Black cover, with the Capitol and white men standing in front of it with American flags and don't tread on me flags

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The Public Eye, Winter 2021

For a special Election/Insurrection issue of The Public Eye, PRA staff writers reflect on the role played by the Far Right and Christian Right in the 2020 elections. Following the January 6th insurrection, we amended this issue to speak to the dynamics, ideologies, and groups that led to the storming of the Capitol building for the first time since 1814. The issue delves into the short- and long-term implications of an emboldened Right as we head into a post-Trump era. 

In this issue

The January 6 Insurrection

A Snapshot
The Capitol building in D.C and Trump supporters all over it.

Supporters of President Trump storm the United States Capitol building in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021. (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)   While “Back the Blue” sentiment reigned supreme in the MAGA…

Statement
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“America First Is Inevitable”

Nick Fuentes, the Groyper Army, and the Mainstreaming of White Nationalism
A man holding an "America First" flag, wearing a red MAGA hat, and a black face mask in a crowd of other right-wingers.

On November 19, 2016, days after Donald Trump’s startling election victory, White nationalist Richard Spencer stood in an event space near the White House, feeling the wind of history in his sails. Addressing the approximately 200 attendees of his…

Article
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Culture Warlords

Author Q&A with Tal Lavin
A group of right wing protesters outside the Capitol building in Washington DC. They are climbing the Stairs of the building.

This fall, anti-fascist journalist Tal Lavin published his first book, Culture Warlords: My Journey Into the Dark Web of White Supremacy. The book—reported in a “gonzo” style that at times involved undercover infiltration of online White supremacist…

Q&A
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Reactionary Power in the Union

The Repercussions of Politicized Law Enforcement
Protesters gathered. A woman holds up a sign that read Back the Blue.

On January 6, a right-wing mob took over the U.S. Capitol with relative ease. Among many things this made clear—including the continued threat of far-right violence, reinforced by movement misogyny[1]—the…

Article
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The Long and Tangled History of Law Enforcement and Right-Wing Violence

insurrectionists clashing with police on January 6th. Men are pushing against each other.

On January 6, the world saw competing representations of the United States, as the Deep South state of Georgia sent two Democrats to the Senate just hours before hundreds of Trump supporters invaded the Capitol with the goal of overturning the…

Article
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“Broken Windows” Policing During COVID-19

Postcards promoting Solidarity

Unmasked: Impacts of Pandemic Policing By Pascal Emmer, Woods Ervin, Tiffany Wang, Derecka Purnell, and Andrea J. Ritchie As of this report’s release in October 2020, the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 was approaching a quarter-of-a-…

Article
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Conspiracy for the Masses

Mapping a QAnon Lockdown Network
A big black flag that has a Q on the middle with red and black stripes and the words Where We Go One We Go All around it.

In late April 2020, Jessica Prim left her home in Peoria, Illinois, and headed east to New York Harbor, where the U.S. Navy Hospital Ship Comfort was docked. She arrived at midday on April 29. Although the Comfort was serving as a field hospital for…

Article
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Class of 2020

Far-Right Candidates Reveal Where the GOP is Headed
A collage of Warren Hamilton, Laura Loomer and Marjorie Taylor Greene

While the Trump administration is over, part of its legacy is helping carve a place for 21st Century far-right movements and ideologies in the halls of government and within Republican ranks that look more like 19th Century…

Article
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Still Here

The Christian Right in the 2020 Election
A white woman with blond hair, kneeling with her arms in the air, a Trump flag tied around her neck and hanging down her back

Even amid Trump’s defeat, the 2020 election proved that the Christian Right may still be the most powerful, best-organized faction in American politics. The popular stereotype notwithstanding, the election demonstrated that the Christian Right is…

Article
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2020: A Year in Pictures

Protesters holding a black lives matter flag and walking

Anthony Crider is a professor of Astrophysics at Elon University in North Carolina. He is also a photographer with a keen eye for capturing just the right moment. Photographing both social justice protests and far-right mobilizations, Crider has…

Article
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