Buffalo and the Mainstreaming of Replacement Theory - Horowitz

Buffalo and the Mainstreaming of Replacement Theory - Horowitz

A full-throated embrace of replacement theory is the through-line that runs through the recent killing of 10 people in a Buffalo supermarket by a teenage shooter who was targeting African-Americans, the 2019 mass shooting of 23 mainly Latino Americans at an El-Paso supermarket by a white man decrying Mexican invaders and the 11 Jewish Americans who lost their lives while practicing their religion at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, cold-bloodedly murdered in 2018 by a man who believed Jews were the manipulators behind what he viewed as a flood of immigrants entering the United States.

Advanced in our times by the French thinker Renaud Camus and dramatized in the early 1970’s French novel "Camp of the Saints"—a favorite book of Steve Bannon—the so-called Great Replacement refers to the idea that white Europeans are being replaced by non-white mainly Muslim immigrants and that this could lead to the extinction of the white race and the destruction of European culture.  Adapted for American consumption by domestic white supremacists, it is usually expressed on the home front as Jews, Democrats or so-called elites working to deliberately replace or at least dilute the influence of white Americans by championing the immigration of non-whites from other nations.

For most Americans, the first encounter with the ugliness of replacement theory was the disturbing images on our television and computer screens of Neo-Nazis and other white nationalists marching with tiki torches and chanting “Jews will not replace us” at the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville in 2017.  Over the past 5 years or so, however, an only barely sanitized version of replacement theory has moved from white supremacist internet sites and chat rooms into the mainstream of conservative thought and Republican politics.

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On his top-rated prime-time Fox News show, Tucker Carlson, for example, has championed versions of replacement theory more than 400 times over the past 5 years or so, according to documented research by Nicholas Confessore, an investigative reporter for The New York Times.  Commenting favorably in one typical segment, Carlson told his audience, “This policy is called the great replacement, the replacement of legacy Americans with more obedient people from faraway countries.” Referring to elites and Democrats, Carlson proclaimed in another segment that, “The whole point of their immigration policy is to ensure political control, replace the population.”  While Carlson doesn’t use the kind of racial slurs that are found on the internet, employing phrases like "legacy Americans" makes his racially charged meaning unmistakable.  

And Republican politicians are increasingly adopting variations on this theme. Congresswoman. Elise Stefanik, chair of the House Republican Conference, has amplified replacement theory in online ads.  Other Republicans, including Representative Matt Gaetz, and former President Donald Trump, have echoed these claims. These statements by mainstream Republicans and talk show hosts reinforce and give credibility to the more nakedly racist views available online. About half of Republicans at least somewhat agree that “there is a group of people in this country who are trying to replace native-born Americans with immigrants who agree with their political views,” according to an AP-NORC Poll.

Fortunately, it is still the case that the overwhelming majority of Americans reject replacement theory and the crabbed blood and soil vision of the United States it represents and still believe that we are strengthened overall by our diversity and enriched culturally and economically by immigration.  There is no doubt, however, that the home front has become more fertile soil for these nativist sentiments that are usually much stronger in Europe where nations are more explicitly based on nationality than on shared values and ideals. In some ways, today’s attitudes are reminiscent of the reaction to the wave of Jewish, Italian and Irish immigrants that came to this nation in the early part of the twentieth century that ended up resulting in the adoption of draconian immigration quotas. 

Part of what is fueling today’s dangerous receptivity is the fact that some white Americans are threatened by their looming minority status and demagogic media personalities and elected officials are seizing on these insecurities. The 2020 census recorded that whites have dropped to about 60% of the population; it is estimated that by 2045 they will no longer be a majority of the population.

 The best of our leaders have recognized that our unique American strength is that we are a nation founded on an idea—not on blood and soil; a magnet for those around the world attracted to freedom and opportunity who come to our shores seeking a better life.  We have strived imperfectly over our long history to overcome the related evils of racism and nativism—and progressed towards a more perfect union.

This work, however, remains incomplete. Today, it requires us all--but especially conservatives and Republicans-- to stand up and be counted, rejecting replacement theory and reminding all Americans of what binds us together.