A Judith Collins led National Party may* take votes away from the New Conservatives and other right wing populist parties in September, but having a mainstream politician adopt far-right talking points typically helps far-right parties in the long run. A thread.

When Collins says things like "is there something wrong with being white?" Or that she is "utterly sick of being demonised for my ethnicity" she is opening up space for the white victimhood narrative to become more mainstream https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/421228/new-national-party-leader-judith-collins-national-won-t-repeat-any-mistakes

One of the ways the far-right has been able to reemerge in recent years is by changing the narrative from claiming racial superiority to claiming that white people have become the victims, and they just want white people to have the same rights as others

This narrative doesn't hold up of course, while the old institutions of white supremacy (e.g. Jim Crow, apartheid, the white Australia policy) have been dismantled, their legacy still remains and white people do better than other groups in almost all statistics

When someone makes the claim that white people have become victims, the response from others is dismissive, after all, we want to #givenothingtoracism so people stop saying that, but what if the leader of the opposition is claiming that?

People who might have kept their opinion to themselves now feel confident expressing it, they make even feel ok with attending rallies (like the ones happening in Christchurch's Cathedral Square every Saturday) or handing out leaflets

So the movement becomes less marginal, meaning more people feel ok getting involved, even if they are ostracised by their traditional friends and family, theres now a new social network of like minded people, who lal further radicalise each other

There are many complex factors involved the reemergence of the far-right and it would be wrong overstate the role rhetoric from mainstream politicians plays, but it is a factor

*I say "may" because I think many New Conservative supporters would see National, regardless of who the leader is, as too close to China and to liberal on issues like reproductive rights