President Donald Trump's decision to order a military strike against Syria may have been a turning point not only in his relationship with Russia, but in his relationship with the alt-right that helped launch him to power.
Foremost among them was Mike Cernovich, who — though denying being part of the alt right itself — is very popular among them. The alt-right loves his tendency to brandish all their favorite themes, from overt misogyny to discredited conspiracy theories like Pizzagate. More than an hour before the Syrian strikes broke in the news, Cernovich took to Twitter to denounce them, as well as calling it "fake news" that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had been framed for gassing his own people.
Many other prominent trolls — including Milo Yiannopoulos, formerly of Breitbart, and Paul Joseph Watson of Infowars, both of which are organizations under investigation for potential ties to Russia — also denounced the airstrikes. Yiannopoulos texted Politico, saying that the attacks were "FAKE and GAY," while Watson declared that he was "officially OFF the Trump train."
Other prominent alt rightists and alt right sympathizers who weighed in include Brexit leader Nigel Farage, anti-Semitic tweeter Baked Alaska, white supremacist Richard Spencer, and far right author Ann Coulter.
This would hardly be the first time that the alt right has rallied behind Putin. The obvious sympathies between the alt right and Putin have been well documented.
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