Alt-Right Feels Betrayed By President Trump After Syria Missile Strikes

WASHINGTON, DC — President Trump's decision to launch a missile attack on Syria Thursday night is the rare move he's made that has enjoyed a significant level of bipartisan support. However, that support does not extend to the far-right, or "alt-right," a corner of the conservative world that has been staunchly pro-Trump — up to this point.

"I'm officially OFF the Trump train," tweeted Paul Joseph Watson, an editor at InfoWars, the conspiracy theory website led by Trump supporter and confidant Alex Jones. The man who coined the term "alt-right," Richard Spencer, also condemned the attack "and hinted at supporting another presidential candidate in 2020: Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, a Democrat," according to the New York Times.

Particularly critical of the attacks was blogger Mike Cernovich, who used the Periscope app to rally opposition against the strikes before they were launched Thursday. (For more information on this and other political stories, subscribe to the White House Patch for daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Sources telling me U.S. attack in Syria planned for tonight, we must stop! #NoMoreWar https://t.co/lgonnxRF4x
— Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) April 6, 2017

Cernovich, who at times held his infant daughter in his arms during the Periscope livestream, according to Politico, said the media was "trying to con Trump into believing the people want war.” He went as far as saying Syria President Bashar al-Assad was framed for the chemical weapons attack in Syria that spurred the U.S. missile response. “It was probably ISIS did it to themselves,” he said.

Why the about-face from some of Trump's most loyal supporters? For starters, one of the planks of his campaign that the far-right embraced was his promise to shift away from interventionism in world affairs. Now, they see Thursday's events as a betrayal. As recently as Tuesday, Trump had said, “I’m not, and I don’t want to be the president of the world. I’m the president of the United States, and from now on it’s going to be America first." His comments came at the North America’s Building Trades Union legislative conference and were in reference to bringing back American jobs, but the sentiment was in line with his "Make America Great Again" mantra and letting the rest of the world sort out its own problems.

Matthew Stoller, a fellow at the non-partisan think tank New America, sifted through reader comments on Breitbart.com, the far-right news site where Trump Chief Strategist Steve Bannon served as executive chair.

I keep reading these Breitbart comments on Syria. Eight thousand new ones in just a few minutes. They are very angry at Trump.
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) April 7, 2017

Comments Stoller found and retweeted from the usually pro-Trump Breitbart readership included, "Pres. #CuckTrump folded in less than 100 days. Bannon might as well leave now & come back to Breitbart to supervise the coverage of WWIII," and "just like Hillary wanted. Great! This week has been the crappiest I have felt in 2 years."

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Photo: Richard Spencer Credit: AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File