I think the whole alt-right nonsense is due to the fact that left folks always thought all conservatives were rednecks and guys from the South who go to church every Sunday, hate gays and blacks, think women belong in the kitchen and generally want the 50's back. But times change, and we now have conservatives who are atheist, don't care about gays or blacks or women with jobs (or are, in fact, gay/ black/ female), and want the 80's/ 90's back. So the media and the left had to invent a new term.