White nationalist explains why he's spending thousands on pro-Trump robocalls

(Image credit: Branden Camp/Getty Images)

last updated 13 April 2016

If you live in Wisconsin and have a landline, chances are you've received a phone call urging you to vote for Donald Trump, paid for by William Johnson — lawyer, persimmon farmer, and white nationalist.

The robocall's narrator has a "sweet, grandmotherly voice" and only briefly mentions white nationalism, Johnson told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. That was entirely on purpose, Johnson said, because his ultimate goal is to get people "to hear, to feel comfortable with, the term 'white nationalist.'" This wasn't his first time dabbling in robocalls — he's been behind similar calls in Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont, Minnesota, and Utah — and Johnson estimates he spent about $6,000 on this round. The calls started going out Saturday night and continued into Sunday, just before the state's primary on Tuesday.

The woman on the robocall says her name is Mary and she's a member of the American Freedom Party (described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a group "established by racist Southern California skinheads that aims to deport immigrants and return the United States to white rule"). Trump, she says, will "respect all women and help preserve Western civilization," and will make a "fine president." At the end of the call, Mary says her message was not authorized by Trump, and recites Johnson's phone number. Johnson says he's received "hundreds and hundreds of calls," both positive and negative, but one person rejecting his message is Trump himself. "We have no knowledge of this and strongly condemn these views," spokeswoman Hope Hicks said. Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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