more cities
-
Fast Forward What happened to relics of Syria’s Jewish history? Assad’s collapse spurs efforts to assess the damage.
Most Popular
- 1
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 2
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward A Chicagoan wanted to protest Elon Musk — and put a swastika sticker on a Jewish man’s Tesla
-
Fast Forward NY attorney general orders car wash to stop ripping off Jews with antisemitic ‘Passover special’
-
Fast Forward ‘Another Jewish warrior’: Fine wins special election for U.S. House seat
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.