Screenshot : Richard Spencer ( YouTube )

The racist “ alt–right ” poster boy Richard Spencer seems to be down on his luck these days. Following the disastrous “Unite the Right” white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, VA, last year, and a series of failed college speaking engagements, Spencer’s 15 minutes of racist notoriety appear to be winding down.


Spencer now faces a potentially costly federal civil lawsuit brought against him and several other organizers of the Charlottesville rally, and he’s asking supporters to foot his legal bills. This comes after a rather lengthy search for a lawyer willing to defend him.



On Friday, Spencer uploaded a YouTube video titled “I Need Your Help” and linked to a crowdfunding page where he begs for money for his “Legal Defense Fund.”




“Hi, everyone, this is Richard Spencer. I am under attack and I need your help. Some of the biggest and baddest law firms in the United States are suing me, along with some other prominent figures, in civil court,” he said.



“We shouldn’t underestimate the challenge that this lawsuit represents. It is warfare by legal means. And it is designed to be debilitating and all–consuming , regardless of the facts of the case and regardless of the ultimate judgment,” he added.



Spencer called the case against him, which alleges that white supremacist protesters caused the plaintiffs emotional and physical trauma, “a conspiracy theory in the truest sense of that term.”



“This is a mockery of justice, and it is a prime example of so–called lawfare. That is, the use of the justice system for political ends or, indeed, for the ends of personal destruction. Put simply, they want to shut me, and they want to shut all of us down,” Spencer said in the video.




He claimed he had “invested a tremendous amount” of his time and energy, and “had a very difficult time in finding suitable representation.”



“It’s clear that as this case moves forward, it is now time for me to lawyer up. And I have found the right man for the job. Now, I have already engaged this lawyer using my own money. But I am going to need to engage him for the long haul if we are going to get out of this case, assuming that it does go to trial. And that’s why I am asking for $25,000, which is his base fee for defending me over the course of this trial,” he said.




Spencer needs the money by May 24 and will accept anonymous Bitcoin, he said. As of this writing, he has managed to raise over $11,000.



“Today, I’m asking for your help, because I am under attack. Losing this case would be catastrophic for our movement, for everyone who is engaged in dissident politics, to be honest,” he said.




In addition to facing two tough attorneys—Roberta Kaplan and Karen Dunn—in the pending lawsuit, Spencer has had some other bad luck lately. Earlier this month, Facebook removed two pages associated with Spencer after an inquiry by VICE News. And this week, the Southern Poverty Law Center reported that Spencer and his booking agent settled a lawsuit with the University of Cincinnati weeks after he suspended his badly attended university speaking tour.



Days before the Cincinnati lawsuit was settled, a judge tossed another lawsuit Spencer brought against Penn State, according to SPLC.




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