The alt-right has an identity crisis in its movement but we will gladly help them out

It seems like the alt-right has an identity problem. It can’t figure out what it wants to be or what it wants to be called. This confusion is driving a wedge between those deplorables who identify with the label “alt-right” and white supremacist Richard Spencer who has become the face of the movement, and those who identify with the almost the exact same things he stands for but are uncomfortable publicly aligning themselves with his brand of racism and anti-Semitism. That must be deeply difficult for them, poor little things.

And before you ask, yes, they are serious. They actually see a distinction in their ideologies which is splintering the movement in two. 

During the Presidential campaign, the term came to denote several intersecting phenomena: anti-feminism, opposition to political correctness, online abuse, belligerent nihilism, conspiracy theories, inflammatory Internet memes. Some pro-Trump activists adopted this big-tent definition, allowing any youthful, “edgy” critique of establishment conservatism to be considered alt-right. 

But a core within the movement always insisted on a narrower conception of the alt-right, one that was inextricably linked with white separatism, and with Spencer specifically. [...]

Now the boundaries are set. Spencer and his allies have won the branding war. They own the alt-right label; their right-wing opponents are aligning themselves against it, working to establish a parallel brand. It has become increasingly clear that this is not a mere rhetorical ploy but a distinction with a difference.

This is truly laughable so it’s hard to know where to begin. But they are right on one thing—labels and language do matter. In politics, branding is everything. Mistakes have huge consequences and can be disastrous for one’s party and career. George H. W. Bush, for instance, became synonymous with the one liner he uttered at the 1988 Republican National Convention: “Read my lips: no new taxes.” Of course, he did the exact opposite of his promise and raised taxes, which his opponent, Bill Clinton, made sure to remind us of four years later in his presidential bid. And we all know what happened after that. So who can blame these folks for trying to perfect their name and brand so the outside world knows exactly who they are?