As the Republican Party grows more and more concerned about Donald Trump, at least one group is loving his rise to prominence: white supremacists. Politico reports that the white supremacist website Stormfront has had to upgrade its servers to handle all the new traffic coming their way since Trump took off in the polls; the Ku Klux Klan confirms that Trump has served as a major talking point for feeling out recruits.
"He's made it okay to talk about these incredible concerns of European Americans today," former KKK grand wizard and onetime Louisiana representative David Duke said.
Hate group monitors at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the Anti-Defamation League warn that Trump's statements about banning Muslims and rounding up Mexicans have "energized" racist intellectuals and neo-Nazis. "When well-known public figures make these kind of statements in the public square, they are taken as a permission-giving by criminal elements who go out and act on their words," SPLC's Mark Potak told Politico.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
But some white supremacists remain skeptical of Trump's plans. "Do we honestly believe that he's going to block all the Muslims and deport all the illegals? I think he's doing a lot of this just to signal to people that he's on their side," Brad Griffin of the white nationalist blog Occidental Dissent said.
"He'd have to employ the military to do it, and I don't think they're going to do that," agreed former KKK leader Tom Metzger.
But that doesn't seem to bother him too much. "As long as [Trump is] causing chaos and havoc with the citizens, he's fine with me," Metzger said. "I love it."
-
Democrats’ strategy to woo voters for 2026: religionThe Explainer Politicians like Rob Sand and James Talarico have made a name for themselves pushing their faith
-
Pregnancy in AmericaFeature Why is it getting riskier to give birth in the U.S.?
-
The potential warning sign of an auto lender’s bankruptcyIn the Spotlight Tricolor collapse an ‘extreme example’ of economy’s challenges
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to TrumpSpeed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raidsSpeed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raidSpeed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearingSpeed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mountSpeed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own listspeed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battleSpeed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants
