Lessons from the Great Right North - 2017-08-23

Lessons from the Great Right North August 23, 2017, Jeet Heer, New Republic

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To top it all off, after watching counter-protester Heather Heyer die under the wheels of a Dodge Challenger, Goldy turned around and appeared on a podcast linked to the "world's most genocidal" website, The Daily Stormer.

Goldy's antics—all the more shocking in light of the non-apology she issued a few days later—have created a crisis at her employer, The Rebel. Founded just two years ago by Ezra Levant, an enterprising pundit with longstanding ties to mainstream Canadian conservatism, The Rebel is often described as Canada's Breitbart. In some ways, the analogy is apt: Like Breitbart, The Rebel has emerged as a powerful voice for xenophobia and for ethnic nationalism framed as a populist revolt against globalist elites. Both Breitbart and The Rebel are clearing houses for conspiracy theories about creeping Sharia. And both have some measure of political clout. Where Breitbart had Steve Bannon calling shots at the White House, The Rebel had Hamish Marshall, campaign manager for Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer, sitting on its board.

But for all their similarities, the two media empires are now at a crossroads. In the wake of Charlottesville, The Rebel is in full meltdown mode. Scheer and other conservative politicians have distanced themselves from the website, saying they won't be interviewed by its reporters again until there is a change in editorial direction. Hamish Marshall has removed himself from the board. The co-founder of The Rebel and several of its leading columnists and video personalities have quit. Ex-employees have surfaced with accusations of financial impropriety, claiming that Levant was soliciting donations from supporters that weren't necessary. Levant, in turn, has responded by accusing those former employees of trying to blackmail him. To top it all off, on Monday The Rebel's domain provider yanked its internet registration, leaving the site temporarily unavailable in "half the world," according to Levant.

Wikipedia cite:

{{cite news | first = Jeet | last = Heer | title = Lessons from the Great Right North | url = https://newrepublic.com/article/144454/lessons-great-right-north | work = New Republic | date = August 23, 2017 | accessdate = June 5, 2019 }}