‘Ambient extremism’ is on the rise in contemporary digital reactionary politics, as the collapsing boundaries between fringe and mainstream discourse display. No longer confined to obscure subcultures, extremist rhetoric now saturates political and affective spaces via platforms like X (formerly Twitter). In this talk, Robert Topinka will discuss a case study of posts about Ireland’s so-called ‘immigration crisis,’ highlighting how actors such as Tommy Robinson and anonymous accounts like @EuropeInvasionn curate a discursive atmosphere of constant crisis and affective mobilization.

Subsequently, Topinka will situate this within a broader shift from discrete propaganda to ambient persuasion, drawing on recent scholarship in rhetorical studies and digital media theory. Topinka argues that the aesthetic and affective textures of ambient extremism operate through pre-emption: framing political events as future losses that must be urgently forestalled. This logic of anticipatory grievance is central to the ambient turn in reactionary politics, recoding the everyday as a site of ideological saturation and destabilizing the discursive foundations of democratic public life.