Alt-right Richard Spencer is ‘on team Joe’ now: Sabotage or strange bedfellows, people wonder
Notorious right personality Richard Spencer has declared he will be voting for the “more competent” Democrat ticket in November, getting a rebuke from team Biden and mass disbelief in response. Yet he has a record of voting blue.
Spencer, a popular speaker with hard-right ideology, was a vocal supporter of Donald Trump in 2016, but this time around his sympathies may be on the other side. He said on Twitter that he plans to vote for the Democrats in November, because “the liberals are clearly more competent people”.
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.
— Richard 🦁 Spencer (@RichardBSpencer) August 23, 2020
He later shared an election advert declaring that he was “on team Joe”.
— Richard 🦁 Spencer (@RichardBSpencer) August 24, 2020
The recipients of the surprise endorsement were not thrilled. Andrew Bates, whose job as the head of rapid response for the Biden campaign includes deflecting support from unwanted people, swiftly jumped in. Spencer is part of the “vile forces of hate who have come crawling out from under rocks”, opposed by the Democrat nominee, he wrote.
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. https://t.co/86reJEoTCd
— Andrew Bates (@AndrewBatesNC) August 24, 2020
Many people on the left took Spencer’s words as a two-bit ploy to undermine Biden on behalf of Trump by dividing them. A similar view was popular in the same circles about Kanye West’s run for the presidency.
i don’t blame you if you don’t want to vote for biden but i honestly feel like the richard spencer thing is a fascist psyop designed to create infighting among the left
— town crier (@bootycasket) August 24, 2020
If that is the case, the plan had at least some success. Leftwing political commentator and self-described “proud socialist” Ryan Knight demanded that Biden immediately disavowed Spencer, because “these are the standards set by liberals.”
Dear @JoeBiden,I am demanding that you immediately disavow the support and backing of noted neo-nazi and white supremacist Richard Spencer.P.S. I don’t make up the rules. These are the standards set by liberals. https://t.co/aRMUDzOLbU
— Ryan Knight 🌹 (@ProudSocialist) August 24, 2020
His reasoning has some merit. Biden supporters were eager to pile on Tulsi Gabbard over an endorsement of her candidacy by former KKK leader David Duke even after she rejected it. Bernie Sanders got his share of flak too for accepting a nod from popular podcast host Joe Rogan, a known critic of Biden whom some people on the left consider “toxic”.
Remember when Dems were mad at Tulsi because David Duke liked her?Where are those people now that Richard Spencer is voting Biden? https://t.co/yDCpY0YuAG
— BurgSkeletal #WearAMask 😷 (@BurgSkeletal) August 23, 2020
Meanwhile, Spencer’s voting record shows that he voted for Democrats in the 2004 Dallas County primary. When asked about it by the Dallas Morning News, he said that year he cast his ballot for John Kerry because George W Bush stood for war.
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