Alt-right meme subculture escalated from online irony to deadly real-world violence

Evidence

Emboldened by Trump’s victory, alt-right figures moved from online spaces to real-world gatherings. Their first major celebration was the DeploraBall, a party for those who claimed to have “memed Donald Trump into the White House.” Attendees included Gavin McInnes and Cassandra Fairbanks of the Russian-funded media outlet Sputnik, who wore Pepe the Frog and Comet Ping Pong pins as accessories. But the movement’s darker side came into full view on August 11, 2017, at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Protesters—carrying tiki torches and dressed in cut-rate polo shirts and khakis—marched through the city, chanting slogans like “Jews will not replace us.” Among them was former BuzzFeed employee and live streamer Anthime Joseph Gionet, known as Baked Alaska, who led chants of “White lives matter.” The rally turned deadly when a neo-Nazi drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing Heather Heyer and injuring dozens more. Trump faced bipartisan backlash for stating that there were “very fine people” on both sides of the protest. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 453