Alt-right figures blast Donald Trump’s attack on Syria

It wasn’t long ago that Richard Spencer was saying “Hail Trump” and prompting people to raise their hands in salute to the U.S. president.

But Spencer, a figure long associated with the so-called alt-right, a U.S.-based offshoot of conservatism that combines elements of racism, white nationalism and populism, struck a decidedly different tone as Donald Trump ordered the launch of as many as 60 missiles at a Syrian airbase on Thursday night.

Spencer unleashed a series of tweets against Trump amid news of the attack — including the president’s own tweets from 2013, when he urged Barack Obama against involvement in Syria.

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Here are two of Trump’s posts that Spencer re-tweeted:

But Spencer was hardly alone among figures associated with a movement that was vocally supportive of Trump during last year’s U.S. election.

But on Thursday, numerous people that have been attached to the movement criticized Trump’s intervention in Syria.

Here was Paul Joseph Watson, editor of Infowars.com.

Here was Mike Cernovich, author of MAGA Mindset: Making YOU and America Great Again, an analysis of Trump’s rise to power.

And here was social media personality Tim Treadstone, also known as Baked Alaska.

As Vox noted, the alt-right has roots in the “deeply anti-interventionist paleoconservative movement,” and supported Trump in the U.S. election because they thought he would oppose military intervention.

For a time, that seemed like it would be the case.

Throughout 2013, Trump tweeted his opposition to any move by Obama to intervene in Syria.

But a change was witnessed in Trump after news emerged about a chemical attack that killed innocent children and babies.

“I think what happened in Syria is one of the truly egregious crimes and it shouldn’t have happened and it shouldn’t be allowed to happen,” he told reporters on Air Force One Thursday.

“Something should happen.”

Something did happen. And it alienated people who thought Trump was their man.