Richard Hanania
This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (August 2023) |
Richard Hanania is an American academic and right-wing opinion columnist who is the founder and president of the think tank Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology (CSPI).[1][2][3] He wrote for far-right and white supremacist websites from the late 2000s through the early 2010s under his pseudonym Richard Hoste.[1][4][5]
Early life and education
Hanania grew up in Oak Lawn, Illinois.[1] As a teenager, he worked at several fast food restaurants, where he struggled to keep up with his co-workers; he explained this by writing, "There are a lot of high IQ people who simply CAN’T do manual labor".[1]
Based on self-disclosures associated with the online persona, Hoste, it may be that Hanania dropped out of high school, but passed the General Educational Development (GED) exam and went on to attend Moraine Valley Community College and the University of Colorado.[1] Hanania received a Juris Doctorate from the University of Chicago and a Doctorate of Philosophy in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles, en route to becoming a research fellow at Columbia University's Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies in 2018.[1][6]
Career
Under Richard Hoste pseudonym
As described based on an analysis of digital records believed to link Hanania to an online persona, “Richard Hoste”, Hanania wrote articles for multiple far-right publications, including AltRight.com, The Occidental Observer, Taki's Magazine, and VDare, from 2008 through the early 2010s.[1] He also wrote his own blog called HBD Books, a reference to the term human biodiversity.[1] “Hoste” also operated a Disqus account under that name. After Disqus suffered a data leak, the passwords and email addresses associated with many accounts became public. Several Disqus accounts, including the “Richard Hoste” account as well as multiple apparent sock puppet accounts that also commented on the same websites, were linked to Hanania's personal and student email addresses.[1]
“Hoste” identified as a libertarian, but also argued for coercive eugenics and anti-immigration policies. He wrote one article arguing for the forcible sterilization of everyone with an IQ under 90. He also expressed misogynistic views, reserving particular scorn for overweight women. He did, however, express support for Sarah Palin for president, referring to Palin as a “White Goddess”.[1]
While “Hoste” attacked Muslim and Hispanic immigrants, he regarded Black people as most inferior, and opposed relations between whites and blacks. He wrote, “For the white gene pool to be created millions had to die...Race mixing is like destroying a unique species or piece of art. It’s shameful.” He also cited a speech by neo-Nazi William Luther Pierce, who used Haiti as an example to argue that Black people are incapable of governing themselves.[1]
The HuffPost described the persona as "a formative voice during the rise of the racist 'alt-right'".[1] Richard Hanania did not deny that he was “Richard Hoste”; instead, he wrote “Recently, it’s been revealed that over a decade ago I held many beliefs that, as my current writing makes clear, I now find repulsive.”[1][5]
Under own name
Hanania began writing articles for mainstream publications including the Washington Post, Newsweek and the New York Times, and started a blog on Substack, which was received positively by figures such as J.D. Vance, Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie, and Tucker Carlson, who invited Hanania on his show multiple times. Hanania also lectured at the University of Austin.[1]
Although Hanania's writing under his own name takes a more moderate tone, he does retain some of his earlier views; Hanania wrote positively on Twitter about white nationalist Steve Sailer, who he had also praised under his “Hoste” persona. Hanania wrote in one essay that the only way to reduce crime would be to have "a revolution in our culture or form of government. We need more policing, incarceration, and surveillance of black people. Blacks won’t appreciate it, whites don’t have the stomach for it." The essay caught the attention of Elon Musk on Twitter, who called it "interesting".[1]
Hanania is a fellow at the University of Texas at Austin's Salem Center for Public Policy.[2][6] On August 9, 2023 the San Antonio Express-News called for the university to cut ties with Hanania.[7] By August 10, the Salem Center had removed the "visiting scholar" link to Hanania's bio.[4]
Hanania founded a think tank called the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology (CSPI), which has received large sums of money from Andrew Conru, the Mercatus Center, and at least one dark money donor.[1][8] As of the summer of 2023, he served as the organization's president.[6]
Hanania also operates his own podcast where he has interviewed various people including Amy Wax, Steven Pinker, Christopher Rufo, and billionaire Marc Andreessen.[1] He was described by Intelligencer as "an intellectual muse of the Silicon Valley right".[3]
Authorship under that name
The Origins of Woke, which is scheduled for publication in September 2023, features promotional blurbs written by Vivek Ramaswamy, David Sacks, and Peter Thiel, who expressed support for the idea that "government violence" is the only way to defeat the threat of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.[1] Unlike many other conservatives, Hanania argues that "wokeness" is not something new; he believes that to some extent it has been codified into U.S. law since the Civil Rights Act of 1964.[9][10][full citation needed]
Books
- Hanania, Richard (2020), Ineffective, Immoral, Politically Convenient: America’s Overreliance on Economic Sanctions and What to Do about It., Cato Institute
- Hanania, Richard (2021). Public Choice Theory and the Illusion of Grand Strategy: How Generals, Weapons Manufacturers, and Foreign Governments Shape American Foreign Policy. Routledge. ISBN 9781000514001.
- Hanania, Richard (2023). The Origins of Woke: Civil Rights Law, Corporate America, and the Triumph of Identity Politics. Broadside Books. ISBN 9780063237216.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Mathias, Christopher (August 4, 2023). "Richard Hanania, Rising Right-Wing Star, Wrote For White Supremacist Sites Under Pseudonym". Huffpost.com. Archived from the original on August 7, 2023. Retrieved August 7, 2023.
HuffPost connected Hanania to his "Richard Hoste" persona by analyzing leaked data from an online comment-hosting service that showed him using three of his email addresses to create usernames on white supremacist sites. A racist blog maintained by Hoste was also registered to an address in Hanania's hometown. And HuffPost found biographical information shared by Hoste that aligned with Hanania's own life. / Hanania did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story, made via phone, email and direct messages on social media. (On Sunday, two days after this story was published, he posted an essay to Substack confirming HuffPost's reporting. "Recently, it's been revealed that over a decade ago I held many beliefs that, as my current writing makes clear, I now find repulsive," he wrote.)
- ^ a b Bouie, Jamelle (August 12, 2023). "Why an Unremarkable Racist Enjoyed the Backing of Billionaires". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 12, 2023. Retrieved August 12, 2023.
- ^ a b Cheney-Rice, Zak (August 12, 2023). "Richard Hanania's Chilling Normality". Intelligencer. Retrieved August 19, 2023.
- ^ a b Quinn, Ryan (August 10, 2023). "After Racist Writings Revealed, Scholar's Link to Texas Center Erased". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
- ^ a b Marcotte, Amanda (August 8, 2023). ""Anti-woke" darling Richard Hanania is exposed: What this says about the "intellectual" right". Salon.com. Archived from the original on August 11, 2023. Retrieved August 12, 2023.
- ^ a b c "About". Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology. Retrieved August 12, 2023.
- ^ Express-News Editorial Board (August 9, 2023). "The University of Texas must cut ties with white supremacist Richard Hanania". San Antonio Express-News. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
- ^ Katz, Jonathan M. (June 30, 2023). "Hanania backers include sex site mogul and Tyler Cowen". The Racket. Retrieved August 12, 2023.
- ^ "Richard Hanania: 'Wokeness' is law in US, 'not simply a cultural phenomenon'". The Hill. June 15, 2021. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
- ^ Jashinsky, Emily (interviewer); Hanania, Richard (interviewee); an additional interviewer (June 15, 2021). Richard Hanania: ‘Wokeness’ is Law in US, ‘Not Simply a Cultural Phenomenon’ [interview excerpt] (web TV series). Washington, D.C.: HillTV's Rising program. Archived from the original on August 8, 2023. Retrieved August 12, 2023 – via TheHill.com.[full citation needed]