A New York Gala and the Far Right Capture of the Republican Party

A New York Gala & the Far Right Capture of the Republican Party

Sian Norris analyses how the modern Republican Party has been infiltrated by far-right rhetoric and conspiracy, not least in its determination to wage a ‘war’

The words ‘New York Gala’ tend to evoke images of women in conceptual ball gowns, of fashionistas, celebrities and artists mingling at the annual Met celebration. Perhaps the idea of a gala brings forth memories of Wharton-esque heroines intriguing with tuxedo-ed beaus at the opening of the opera. 

But for one freezing night in December, Republican representatives and far-right actors came together for a gala where hate was on the menu, and the conversation was of a coming war.

The New York Young Republican Club Gala, taking place on Park Avenue in Manhattan, opened with a speech by the club’s leader Gavin Mario Wax calling for a “total war” on the Republican’s enemies.

“We must cross the Rubicon,” he continued. “We must be prepared to do battle in every arena, in the media … in the streets. This is the only language the left understands, the language of pure and unadulterated power”. 

Wax claimed that people had “become nothing more than serfs to the elites”. The irony of railing against elites while wearing a tuxedo at a gala in Manhattan appeared to escape his audience. “Use every weapon at our disposal,” he said. “Fight, win, govern. And when we secure power once more, we must govern with a ruthless efficiency”.

Speakers included Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor-Greene, who told the audience that if she had led the attempted insurrection on 6 January 2021, she “would have won … it would have been armed”. 

Donald Trump Jr was another speaker, as was far-right activist Jack Posobiec. The self-styled “political operative” has repeated far-right conspiracy theories, boasted of his close work with the far-right militia the Oath Keepers, and been accused of tweeting an antisemitic meme. 

Guests of honour included three Republicans who took districts from Democrats in last month’s midterm elections: George Santos of Long Island; Cory Mills of Central Florida; and Mike Collins from Atlanta.

Then there were the invitees, including former Trump adviser Steve Bannon who had previously urged his followers to wear the label “racist” as a “badge of honour”; members of Turning Point USA which has been embroiled in racism rows and bussed people to the 6 January “stop the steal” rally; MEPs from the German far-right political Alternative für Deutschland and Austrian far-right party FPÖ; the founder of far-right activist group Project Veritas; and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. 

Both the speakers and audience represented what philosopher Hannah Arendt, whose book The Origins of Totalitarianism examines the rise of fascist movements in 20th Century Europe, calls the “alliance of the elite and the mob”. It is this alliance, she argues, that fascism requires in order to succeed. 

The gala saw mainstream politicians mingling with proud racists and conspiracists, former mayors and candidates chatting with those who have called for armed insurrection and war. This is the capture of the Republican Party by the extremist far-right.

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The Coming Storm

The war-like language may seem to jar against the smart suits, twinkling Christmas lights and white draperies of the gala. But as watchers of the far right will know, advocating for a constant state of war is a pillar of the fascist thought architecture. 

A century ago, when Mussolini marched into Rome, he put Italian fascism on a war footing, claiming that men were built for battle (women, in the fascist imagination, are built for sex and reproduction). War is the tool to achieve fascism’s twin aims to rollback progress and to return to a mythic past. In the US context, that mythic past is represented by the Trumpian slogan “make America great again”.

In the modern context, the far-right need for war is expressed via conspiracy theory such as QAnon, the aesthetic of uniformed militias, and the kind of rhetoric heard at the New York Gala. 

Far-right actors prepare for “boogaloo”, a codeword for an ethnic war to create a white America. References to “boogaloo” proliferate on far-right channels such as Gab. On the most extremist end, the desired outcome of this war is what the neo-Nazi Richard Spencer referred to “peaceful ethnic cleansing”, in other words the repatriation of black and global majority people, or pure genocide. 

The speakers at the New York Young Republicans Gala were not calling for ethnic cleansing. 

But by borrowing the far-right rhetoric of war and battle, they are only a few steps away from an increasingly extremist base which desires the violent overthrow of US democracy, and which believes they are engaged in an existential battle for survival against “antifa”, feminists, Black Lives Matter activists, LGBTQ+ people, and “cultural Marxists”.

This base includes those who are immersed in the QAnon conspiracy – a nonsense online theory that claims a satanic cabal of liberals traffics children in order to harvest a chemical compound called adrenochrome – which has promised a Day X and a “coming storm” that will be a battle against the forces of darkness (the left) and light (the right).

Taylor-Greene has previously called QAnon “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take this global cabal of Satan-worshipping paedophiles out”, although she has since expressed regret for her comments. Dozens of politicians who had expressed support for QAnon ran for Congress in 2022, and some estimates say as many as one in five Americans believe the theory – the majority are white Republican voters. 

It’s for these reasons and more that Wax’s references to war, and Taylor-Greene’s boasting that if she and Steve Bannon had been in charge on 6 January they would have “won”, are so concerning. This is rhetoric and ideology rooted in far-right conspiracy and the fascist thought architecture. They have no place in a democratic political party. 

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The Far Right Capture

The infiltration of the party of Lincoln by far-right and fascist elements did not happen overnight. Since the 1970s at least, it has combined radical right economic libertarianism with white supremacist beliefs and a socially-conservative, interventionist approach to sexual and reproductive rights. The right, after all, wants a government small enough to fit in a woman’s womb. 

The support offered to the increasingly far-right Tea Party movement by radical right, disaster capitalist interests gave a new platform for previously fringe Republicans who all too often used an opposition for big government as cover for racist and misogynistic views. 

But there is no doubt that under the Trump Presidency, the capture of the Republicans by the far right gained momentum, with hard-right figures unafraid to voice white and male supremacist ideas emboldened and promoted to power. 

This culminated in the far-right support for his Stop the Steal campaign, which led to the attempted insurrection on 6 January. Egged on by Trump, far-right actors from the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and Turning Point USA, as well QAnon conspiracists and Republican lawmakers, stormed the Capitol with plans to kidnap Speaker Nancy Pelosi and to “hang” Vice President Mike Pence. 

That is what Taylor-Greene’s imagined “win” on 6 January would have meant: the end of US democracy and the assassination of politicians, all in the service of the far right. Her desired victory would have turned the White House white supremacist, using fascist violence to install authoritarian rule. 

Nathan E. Berger, the vice president of the Young Republican Club, told the New York Times that anyone who wanted to buy a ticket to the gala was allowed in, and that the group had no intention of hosting a gathering of extremists.

“I’d explicitly state we did not invite anyone who a reasonable person would characterise as a white supremacist or a white nationalist,” said Berger, who noted that he is Jewish, as is Wax.