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Sen. Ben Sasse, in a speech last week to a gathering of Christian pastors, went out of his way to criticize the alt-right, a movement that equates American greatness with preserving white Protestant culture.

American exceptionalism was never a claim about ethnicity. American exceptionalism was never a claim about Americans unique anthropology, Sasse, a Nebraska Republican, said at an annual meeting of a group called the Gospel Coalition, in Indianapolis.

American exceptionalism was an understanding about the historical moment in which the American founding flipped on its head the relationship between rights and government, said Sasse.

The Harvard- and Yale-educated Sasse said in the middle of a 30-minute speech that America at its founding was unique in its claim that rights were inalienable to each person, and automatic, rather than determined by the whims of government.

The American founding is a claim that God gives us rights, not government, and government is our secular-shared project to secure those rights. Thats all American exceptionalism means. Thats what Washington used to mean, Sasse said.

Americas identity is bound up first and foremostin an idea, Sasse said, and not a piece of land or a certain racial group.

Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., on Capitol Hill January 10, 2017. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The claim that Americas greatness originated or residesin European or white Christian culture has become a central plank to many who have supported President Trumps political rise.

The rise of Donald Trump, perhaps the first truly cultural candidate for President since [Pat]Buchanan, suggests grassroots appetite for more robust protection of the Western European and American way of life,wroteMilo Yiannopoulos andAllum Bokhari for Breitbart News a year ago, in an influential explanation of the movement.

They [the alt-right] truly believe that multiethnic democracies cannot succeed, said Ben Shapiro, a former top writer at Breitbart, who now runs the Daily Wire.

Yiannopoulos and Bokharidescribed much of whats known as the alternativeright as a reaction to liberalism and identity politics among racial minorities. Donald Trump would not be possible without the oppressive hectoring of the progressive Left, they wrote, describing progressives as the real authoritarians in contemporary culture.

A perceived bias against white people drives much of the alt-rights resentment. Any discussion of white identity, or white interests, is seen as a heretical offense, wrote the Breitbart authors.

There is also the alt-right view thatmany traditional conservatives lack the will tofight the left on cultural issues.

The alt-right would argue that [traditional conservatives are]too afraid of being called racist to seriously fight against [political correctness], Yiannopoulos and Bokhariwrote.

And they contended that while there are neo-Nazis and white supremacists among the alt-right, the majority of the movement is populated by young people who like to transgress against social taboos and by more average conservatives who want their own communities, populated by their own people, and governed by their own values.

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They would prefer nonviolent solutions, they wrote.

And, they said, the movement is not going away. No matter how silly, irrational, tribal or even hateful the Establishment may think the alt-rights concerns are, they cant be ignored, because they arent going anywhere, Yiannopoulos and Bokhari wrote. The Left cant language-police and name-call them away, which have for the last twenty years been the only progressive responses to dissent, and the Right cant snobbishly dissociate itself from them and hope they go away either.

Milo Yiannopoulos speaks during a news conference on Feb. 21, 2017, in New York. Yiannopoulos resigned as editor of Breitbart Tech after coming under fire from other conservatives over comments on sexual relationships between boys and older men. (Photo: Mary Altaffer/AP)

But influential alt-right figures like Yiannopoulos and Trump adviser Steve Bannon have lost influence recently. Yiannopouloslost his job with Breitbart in February when it came to light that within the past year he had defended sexual contact between grown men and underage boys.

And Bannon, who ran Breitbart News until becoming a top adviser to Trump during the presidential campaign, is now in danger of losing his job at the White House after clashing repeatedly withTrumps son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

At the Conservative Political Action Conference in February,Bannon described the heart of the movement he believes has driven Trump to power. The center core of what we believe that were a nation with an economy, not an economy just in some global marketplace with open borders, but we are a nation with a culture and a reason for being Ithink thats what unites us, Bannon said.

Bannon has also defined American nationalism in opposition to Islam, especially ISIS pretensions to a new Islamic caliphate. Bannon said in 2014 that he is worried about the future of the Judeo-Christian West because we are in an outright war against jihadist Islamic fascism and this war is, I think, metastasizing far quicker than governments can handle it.

Whatever the future holds for Bannon or Yiannopoulos, however, its likely that conservatives will be having this debate among themselves for some time, and Sasse who was an outspoken critic of Trump during the presidential campaign is one of the first elected officials to go out of his way to address it philosophically.

White House chief strategist Steve Bannon attends a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden, where Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch was administered the judicial oath, April 10, 2017. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Sasse has spoken out against the alt-rights thinking on a handful of occasions over the past year. He has agreed with part of the alt-rights complaint that the modern left is intolerant of those who disagree with them and that the Democrats focus on minorities tends to divide Americans on ethnic lines. But he rejects the alt-rights response.

A lot of what is happening in the Republican electorate right now is the downstream effects of the tribalism of race, class and gender-identity politics on the left, Sasse said just over a year ago. Some on the right have decided, if theyre going to have an identity politics, we need one too. But we already have one postconstitutional party. We dont need another one.

And in February of this year, he said on Morning Joethat the Republican Party is experiencing a rising tribalism.

Were in danger of heading toward a kind of identity politics that the lefts had for quite some time, he said. Im against identity politics. Im for an idea politics that talks about what America means and what were for together.

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Clashing views of America: Sen. Sasse challenges the alt-right - Yahoo News

Saturday, during an anti-war rally outside of the White House put on by the alt-right, members of the alt-rightprotestors found themselves going toe to toe with members of Antifa.

During a Facebook live video by the Daily Caller, reporters are standing to the side filming alt-righters, who among them was figurehead, white supremacist Richard Spencer, debating others. While words were thrown back and forth, the debate was tense, but largely peaceful.

Soon, members of Antifa began to approach from the opposite side, with one member in a red mask quickly coming forward and hitting one of the reporters cameras with a rolled up banner. No Nazis, no KKK, no fascist USA were chanted by Antifa members who were carrying communist flags and signs that read the future is feminist.The same member who assaulted the Daily Caller reporter also snatched a sign out of the hands of an alt-righter and began to tear it up.

At some point, someone from the alt-right side made a quick grab for something between the two groups causing a brief scuffle, and resulting in both sides squaring off with fists raised. Police immediately came between them and created a barrier keeping them apart.

Both sides spent some time hurling chants and obscenities toward each other, until police pushed both groups away from one another.

The two groups would clash once again a little later on, with police once again creating a barrier between the two. Antifa hurled insulting chants like f**k you, Nazi toward the alt-righters, while those on the alt-right chanted get a job, Commie at Antifa.

Watch the interaction below. Be warned, there is hard language in this video.

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Watch: Reporter assaulted as Antifa clashes with Alt-Right during anti-war rally - TheBlaze.com

Every Saturday, the Civic Center Park in downtown Berkeley is home to the Ecology Centers farmers market, where families, students, and organically inclined food shoppers mingle with growers and vendors. But this weekend, on April 15, the market is canceled because of an Alt-Right rally.

Instead of white-tents and free fruit samples, visitors may instead find themselves caught in the crossfire between two opposing protests that if anything like the violent MiloYiannopoulosclash earlier this year in Berkeley could end in violence.

A so-called Patriots Day rally is attracting far-right Trump supporters and white-nationalist activists from across California, who claim they are traveling to Berkeley to demonstrate in the name of free speech.

The unpermitted event is scheduled to feature a cadre of contentious speakers, including Pizzagate-believer and AltRight.com contributor Brittany Pettibone, Twitter personality Baked Alaska (whose racist and anti-Semitic tweets got him uninvited from the DeploraBall, an alt-right inauguration

In videos posted on the event page, organizers from the Liberty Revival Alliance emphasize that they are planning a peaceful rally, even though it comes on the heels of a pro-Trump demonstration in Berkeley this past March, which ended in bloodshed and arrests.

As a nod to the backlash from that event, and the widespread protests that broke out when former Breitbart editor Yiannopoulos was scheduled to speak in Berkeley the month before, organizers stated that they are prepared to defend themselves.

The Oath Keepers (an organization classified by the Southern Poverty Law Centers "Extremist Files" as a radical anti-government group made up of thousands of law-enforcement officials and military veterans) and 2 Million Bikers (who have posted online they will Protect the 1st Amendment from Thuggery [sic]) have signed on for security and support.

In response, Berkeley's Antifa coalition is calling on its own supporters to occupy the park. We need MASS ACTION to DEFEAT THEM AS A COMMUNITY [sic] organizers posted on their dedicated event page. These fascists are coming to our backyard in an attempt to scare us off the streets and they hope to build on this success. What we do, or do not do, on the 15th will have ramifications across the country." Attendees have been instructed to bring their crew, a mask, and food to share.

Several hundred people have RSVP'd to both events and many more are expected throughout the afternoon.

Citing security concerns over the likely clash between the two groups, The Ecology Center canceled Saturday's farmers market, leaving approximately forty vendors without a spot to sell their wares.

In a prepared statement released to the Express today, Ecology Center executive director Martin Bourque expressed his disappointment and explained why he felt it essential to close down for the day:

Weve been working closely with the City of Berkeley. Theyve committed to additional support for the market, but the situation is unpredictable, and things may happen that are out of their control. We appreciate the police departments restraint and what a challenge it is to protect both free speech and public safety today.

The Ecology Center Farmers Markets are a safe, welcoming and healthy environment for the community. While this is a real financial blow to many farmers, we can not put a price on safety.

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Berkeley Farmers Market Canceled Due To Safety Fears Over Pro ... - East Bay Express

An alt-right group and a group of opponents faced off Saturday night in one of the most raucous White House demonstrations of the Trump presidency, prompted by the missile attack against Syria.

The alt-right group was led by Richard B. Spencer, a white nationalist, who said the Lafayette Square rally was to urge No more Neocon wars. He said the group would oppose further military intervention in Syria.

Meanwhile, another group, which organized under an antifascist heading, appeared and shouted such slogans as No Nazis, No KKK, No Fascist USA.

Officers from the U.S. Park Police and the Secret Service stood between the two groups, of about two dozen each.

At the end, police escorted Spencer to a taxi, but he said it was then surrounded.

He said in a Twitter message that the counterdemonstrators slammed the car until the driver abandoned the vehicle. I was able to escape. Im totally unharmed.

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Alt-right, opposing group clash in Lafayette Square - Washington Post

President Trump's staff is scrambling to figure out the best way to present his first 100 days in office as the symbolic marker approaches with few major accomplishments to show for it, Politico reports. "One hundred days is the marker, and we've got essentially two-and-a-half weeks to turn everything around," one White House official said, calling the work ahead "monumental."

Thirty members of Trump's staff huddled last week to brainstorm how to approach the president's first 100 days, which will be complete on April 29. "Staffers, including counselor Kellyanne Conway, were broken into three groups, complete with whiteboards, markers, and giant butcher-block-type paper to brainstorm lists of early successes," Politico writes. One aide who attended said: "It made me feel like I was back in 5th grade."

Another attendee described the session as an attempted "rebranding" for the president, who has been plagued by shakeups, legal blockades, and legislative setbacks, including the high-profile collapse of a repeal and replacement of ObamaCare. The communications team reportedly settled on promoting accomplishments such as "prosperity," including backing out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, "accountability," including restrictions on lobbying, and "safety/security," such as the mostly approved-of strike on Syria.

On Monday, Reuters additionally described the successful appointment of Judge Neil Gorsuch as "the biggest triumph so far for the new administration" while Politico points out the victory still "required the Senate rewriting its own rules to overcome Democratic opposition." Read more about how President Trump's team is considering painting his first 100 days in office at Politico. Jeva Lange

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The alt-right's views of Trump are getting kind of complicated after ... - The Week Magazine