A/HRC/38/53 23. As a previous Special Rapporteur has noted, right-wing populism spreads and exploits antipathy towards ethnic, racial or religious minorities by accusing these groups of having co-opted political elites for their own advancement. Furthermore, as another Special Rapporteur has also noted, in times of great social, political and economic anxiety in the global North, it is among those who perceive themselves as the most marginalized (including among white majorities) that such antipathy can gain easy traction. To exploit the public’s dissatisfaction with, and fear and resentment of, the conditions of the State and personal circumstances, right-wing populists adopt and advance opinions and trends that are likely to fuel populist mobilization. In this regard, the following statement by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights captures a persisting dynamic: Populists use half-truths and oversimplification — the two scalpels of the arch propagandist, and here the Internet and social media are a perfect rail for them, by reducing thought into the smallest packages: sound-bites; tweets. Paint half a picture in the mind of an anxious individual, exposed as they may be to economic hardship and through the media to the horrors of terrorism. Prop this picture up by some half-truth here and there and allow the natural prejudice of people to fill in the rest. Add drama, emphasizing it is all the fault of a clear-cut group, so the speakers lobbing this verbal artillery, and their followers, can feel somehow blameless. The formula is therefore simple: make people, already nervous, feel terrible, and then emphasize it is all because of a group, lying within, foreign and menacing. Then make your target audience feel good by offering up what is a fantasy to them, but a horrendous injustice to others. Inflame and quench, repeat many times over, until anxiety has been hardened into hatred.32 24. Right-wing populists in some nations have shown themselves willing to align with white nationalists and even neo-Nazis. In the last presidential election in the United States, President Trump’s reliance on a political platform regularly espousing white nationalist beliefs and vilifying racial, religious and national minorities created a safe harbour for neoNazi ideology and action. 33 Following the election of President Trump, he has on grave occasion failed to condemn in an outright manner the glorification of neo-Nazism.34 25. In some countries in which expressions of Nazism and fascism are not prohibited, several neo-Nazi parties have emerged and contested electoral processes. In some European countries, political parties aligning themselves with neo-Nazi ideologies have emerged in mainstream politics. Some such parties have achieved varying levels of electoral success, 32 33 34 8 Speech delivered at the Peace, Justice and Security Foundation gala, The Hague, 5 September 2016. Available at www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20452. Ibid. In that statement, the High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned the presidential candidate and other political leaders in Europe whose racial ideologies have made the world a more hospitable place for outright neo-Nazism. See Jessica Reaves, “White supremacists celebrate Trump’s victory”, Anti-Defamation League, 10 November 2016 (available at https://www.adl.org/blog/whitesupremacists-celebrate-trumps-victory?_ga=2.8537333.1383705201.1522706891505254518.1522706891); Anti-Defamation League, “ADL deeply concerned over reports of antiSemitic & hate incidents following election 2016”, 14 November 2016 (available at https://www.adl.org/news/press-releases/adl-deeply-concerned-over-reports-of-anti-semitic-hateincidents-following); Human Rights Watch, “Update: US President Trump’s response to Charlottesville events”, 14 August 2017 (available at https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/08/14/updateus-president-trumps-response-charlottesville-events); Anti-Defamation League, “White supremacists react gleefully to President Trump’s ‘rogue’ press conference”, 17 August 2017 (available at https://www.adl.org/blog/white-supremacists-react-gleefully-to-president-trumps-rogue-pressconference); and Anti-Defamation League, “Anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. in the wake of Charlottesville rally”, 30 August 2017 (available at https://www.adl.org/blog/anti-semitic-incidentsin-the-us-in-the-wake-of-charlottesville-rally). Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, “UN body criticizes US ‘failure at the highest political level to unequivocally reject racist violent events’”, 23 August 2017. Available at www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21990. OHCHR, “US racism on the rise, UN experts warn in wake of Charlottesville violence”, 16 August 2017. Available at www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21975. Beirich and Buchanan, “2017: the year in hate and extremism”.