Christopher Rufo: The Twilight of the Dissident Right

A year ago, I would have agreed with this take: the Alt-Right or Dissident Right was losing coherence, our ideas and beliefs were becoming integrated into mainstream conservatism, we needed to shift from our metapolitical focus on “moving the Overton Window” to practical politics.

Christopher Rufo:

“Over the past year, however, the politics of this digital subculture have shifted. The fight over “wokeness” has come down from its peak, with major figures of the woke era, such as Joy Reid, Ibram Kendi, and the founders of Black Lives Matter largely disappearing from the public stage. The Trump administration has put many of the dissident Right’s ideas into practice. And the online space, which was once a galvanizing force, has splintered. …”

Is this still true in 2026?

Consider how the landscape has shifted over the past six months:

1. The Iran Strike – In June, Trump attacked Iran on behalf of Israel in Operation Midnight Hammer which took out Iran’s nuclear program. The Iran Strike set off six months of bitter infighting in the conservative movement over Israel and its influence in American politics.

2. The Epstein Files – Donald Trump followed up on the Iran Strike in June by declaring the Epstein files were a “Democrat hoax” and invited his “former supporters” to get lost.

3. Thomas Massie’s Purge – Around the time of the Iran Strike and Trump announcing his resistance to releasing the Epstein files, Trump and his Jewish billionaire friends began working together to purge Thomas Massie from Congress.

4. Marjorie “Traitor” Greene’s Purge – Trump purged Marjorie Taylor Greene from Congress for criticizing the Iran Strike, supporting the release of the Epstein Files and criticizing the administration for focusing too much on foreign affairs at the expense of more salient domestic issues.

5. Charlie Kirk’s Assassination – In early September, Charlie Kirk was assassinated which escalated the infighting in the conservative movement which had been growing more serious since the Iran Strike.

6. Tucker Carlson Interviews Nick Fuentes – In late October, Tucker Carlson interviewed Nick Fuentes which set off two straight months of hand wringing over the need to purge Tucker Carlson, antisemites and assorted racists from the conservative movement. Ben Shapiro launched a campaign to restore “boundaries” and “borders” to the conservative movement.

7. AmericaFest 2025 – In December, the infighting in the conservative movement reached a fever pitch at AmericaFest where Vivek Ramaswamy denounced racists and the concept of Heritage Americans and Ben Shapiro attacked Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly. For six years, Carlson had been the primary conduit through which Dissident Right politics had been normalized in mainstream conservatism.

8. Regime Change in Venezuela – For years, MAGA had believed that Trump would empower people at the FBI who would expose and prosecute Jeffrey Epstein’s network of pedophiles. MAGA had also spent years declaring its opposition to “regime change wars.” We opened 2026 with a regime change operation in Venezuela and threats to topple other regimes in Iran, Cuba and Colombia.

9. Comprehensive Immigration Reform – Trump told the New York Times in a recent interview that he would support comprehensive immigration reform. This is another 180 degree turn.

10. “No Room For Antisemites” – Trump also told the New York Times that there was “no room for antisemites” in MAGA and the conservative movement by which he meant anyone who is critical of Israel. This comes after purging Greene who opposed regime change war in Iran, H-1B visas, amnesty for illegal aliens and who earned Trump’s ire for supporting the release of the Epstein files. All of these things had been popular MAGA causes for years.

11. “Help Is On The Way” – Trump is now poised to launch some type of renewed military action in Iran.

In light of what has transpired over the past six months, can you still stay that Dissident Right politics is becoming mainstream and is being seamlessly absorbed into conservatism? Has the movement exhausted itself and run out of ideas or are we returning to where we were circa 2014?

Source: https://occidentaldissent.com/2026/01/13/christopher-rufo-the-twilight-of-the-dissident-right/