Groypers are a strange sort of second coming of the Alt-Right movement.

For some history from around 2013 to 2017 the Alt-Right saw massive growth from what it started out as a website by the same name founded by the now infamous white nationalist Richard Spencer. That website was dedicated to a kind of paleoconservative/white nationalist ideology (not that those two systems are synonymous.) Beginning around 2013 they began growing to a point that Spencer lost control of the name. People unfamiliar with what the Alt-Right was (meaning almost everyone) assumed it simply meant a new ideology that was strictly against left leaning progressive activism’s overreach but which also sought to distance itself from “normie” conservatism and the establishment GOP as well. They recruited heavily from groups targeted by progressives such as men’s rights groups civic nationalists those arguing for greater free speech rights and of course white nationalists. Anyone who didn’t have a voice in mainstream conversations and felt that they would receive retribution for voicing their beliefs were forced underground… with everyone else. This “everyone else” tried to recruit those susceptible into Alt-Right extremism.

Through mostly memes and “ironic” ( read totally serio) neo-nazi postings on various anonymous internet chat boards they brought more awareness and grew. Why did they tolerate the neo-nazis? When you’ve been marginalized and feel silenced it feels necessary not to marginalize anyone else even if you view their views abhorrent. So they continued.

By 2015–16 the Alt-Right began to be normalized as more and more people angered by progressive censorship university campuses to corporate HR departments latched on these “edgy memers” fighting back. By all accounts most viewed the Nazi rhetoric as ironic and assumed it was just a joke and that the true white supremacists were just an annoying small percentage of the growing movement. The vast majority were not aware that the Alt-Right actually came from a legit white supremacist

Then in the summer of 2017 at the Unite the Right rally the Alt-Right was on full display and the many many people who came to the movement under innocent pretenses quickly disavowed the Alt-Right. This included everyone from Patriot groups of hardened bikers and the ideology was also publicly disavowed by the President of the United States. At that point the Alt-Right collapsed.

What was left however was a core of people brought in from all over this new right-ish movement. They remained in the underground of the internet trying to reorganize.

It seems that the “groypers” are what came out of that. From the outset it appears that these were those who fell into the Alt-Right hardcore and became radicalized. Some of their arguments aren’t as extreme as those pushed by the hardcore Alt-Right a few years ago but seem to have borrowed from also “Alt-Lite” figures like Milo Yiannopoulos to create something between the two. Yet also inBetween the leader of the groypers Nick Fuentes and the Alt-Right’s founder Richard Spencer the two voiced completely agreement on their views about white racial identity advocacy and white nationalism. Their only point of disagreement seems to be on matters of the methods involved to realize their goals. Regardless they are very well networked have come up with new tactics and mastered the old with aims to grow.

It’s unclear how ingrained in Alt-Right ideology they are (I’m currently writing a book on the Alt-Right — Righting the Alt-Right — and I can promise you that their beliefs are much more complex than most people think. I didn’t say “good” just more complex. On the surface these groypers say they aren’t Alt-Right or at least reject the labeling of themselves as Alt-Right 2 by Ben Shapiro.

From what I’ve found they seem to push three key points.

First is a deep conviction towards “Demographic Realism” which seems to be a thinly veiled evolution of white supremacy aimed at keeping current demographics the same; the same percentage of whites the same percentage of blacks the same percentage of whatever. This appears to be built around the notion of white genocide believed by many Alt-Righters. That said they are radically anti brown immigration. In this they are also wildly open with anti-semitic and other racist rhetoric.

Next they oppose “dual loyalties” which means that they support an extremely isolationist foreign policy namely in regard to cutting ties specifically with Israel. It’s also unclear to what extent holocaust denial is present in this group as it seems to suggested in some of what I saw but disavowed by others.

Third they also promote very stringent paleoconservativ views namely in that they are ardently against transgender normalization homosexuality and feminism in virtually all forms.

The third seems to be attempting to tie themselves to Christianity. While Christians do still push for an acknowledgement that marriage between those seeking children is to be treated or at least thought of as something different than gay marriage at the state level for the sake of the children the level of hate speech directed towards the gay community by these groypers is not in keeping with any mainstream Christian advocacy groups or denominations. Likewise many Christians groups don’t honestly bother with transgender but are very actively fighting against surgical procedures to transition children. They are also deeply critical of feminism. not just the modern third wave intersectionality feminism of today but perhaps even going back to criticisms of first wave feminism Agains women in the workplace all the way back to when women fought for the right to vote. That being the case it seems that these “groypers” are trying to recruit the more extremists of various Christian groups such as the infamous Westboro Baptist Church and their famous “God Hates F***” signs.

At this point I’ll say that while doing my research it was clearly said that “You can’t be a Christian if you support this stuff”. this is a false dilemma. There is a huge window between where the and what these groypers are advocating. I’ve yet to see the majority of mainstream Christian social conservatives come anywhere near what the groyper’s say a Christian must believe. So just pointing out no it’s not an either/or case where you have to give up your faith just to distance yourself from groypers.

I will say that this last point is at least an interesting evolution as it is a clear break from the Alt-Right. The Alt-Right was a mostly atheistic movement viewing Christianity as “an important tradition of Western Culture” without actually believing in the faith or attending any sort of religious services. How sincere the piety of groyper’s is is also up for debate as yet they say they’re Christian but can more readily quote from Nietzsche than the Book of John and namely the parts which seemed to marry well with the Nazis. An example they also argue against pornography but whether this is a Christian thing or as a form of “degeneracy” which was a series of beliefs of the Alt-Right resurrecting traditionalist Nazi ideals of the perfect man has yet to be seen. All that said maybe they aren’t so different from the Alt-Right after all.

That is what is easily known about groypers at the moment.

If you’ve heard of them recently that’s probably due to a major outreach campaign by the groypers where they’ve specifically targeted mainstream conservatives trying to create wedge issues between more re conservatives and those of the New Right. This includes targeting events by mainstream popular conservatives such as Ben Shapiro Steven Crowder and Charlie Kirk Matt Walsh Congressman Dan Crenshaw and even Donald Trump Jr. In well coordinated attacks they attend these events en mass will boo speakers then troll the Q&A with pre-planned questions that serve as much as advertising as attempts to get real answers. This whole campaign been dubbed “the Groyper War” which I’ll be talking about in another answer: What is the Groyper War?