As if the 2020 election season weren’t quite wonky enough, infamous white supremacist troll Richard Spencer has decided to trade in his alt-rightness to go all-in on Joe Biden and the Democratic party. Unexpected—and yet not, considering the fact that Neo-Nazi attention whores aren’t exactly known for making good sense.
“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,” he wrote on Twitter. I had to look up what “accelerationism” meant, so I started to read an article about it, but then I realized I was putting too much time into something Richard Spencer said and stopped. It doesn’t matter. What matters is how the Biden campaign reacted to this “endorsement.”
When white supremacist and former KKK grand dragon David Duke endorsed Donald Trump in 2016, Trump acted like he didn’t really know who he was. How a candidate for the U.S. presidency would know nothing about one of the country’s most famous white supremacists was a bit baffling, as was his wishy washy disavowal of his endorsement (which he blamed on a bad earpiece during an interview).
The Biden campaign probably wishes it could just ignore Spencer’s clear cry for attention, but when a neo-Nazi says, “Hey, I’m on your team now!” it’s necessary to say, “NOPE.”
Director of Rapid Response for the Joe Biden campaign, Andrew Bates, tweeted a response to Spencer’s announcement:
“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. What you stand for is absolutely repugnant. Your support is 10,000% percent unwelcome here.”
When Joe Biden says we are in a battle for the soul of our nation against vile forces of hate who have come crawlin… https://t.co/RPbezwRGB2— Andrew Bates (@Andrew Bates)1598240233.0
Spencer had made headlines during the 2016 election for opening his alt-right conference speech with the phrase “Hail Trump,” which was repeated by audience member who raised their hands in a Nazi salute.
It’s also a bit hard to take Spencer seriously as supporting Democrats, considering he retweeted this message from Rose McGowan just four days ago:
“What have the Democrats done to solve ANYTHING? Help the poor? No. Help black & brown people? No. Stop police brutality? No. Help single mothers? No. Help children? No. You have achieved nothing. NOTHING. Why did people vote Trump? Because of you motherfuckers.”
He may have simply jumped the Trump ship because he can see it sinking. “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,” he tweeted, according to Newsweek. “Walking into certain defeat, even death, is not heroic. It’s foolhardy. I have no sympathy for martyrs. I admire winners.”
He may admire winners, but he’s getting no admiration from anyone at this point. The Biden campaign made it crystal clear that whatever game he’s playing isn’t going to fly. Denouncing neo-Nazis swiftly and definitively is what leaders should do, no matter what side of the political spectrum they’re on.