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Richard Hanania

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Richard Hanania
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater
Occupation(s)Academic, columnist
Known forRight-wing commentary, The Origins of Woke (2023), various essays, pseudonym

Richard Hanania is an American right-wing political commentator and political science researcher.[1] He is the founder and president of the think tank Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology (CSPI).[2][3][4] Known for anti-woke writing, he has said he supports "enlightened centrism"; he has been called "an intellectual muse of the Silicon Valley right".[4][2][3][5] In late 2023, it was revealed that Hanania had been a pseudonymous writer for alt-right and white supremacist publications between 2008 and the early 2010's.[6][7]

Hanania's far-right writings, published under the pseudonym "Richard Hoste", were revealed in a HuffPost exposé in 2023; afterward, Hanania said his writing under the pseudonym had been "repugnant" but also wrote that he was "the target of a cancellation effort" because of dislike of "anyone acknowledging statistical differences between races".[4][3][8]

Hanania has written articles for The Washington Post,[1] The New York Times and The Atlantic.[3]

Early life and education

Hanania grew up in Oak Lawn, Illinois.[4] He is of Palestinian Christian descent.[5]

He attended Moraine Valley Community College and the University of Colorado.[4] He received a Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago and a Doctor of Philosophy in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles.[9]

Career

Hanania was a research fellow[when?] at the Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies of Columbia University.[10][9] He was a fellow at Defense Priorities.[11] He was a fellow at the University of Texas at Austin's Salem Center for Public Policy,[when?] which had been launched in 2020 with funding from right-wing donors.[2][9][12]

Hanania has written articles for The Washington Post,[1] The New York Times and The Atlantic.[3][when?]

He is founder of the think tank the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology (CSPI), which, according to Jonathan M. Katz, has received sums of money from Andrew Conru, the Mercatus Center (headed by Tyler Cowen), and at least one undisclosed donor.[13][better source needed] As of the summer of 2023, he was the organization's president.[9]

Hanania authors a blog on Substack, which was received positively by figures such as the Mercatus economists Cowen and Bryan Caplan[14][third-party source needed] and J.D. Vance, noted by Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie, and publicized by Tucker Carlson, who invited Hanania on his show multiple times.[4] Hanania also operates a podcast where he has interviewed various people including the billionaire Marc Andreessen.[2]

Hanania is sometimes described as libertarian,[4] although he has written in favor of curtailing civil liberties with increased police power targeting African Americans, and has praised mass arrests in El Salvador.[3] 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."[15][16] The essay caught the attention of Elon Musk on Twitter, who called it "interesting".[4]

In The Origins of Woke, Hanania argues that "wokeness" is not something new, but that to some extent it has been codified into U.S. law since the Civil Rights Act of 1964.[17] Published in September 2023, it 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.[4] In The Atlantic, Tyler Austin Harper described the book as a "Trojan horse for white supremacy".[18]

Writing as "Richard Hoste" (2008–early 2010s)

In 2023, the HuffPost analyzed digital records believed to establish that Hanania was the true identity of a poster, "Richard Hoste", who had written articles for multiple far-right publications between 2008 to the early 2010s; including AltRight.com, The Occidental Observer, Taki's Magazine, and VDare. "Hoste" wrote his own blog called HBD Books (a reference to "human biodiversity")[4] and operated a Disqus account. After Disqus was the target of a data leak, passwords and email addresses associated with many accounts became public. Several Disqus accounts (including "Richard Hoste" as well as multiple apparent alts) used Hanania's personal and student email addresses.[4] Hanania, under the pseudonym, argued for eugenics, including the forcible sterilization of everyone with an IQ below 90.[4] He was opposed to immigration to the United States, saying that "while an increasing Muslim underclass might not inspire as much bad art, the IQ and genetic differences between them and native Europeans are real, and assimilation is impossible". He cited a speech by William Luther Pierce, who had used Haiti as an example to argue that black people were incapable of governing themselves.[4] The HuffPost described the persona as "a formative voice during the rise of the racist 'alt-right'".[4]

Hanania did not deny that he was "Richard Hoste", writing: "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."[4][19] In August 2023, he wrote in Quillette: "I truly sucked back then."[3] He also wrote that he was "the target of a cancellation effort" because "left-wing journalists dislike anyone acknowledging statistical differences between races".[8] An editor's note by Quilette editor-in-chief Claire Lehmann offered a rationale for publishing Hanania, which includes the “scarcity of narratives portraying young men’s journey away from extremist ideologies through the processes of maturity and moderation."[20]

On August 9, 2023, after his writings as "Richard Hoste" were revealed, the San Antonio Express-News called for University of Texas at Austin to cut ties with Hanania.[21] By August 10, 2023, the Salem Center had removed the "visiting scholar" link to Hanania's bio.[8][22]

Jeet Heer wrote that the revelations might have the effect of making Hanania more prominent, because "As a former overt racist who now calls himself a supporter of 'enlightened centrism,' he offers a message that can reunite the fractured right."[5] New York Times opinion columnist Jamelle Bouie wrote that "though he may claim otherwise, it doesn’t appear that his views have changed much [...] he still makes explicitly racist statements and arguments, now under his own name".[2][clarification needed] Zak Cheney-Rice, writing for New York Magazine, wrote that "Hanania is seen as more moderate today because he has shrouded many of his old arguments about race in the mainstream terminology of crime prevention, a subtle shift in emphasis that makes him appealing to both the transgressive right and the broad middle".[3]

Bibliography

  • 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

  1. ^ a b c McGregor, Jena (December 5, 2021). "Analysis | Would it really 'never hurt' for Trump to apologize?". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved October 29, 2023. Writing in The Washington Post in late 2015, political science researcher Richard Hanania...
  2. ^ a b c d e 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.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Cheney-Rice, Zak (August 12, 2023). "Richard Hanania's Chilling Normality". Intelligencer. Retrieved August 19, 2023. Richard Hanania, an intellectual muse of the Silicon Valley right ...
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 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.)
  5. ^ a b c Heer, Jeet (August 11, 2023). "Why Does This Racist Keep Getting Silicon Valley Money?". The Nation. ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved October 3, 2023.
  6. ^ 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 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.)
  7. ^ Heer, Jeet (August 11, 2023). "Why Does This Racist Keep Getting Silicon Valley Money?". The Nation. ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved October 3, 2023.
  8. ^ a b c Quinn, Ryan (August 10, 2023). "After Racist Writings Revealed, Scholar's Link to Texas Center Erased". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
  9. ^ a b c d "About". Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology. Retrieved August 12, 2023.
  10. ^ Ethier, Marc (August 17, 2023). "A Scholar's Racist Past Cost Him A Position At Texas McCombs. Stanford GSB Has Invited Him To Speak". Yahoo Finance. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
  11. ^ Hanania, Richard (November 2, 2020). "Perspective | Americans hate each other. But we aren't headed for civil war". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved October 29, 2023. Richard Hanania is a research fellow at Defense Priorities
  12. ^ Price, Asher (May 17, 2023). "Amid legislative pressure, conservative centers gain traction at UT". Axios.
  13. ^ Katz, Jonathan M. (June 30, 2023). "Hanania backers include sex site mogul and Tyler Cowen". The Racket. Retrieved August 12, 2023.
  14. ^ Caplan, Bryan (January 23, 2023). "Mainstream Media is Worse Than Silence". Bet On It. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
  15. ^ French, David (August 13, 2023). "The Lost Boys of the American Right". The New York Times. Retrieved October 28, 2023. This month HuffPost reported that Richard Hanania, an influential anti-woke writer, published a series of pseudonymous posts at racist publications in the late 2000s and early 2010s. In a Substack post he rejected his old comments, but close observers of his contemporary work were hardly surprised by the revelations. Just this past May, for example, he posted in a thread on crime that America needs "more policing, incarceration, and surveillance of Black people."
  16. ^ Richard, Hanania (May 13, 2023). "Interracial Crime and "Perspective"" – via Substack.com.
  17. ^ "Richard Hanania: 'Wokeness' is law in US, 'not simply a cultural phenomenon'". The Hill. June 15, 2021. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
  18. ^ Harper, Tyler Austin (September 18, 2023). "An Intellectual and a Moral Failure". The Atlantic. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
  19. ^ 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.
  20. ^ Hanania, Richard (August 7, 2023). "My Journey Out of Extremism". Quillette. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  21. ^ 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.
  22. ^ Ethier, Marc (August 17, 2023). "A Scholar's Racist Past Cost Him A Position At Texas McCombs. Stanford GSB Has Invited Him To Speak". Poets&Quants.
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