If it has often seemed to you that the Donald Trump phenomenon is less about ideology than some ineffable mix of betrayal, loss, fear, insecurity, and anger, you’re not alone. It’s hard getting a handle on a voter base whose platform rests on truths deeply felt rather than, say, baseline reality.
Which means, among other things, that the Trump candidacy—bizarrely outflanking so-called “cuckservatives” with xenophobic proclamations while remaining unapologetically liberal on issues like abortion—is perhaps best expressed in art, not stump speeches. Specifically: poetry.
This phenomenon kicked off in part because a Trump booster said that the #AltRight comprises a new, important generation of artists and thinkers.
https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/730168041472856064
Then, the inevitable.
https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/730168817599422465
What followed was a slew of the finest Twitter verse the Twitterverse has ever seen.
https://twitter.com/LunaticRex/status/730217255653384192
I am but a Twitter egg;
— Adam Steinbaugh (@adamsteinbaugh) May 11, 2016
Online is where I neg;
Hear my tale of my angst and woe;
I’ve never traveled outside my zip code. #AltRightPoetry
https://twitter.com/cmdeb/status/730210268945522688
Do not go gently into that good night
— Dale Franks ⚛️ (@DaleFranks) May 10, 2016
Rage, rage against the dying of the Whites.#AltRightPoetry
https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/730175187484696576
And yet, the school of #AltRightPoetry did not begin with @Popehat. “Right Wing Comedian” @ConComedy16 created the hashtag in April.
https://twitter.com/ConComedy16/status/718407105468854273
Only to later have it adopted by one of his many targets.
Memes and masturbation
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) May 11, 2016
Can save the nation.
We call you cucks
But we’re truly sad f***s,
So send all the Joos for cremation!#AltRightPoetry
Now it’s impossible to tell which #AltRightPoetry is satirical and which falls into the non-ironic camp. (Just kidding—the racist ones are earnest.)
https://twitter.com/ConComedy16/status/730383302071300096
https://twitter.com/Beer__Wolf/status/730176379258556416
https://twitter.com/SeppTruthTeller/status/730210893477351424
https://twitter.com/cuckservative/status/730227072443006976
https://twitter.com/Thorrison/status/730865491447844864
https://twitter.com/UngeheuerDarin/status/730952969299038208
https://twitter.com/torriangray/status/730857662921904129
“The time has come,” the Trumpkin said,
— Andrew Lynch (@GentlemanRascal) May 11, 2016
“To talk of many things:
Of cucks–and cucks–and cucky-cucks
Of cucks–and cuckings”#AltRightPoetry
From heaven the Golden Man came,
— Lord CDR Happenings (@burnursafespace) May 11, 2016
to shame 17 cucks out of the game,#MAGA he proudly tweeted,
the Left finally defeated. #AltRightPoetry
https://twitter.com/wildcatlh/status/730192912336609280
My toupee burns at both ends
— wavymavey (@unwveringclarty) May 11, 2016
It will not last the night
But ah, my #Cucks, and oh, my #Trumpkins –
It gives a lovely light #AltRightPoetry
https://twitter.com/villainial/status/730308394591064064
https://twitter.com/amcynic/status/730202411642421248
But what medium is complete without its scholar?
https://twitter.com/BecketAdams/status/730188261700849665
Anyway, have fun imagining a post-apocalyptic future in which this is the only surviving literature. I know I am!
