Colgate University
Where was Richard B. Spencer educated before Sep 1998?
Richard B . Spencer Richard Bertrand Spencer ( born May 1978 ) is an American neo-Nazi , antisemitic conspiracy theorist , and white supremacist who is known for his activism on behalf of the alt-right movement in 2016 and 2017 . Spencer calls for the reconstitution of the European Union into a white racial empire , which he believes will replace the diverse European ethnic identities with one homogeneous white identity . The majority of European nations have banned Spencer and denounced his call for white racial empire . Poland in particular has repeatedly sought to ban Spencer from Europe , citing Spencers Nazi rhetoric and the Nazis genocide of Slavic people during World War II . Spencer is known for his public advocacy of violence against nonwhites . He has advocated for the enslavement of Haitians by whites , the ethnic cleansing of racial minorities from the United States , and the ethnic cleansing of Turks from Anatolia . On the subject of neo-Nazism , Spencer has expressed admiration for the political tactics of American Nazi Party founder George Lincoln Rockwell . He was a featured speaker at the August 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville , Virginia , among other neo-Nazi rallies that Spencer has headlined . Spencers public persona was defined by his repeated , public use of Nazi rhetoric . In early 2016 , Spencer was filmed giving the Nazi salute in a karaoke bar , and leaked footage also depicts Spencer giving the Sieg Heil salute to his supporters during the August 2017 Charlottesville rally . After Donald Trump was elected president in 2016 , Spencer urged his supporters to party like its 1933 , the year Hitler came to power in Germany . In the weeks following , Spencer quoted Nazi propaganda and denounced Jews . At a conference Spencer held celebrating the election , Spencer cried : Hail Trump , hail our people , hail victory! ; subsequently Mike Enoch led a number of Spencers supporters in performing a Nazi salute and a chant similar to the chant . In early-to-mid 2017 , when Spencers following was at its height , his supporters would reportedly give him the Sieg Heil salute when he entered a room . Spencer has been involved in several legal issues . After the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville , during which an alt-right supporter drove his car into a group of counter-protesters , killing one and injuring at least 19 others , Spencer was sued for allegedly acting as a gang boss and inciting the killing . Three supporters of Spencer were charged with attempted homicide following his October 2017 speech at the University of Florida . Early life . Richard Bertrand Spencer was born in 1978 in Boston , Massachusetts , the son of ophthalmologist Rand Spencer and Sherry Spencer ( née Dickenhorst ) , the heiress to cotton farms in Louisiana . He grew up in Preston Hollow , Dallas , Texas . Spencer attended St . Marks School of Texas , then Colgate University for one year before transferring to the University of Virginia . In 2001 , he received a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Music from the University of Virginia and , in 2003 , a Master of Arts in the Humanities from the University of Chicago . From the summer of 2005 into 2006 , Spencer attended Vienna International Summer University . From 2005 to 2007 , he was a PhD student in Modern European intellectual history at Duke University . He joined the Duke Conservative Union , where he met future President Trumps senior policy advisor Stephen Miller . His former website says he did not complete his PhD at Duke in order to pursue a life of thought-crime . Activities . Early activities . From March to December 2007 , Spencer was the assistant editor at The American Conservative magazine . According to founding editor Scott McConnell , he was fired from The American Conservative because his views were considered too extreme . Spencer spoke about the Duke lacrosse case and credits it with changing the course of his career . From January 2008 to December 2009 , he served as the executive editor of Takis Magazine , a libertarian online magazine published by Taki Theodoracopulos . He has claimed credit for coining the term alt-right in 2008 in order to differentiate himself from mainstream American conservatism , although Paul Gottfried argues that both he and Spencer created the term . In March 2010 , Spencer founded AlternativeRight.com , a website he edited until 2012 . In January 2011 , he became the owner and executive director of Washington Summit Publishers . In January 2011 , Spencer became president and director of the National Policy Institute ( NPI ) , a white supremacist think tank based in Virginia . George Hawley , an assistant professor of political science at the University of Alabama , has described NPI as rather obscure and marginalized until Spencer became its president . Spencer was invited to speak at Vanderbilt University in 2010 and Providence College in 2011 by Youth for Western Civilization . In 2012 , he founded Radix Journal as a biannual publication of Washington Summit Publishers . Contributions have included articles by Kevin B . MacDonald , Alex Kurtagić , and Samuel T . Francis . He also hosts a weekly podcast , Vanguard Radio . In 2014 , Spencer was deported from Budapest , Hungary . Under terms of the Schengen Agreement , he was banned for three years from 26 countries in Europe after trying to organize the National Policy Institute Conference , a conference for white nationalists . Alt Right leader . On January 15 , 2017 , the day of Martin Luther King Jr.s birthday , Spencer launched the AltRight Corporation and its website altright.com , another commentary website for alt-right members . According to Spencer , the site is a populist and big tent site for members of the alt-right . Swedish publisher Daniel Friberg of Arktos Media is co-founder and European editor of the site . The Southern Poverty Law Center of the United States describes the common thread among contributors as antisemitism , rather than white nationalism or white supremacy in general . Contributors to AltRight.com have included Henrik Palmgren and Jared Taylor . On February 23 , 2017 , Spencer was removed from the Conservative Political Action Conference , where he was giving statements to the press . A CPAC spokesman said he was removed from the event because other members found him repugnant . On May 13 , 2017 , he led a torch-lit protest in Charlottesville , Virginia , against the vote of the city council to remove a statue of Robert E . Lee , the commanding general of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia during the American Civil War . Spencer led the crowd in chants of You will not replace us and Blood and soil . Michael Signer , the mayor of Charlottesville , called the protest horrific , and stated that it was either profoundly ignorant or intended to instill fear among minorities in a way that hearkens back to the days of the KKK . In August 2017 , Spencer was listed as an organizer on posters promoting the Charlottesville , Virginia , Unite the Right rally . It attracted counter-protesters , and violence broke out . One rightist drove his car into a group of counter-protesters , killing one woman and wounding 30 so severely they needed treatment at the hospital . In November 2017 , Twitter removed from Spencers account the blue checkmark that , reported The Washington Post , the company gives to prominent accounts to help readers ensure they are authentic . Spencer told The Post he was worried this would lead to Twitter banning people like him . He later joined the social network Gab . In November 2019 , Milo Yiannopolous released an audio recording allegedly of Spencer using racist slurs immediately after the 2017 Unite the Right rally . Spencer said he did not recall making the remarks , but did not deny the voice on the recording was his . On the tape , Spencer is heard saying Little fucking kikes . They get ruled by people like me . Little fucking octaroons . My ancestors fucking enslaved those little pieces of fucking shit . Public speaking . During a speech which Spencer gave in mid-November 2016 at an alt-right conference that was attended by approximately 200 people in Washington , D.C. , Spencer quoted Nazi propaganda in the original German and denounced Jews . Audience members cheered and gave the Nazi salute when he said , Hail Trump , hail our people , hail victory ! and extended his right arm with a glass to toast that victory . Spencer later defended their conduct , stating that the Nazi salute was given in a spirit of irony and exuberance . It was later revealed that Spencer had given the Nazi salute at a karaoke bar in April 2016 . Additionally , in 2017 Spencer reportedly pressured followers to give him the Sieg Heil salute when he entered a room . Leaked texts between Spencer and Eli Mosley indicate that those who refused to give the Nazi salute to Spencer , such as Jason Kessler , were stigmatized within the movement . Groups and events which Spencer has spoken to include the Property and Freedom Society , the American Renaissance conference , and the HL Mencken Club . In November 2016 , an online petition to prevent Spencer from speaking at Texas A&M University on December 6 , 2016 , was signed by thousands of students , employees , and alumni . A protest and a university-organized counter-event were held to coincide with Spencers event . On January 20 , 2017 , Spencer attended the inauguration of Donald Trump . As he was giving an impromptu interview on a nearby street afterwards , a masked man punched Spencer in the face , then fled . A video of the incident was posted online , leading to divergent views on whether the attack was appropriate . Shortly after the violent Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville , Virginia , in August 2017 , the University of Florida denied Spencers request for a September 2017 speaking opportunity , citing public safety grounds after opposition from students and locals of Gainesville , Florida . Due to safety reasons , he was also denied speaking requests at Louisiana State University and Michigan State University in August 2017 . In September 2017 , Cameron Padgett , who tried to book Spencer , sued MSU ; he was represented by Kyle Bristow , an MSU alumnus . On August 16 , during a television interview with Israeli Channel 2 anchor Danny Kushmaro , Spencer claimed that Jews are vastly over-represented in.. . the establishment , that is , Ivy League educated people who really determine policy . Viewing Israel as an , he described his political position as a white Zionist , who wants white people to have a secure homeland for us and ourselves . Spencer has repeatedly used this argument over the years in speeches and interviews . Spencers National Policy Institute , David Duke , Stefan Molyneux , and American Renaissance magazine were among the white nationalist outlets banned by YouTube from their platform in late June 2020 for not following the platforms policies on hate speech . Public response . Speech at the University of Florida . After the University of Floridas August 2017 denial of Spencers request to speak the following month , Floridian lawyer Gary Edinger threatened to sue the university for violating the First Amendment by prohibiting Spencer from speaking despite being a publicly funded institution . The university subsequently reached an agreement with Edinger allowing Spencer to speak on October 19 , 2017 . Florida Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency for Alachua County on October 16 , saying : I find that the threat of a potential emergency is imminent as a result of Spencers appearance . On October 19 , 2017 , Spencer spoke at the Curtis M . Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on university grounds . In addition to Spencer , the speakers included Eli Mosley of Identity Evropa , a white supremacist group from California , and Mike Enoch , a white nationalist blogger . The events security costs reportedly amounted to an estimated $600,000 . It drew about 2,500 protestors , vastly outnumbering Spencers supporters . The speech , which was Spencers first public appearance after the Charlottesville rally , was disrupted by loud protests . When drowned out by chants from the audience , he grew visibly frustrated , stating that the protestors were interfering with his freedom of speech . He added : You are all engaged in whats known as the hecklers veto . According to Clay Calvert , director of the Marion B . Brechner First Amendment Project at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications , non-violent protesting , booing and suggesting that the speaker leave was not a hecklers veto in law . The speech and the concurrent protests were largely peaceful . Later that day , three of Spencers supporters were arrested on felony charges following an alleged discharge of a firearm , directed at protestors leaving the event . The three suspects were residents of Texas who had traveled to Florida to hear Spencer speak . According to the Gainesville Police Department , they had shouted Hail Hitler and gave Nazi salutes immediately before the alleged attack . Authorities said that two of the suspects had known links to extremist groups . The men had participated in the August 2017 Unite the Right rally , where Spencer had been scheduled to speak . All three were charged with attempted homicide . In the aftermath of the October 19 events , Ohio State University declined Spencers request to allow him to speak on campus , citing substantial risk to public safety . In response , a lawyer representing Spencers associate and organizer of his speaking tour filed a lawsuit against the university . Opposition in Montana . The National Policy Institute think tank , AlternativeRight.com , and Radix Journal all use the same mailing address in Whitefish , Montana . In 2013 , a dispute with neoconservative lobbyist Randy Scheunemann at Whitefish Mountain Resort in Montana drew public attention to Spencer and his political views . In 2014 , a pro-tolerance group affiliated with the Montana Human Rights Network rallied against Spencers residency in Whitefish . In response , the city council approved a non-discrimination resolution . In December 2016 , Republican Representative Ryan Zinke , Republican Senator Steve Daines , Democratic Senator Jon Tester , Democratic Governor Steve Bullock and Republican Attorney General Tim Fox condemned a neo-Nazi march that had been planned for January 2017 . The community of Whitefish organized in opposition to the event , and the march never occurred . Also in December 2016 , Spencer announced he was considering an independent run for Montanas at-large congressional district in the 2017 special election , although he ultimately did not enter the race . European Union bans . European governments and media have responded to his visits . During his speaking tour in Hungary in 2014 , Spencer was mocked by the Hungarian newspaper for his call for a white Imperium through a revival of the Roman Empire , and for his claim to be a racial European , ideas that the newspaper called contrived and without any basis in European history . In the aftermath of his visit , Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán pressed through legislative measures which banned his entry and condemned Spencer . The government of Poland has also banned him from entering the country and condemned Spencer , citing his Nazi rhetoric , the anti-Polish and anti-Slavic racism of the Nazis , and the Nazis genocide of Slavic peoples during World War II . In July 2018 , Spencer was detained at Keflavík Airport in Reykjavík , Iceland en route to Sweden and was ordered by Polish officials to return to the United States ; the successful effort of the Poles to ban Spencer from other parts of Europe arises from the Schengen Agreement . Views . White identity . Spencer believes in white pride and the unification of a pan-European white race in a potential racial empire resembling the Roman Empire . In an interview with CNN , he was criticized for an apparent inconsistency or lack of clarity in his definition of white , with his interviewer saying that Spencer defined Syrians as white in the context of Steve Jobss role in developing the iPhone , but described them as a non-white presence in Europe in the context of the Syrian refugee crisis . In 2013 , the Anti-Defamation League called Spencer a leader in white supremacist circles , and said that after leaving The American Conservative , he rejected conservatism , because he believed its adherents cant or wont represent explicitly white interests . While being interviewed by David Pakman , he was asked if he would condemn the Ku Klux Klan and Adolf Hitler , he refused by saying : Im not going to play this game , while stating that Hitler had done things that I think are despicable , without elaborating on which things he was referring to . Spencer also admires George Lincoln Rockwell , the founder of the American Nazi Party , for using shock as a positive means to an end . In a 2016 interview for Time magazine , Spencer said he rejected white supremacy and the slavery of nonwhites , preferring to establish America as a white ethnostate . He also advocates the creation of a white ethnostate in Europe that would be open to all racial Europeans . Jason Wilson in The Guardian has argued that Spencer and other white nationalists are appropriating some elements of socialist rhetoric to critique a notion of capitalism centered on stereotypes of Jews . According to political scientist Tamir Bar-On , Spencer defends racialist and anti-Semitic agendas of the Old Right under a new metapolitical guise , acting as a cultural influencer rather than a direct political actor , and using various media outlets to disseminate his views to ordinary people in an accessible manner . Ethno-nationalism . According to the Southern Poverty Law Center , Spencer has advocated for a white homeland for a dispossessed white race , and called for peaceful ethnic cleansing to halt the deconstruction of what he describes as white culture . To this end he has supported what he has called the creation of a White Ethno-State on the North American continent , an ideal that he has regarded as a reconstitution of the Roman Empire . Prior to the UK vote to leave the EU , Spencer expressed support for the multi-national bloc as a potential racial empire and an alternative to American hegemony , stating that he has always been highly skeptical of so-called Euro-Skeptics . Nazi rhetoric . Spencer has been made frequent use of Nazi rhetoric in his public speeches . He called Donald Trumps 2016 presidential election the victory of will , a phrase evoking the title of Leni Riefenstahls Triumph of the Will ( 1935 ) , a Nazi-era propaganda film . Spencer urged his supporters to party like its 1933 , the year Hitler came to power in Germany . In the weeks following , Spencer quoted Nazi propaganda and denounced Jews . At a conference Spencer held celebrating Trumps election , he mentioned the mainstream media in those terms : or perhaps we should refer to them in the original German : Lügenpresse , meaning lying press or press of lies , a term frequently used by Joseph Goebbels in Nazi propaganda . Spencer ended his speech with : Hail Trump , hail our people , hail victory! , and a number of his supporters gave the Nazi salute and chanted in a similar fashion to the chant . Donald Trump and Joe Biden . Spencer supported Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election . Following Trumps appointment of Steve Bannon as chief White House strategist and senior counselor , Spencer said Bannon would be in the best possible position to influence policy . In November 2018 , however , Spencer told his followers : The Trump moment is over , and its time for us to move on . The Southern Poverty Law Center reported that , around the same time , the white nationalist movement as a whole was dissatisfied with Trumps presidency . In a July 2019 interview on CNN , he called Trumps tweet about four congresswomen ( telling them to go back to where they came from ) racist . He believed Trump was practicing a con game in not clearly developing a white nationalist agenda as Trump gives us nothing outside of racist tweets , and by racist tweets , I mean tweets that are meaningless and cheap . In 2020 , following the assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani , Spencer said that he regretted voting for Trump . In August of that year , Spencer said that he planned to vote for Joe Biden and the straight Democratic ticket in the November election . 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 , Spencer wrote . So be patient . Well have another day in the sun . We need to recover and return in a new form . The Biden campaign renounced his support . Gender roles . During the 2016 United States presidential election , Spencer tweeted that women should not be allowed to make foreign policy . He also stated in an interview with The Washington Post that his vision of America as a white ethnostate includes women returning to traditional roles as childbearers and homemakers . In October 2017 , when asked his opinion on American women having the right to vote , he said : I dont necessarily think that thats a great thing after stating that he was not terribly excited about voting in general . Spencer opposes same-sex marriage , which he has described as unnatural and a non-issue , commenting that very few gay men will find the idea of monogamy to their liking . Despite his opposition to same-sex marriage , Spencer barred people with anti-gay views from the National Policy Institutes annual conference in 2015 . Health care . Spencer supports legal access to abortion , in part because he believes it would reduce the number of black and Hispanic people , which he says would be a great boon to white people . Spencer also supports a national single-payer health care system because he believes it would benefit white people . Christianity . Spencer is an atheist , although he also believes that the Christian church previously held some pragmatic value , because Spencer believes that it helped unify the white population of Europe . He opposes traditional Christian values as a moral code , due to the fact that Christianity is a universalizing religion , rather than an ethnic religion . Spencer references his views on Christianity as being influenced by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche . Citing Nietzsches criticism of anti-Semitism and nationalism , Scott Galupo writing for The Week , Sean Illing for Vox , and Jordan Harris for The Courier-Journal have described Spencers interpretation of Nietzsches philosophy as incorrect . Spencers Radix Journal has promoted paganism , running titles such as Why I am a pagan . Spencer has also described himself as a cultural Christian . Geopolitics . Spencer states he voted for Democrat John Kerry over incumbent Republican George W . Bush during the 2004 United States presidential election , because Bush stood for the war . Spencer criticized President Trumps administration for escalating tensions between the U.S . and Iran . In January 2020 , Spencer tweeted : To the people of Iran , there are millions of Americans who do not want war , who do not hate you , and who respect your nation and its history . After our traitorous elite is brought to justice , we hope to achieve peace , reconciliation , and forgiveness . Spencer praised Israels , saying : Jews are , once again , at the vanguard , rethinking politics and sovereignty for the future , showing a path forward for Europeans . Spencer has advocated for the US pulling out of NATO , and called Russia the sole white power in the world . His former partner , Nina Kouprianova , under her pen name Nina Byzantina referred to herself as a Kremlin troll leader and regularly aligned to Kremlin talking points , with ties to Aleksandr Dugin , a far-right ultranationalist Russian leader in the Eurasianism movement and writer of Foundations of Geopolitics . The webzine founded by Spencer in 2010 , called Alternative Right , accepted direct contributor pieces from Dugin . Kouprianova has translated several books written by Dugin . The books were later published by Spencers publishing house , Washington Summit Publishers . Libertarianism . In the late 2000s , Spencer was involved in the libertarian movement , supporting libertarian Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul and hosting him at his discussion club , the Robert Taft Club . Spencer later disavowed libertarianism as incompatible with white nationalism , and in 2017 he came into conflict with libertarians after reportedly attempting to crash an International Students for Liberty conference . Influences . According to political scientist Tamir Bar-On , Spencers key intellectual influences are largely those thinkers concerned with winning the cultural war against egalitarianism , liberal democracy , capitalism , socialism , and multiculturalism , citing Nietzsche , the German Conservative Revolution ( including Carl Schmitt , Ernst Jünger , and Martin Heidegger ) , French New Right theorists like Alain de Benoist and Guillaume Faye , along with other far-right figures such as Julius Evola , Francis Parker Yockey , Aleksandr Dugin , and US right-wingers with a penchant for race-driven politics or anti-Semitism like Sam Francis , Jared Taylor , and Kevin B . MacDonald . Legal issues . In June 2020 , the federal magistrate judge presiding over a civil rights lawsuit that stemmed from the violence at the Unite the Right rally in 2017 , allowed Spencers lawyer , John DiNucci , to withdraw from the case , on the grounds that Spencer owed DiNucci a significant amount in legal fees , and also was not cooperating with him in preparing the case . Spencer will represent himself . At the time of DiNuccis withdrawal , Spencer also faced a $500 fine and two weeks in a county jail in Montana if he did not pay over $60,000 he owed to the guardian ad litem representing his childrens interests in Spencers ongoing divorce proceedings there . Ultimately Spencer avoided going to jail after settling the debt . Personal life . In 2010 , Spencer moved to Whitefish , Montana . He says he splits his time between Whitefish and Arlington , Virginia , although he has said he has lived in Whitefish for over 10 years and considers it home . As of 2017 , Spencer was renting an apartment in Alexandria , Virginia . He moved out in August 2018 . Prior to his marriage , Spencers dating history included Asian women , which he has said predates his white nationalism , though this evaluation is disputed . Spencer married Nina Kouprianova in 2010 , with whom he has two children . He separated from Kouprianova , a Russian-Canadian with Georgian roots , in October 2016 ; in April 2017 , Spencer said he and his wife were not separated and were still together . In October 2018 , Kouprianova accused him , in divorce documents , of multiple forms of abuse . Kouprianova provided hours of recordings and text messages to the press in order to substantiate her allegations . Court documents detailed emotional abuse , financial abuse , and violent physical abuse , including when Kouprianova was four months pregnant , and frequently in front of their children . According to media reports , the recordings and text messages show Spencer telling his wife that he will fucking break [ her ] nose , encouraging her to commit suicide , and apologizing for previous incidents of physical abuse . A caregiver to the children testified in court about Spencers abuses towards both her and Kouprianova . Spencer denied all allegations made against him , and was not charged with a crime .