Or perhaps not. The essay below (by libertarian gadfly Richard Hanania) argues that the Republican party might get "Groyperized" and hence become even more populist (in the bad sense of that term), racist and conspiracist (including anti-Israel). The Groypers are a peculiar Alt Right subculture on the internet associated with the influencer Nick Fuentes. It does seem correct that Fuentes recently went from shunned fringe-Nazi to almost-respectable right-wing personality. Hanania argues that the apparent 2028 GOP frontrunner, J D Vance, must adapt to Groyperism or else face a hard populist backlash.
Hanania also says that while it´s true that the Groypers are internet-based, such a movement can still influence or even change a political party. Well, I disagree. There are only two ways in which hardline populists can get influence. Either by forming a highly centralized organization IRL (not some chatbox on the web) and use it to capture the Republican party, the federal apparatus, and the like. Or by getting the tacit or open support of an establishment faction, but this will only happen if the populist agenda has become "structurally" (so to speak) necessary for that particular faction.
If not, what will happen is what already took place in 2016: a wing of the establishment (in this case some of the "RINOs") will use populism to win elections, but then go for business-as-usual. Which is exactly why the first Trump administration was so ineffective. Trump seems more efficient this time around, but that´s obviously because some other establishment faction has decided that the US needs to become more authoritarian, using the power-hungry and vengeful president as their instrument. The "people" has nothing to do with it, and neither has some subculture of weirdos on X (frankly, the idea is ridiculous).
For instance, if the GOP ever dumps Israel, it will be because of some elite interest in doing so, not because the "base" has suddenly become more, shall we say, "based" on the Jewish Question. If the world looks similar in 2029 to what it does in 2025, Vance as president will simply continue Trump´s policies, regardless of what rhetoric he may have spouted during an election campaign. This will include continued support for Israel, a willingness to take generous donations from Qatar, and even cheap immigrant labor so the Coca-Cola Company can use cane sugar to sweeten the drinks of the Great Leader emeritus (DJT).
I know that the Alt Right has long labored under the illusion that *they* elected Trump in 2016 (also a Democrat talking point) when actually it was White workers in blue wall states (hardly the main constituency of Irony Twitter) switching parties. Maybe the Groypers (the last surviving Alt Right faction?) have similar illusions about their present influence. So here is my prediction: there will never be an Incel Revolution.
Can a Bannon-Groyper alliance derail Vance?
Why it probably gets worse after Trump
