The rhetoric of the presidential campaign of Donald Trump has caused concerned because of his close ties to White supremacist organizations. A national conference call took place yesterday among leading authorities familiar with hate rhetoric and Trump. According to Sophie Bjork-James, post-doctoral fellow and lecturer, Vanderbilt University, the Trump candidacy “Challenges the fabric of American Democracy.” The other experts on the call included Angelo Carusone, EVP, Media Matters for America; and Heidi Beirich, head of Intelligence Project, Southern Poverty Law Center. All the experts agreed that Trump’s rhetoric represents the “Normalcy of hate in America.”
Ideas of that were once considered “beyond the pale of American politics” are now being accepted and this has been wonderful for White supremacists organizations. “Trump says the things that they want to see,” according to Carusone.
The list of White supremacists organizations that have supported Trump includes the American Freedom Party, American Renaissance, the White Genocide Project, The Old Right, Breitbart News and the National Policy Institute. These organizations have a considerable social media following with one organization called StormFront that boasts 300K registered users.The groups have given instructions to troll news reporters and websites to engage in hate and criticism. All of the groups repeat the same mantra that the history of America is that of White civilization. The Trump campaign has steadfastly refused to disavow these hate groups.
Specific examples of Trump’s rhetoric during the campaign were given, including his comments from June 2015 that Mexicans are rapists and his pledge to build on the Mexico-U.S. border. These comments were praised by the White Genocide Project and play into their belief system of the ethnic cleansing of America. This ethnic cleansing includes the banning of Muslims as well as further persecution of the LGBT community. While one commentator on the call stated that “dog whistle” politics have always been a part of American politics, the Trump campaign takes it to a new and disturbing level.
