August 28, 2016

So Much For Dog Whistles. Trump Has Now Fully Embraced White Nationalists.

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-embraces-the-alt-right-cd91cc889154#.a4e8gr4yd
"Donald Trump has built his campaign on the strength of his white-nationalist dog-whistle. He has a habit of retweeting racist and anti-Semitic memes from white-supremacists. His campaign gives radio interviews to explicitly racist media outlets. Yet while Trump’s comments outraged many — like his claim that a Latino judge couldn’t be impartial — a virulent subculture heard his call and came out swinging. When Trump talks about “heritage” and the criminality of immigrants and people of color, white nationalists hear an endorsement of their core beliefs. Over the past year, they’ve come out in droves: making robocalls, organizing rallies, and raising money. Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke cited Trump as his inspiration to run for Senate. But until now, Trump has danced around openly embracing the white nationalist alt-right: He’ll retweet their adulation of him and borrow their talking points, but when asked, say the absolute minimum to defuse the controversy. To the white nationalists, Trump’s words are taken as a tacit signal of approval, but it’s one that still leaves Trump some wiggle room to claim ignorance in front of more mainstream audiences. On Wednesday, Trump named Steven K. Bannon, the executive chairman of the conservative website Breitbart News (known for their drooling Trump coverage), as his new campaign CEO. In doing so, Trump signaled that he’s ready to formally embrace the alt-right and their white nationalist views."