THE republican party is about to implode. Super Tuesday ( 1 MAR 16 ) is fast approaching and the repiglican obstructionist are only adding fuel to the fire burning down their own house with their stance on the supreme court nomination process and unwillingness to actually do their job and govern. donald trump and his rabid right wing extremist followers promote hate, racism, war, corruption, ignorance and greed. Former grand wizard of the kkk endorses donald trump, telling his followers to not support trump is to 'commit treason to their heritage'. WELL, HOW CHRISTIAN IS THAT EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN TRUMP SUPPORTERS???? What is it going to take for the party leadership to tell their members and supporters that donald trump is not a republican and they should support one of the other candidates running to be the republican presidential nominee? These from +Democracy Now! and +Mother Jones .......
Winning His Race: Is Trump the Poster Child for the Rise of U.S. Hate Groups?
Winning His Race: Is Trump the Poster Child for the Rise of U.S. Hate Groups?
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Donald Trump is the front-runner as he enters the final Republican presidential debate ahead of next week’s Super Tuesday primary. He is also featured on the cover of a new report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, "The Year in Hate and Extremism." We speak with SPLC President Richard Cohen, who notes that "[o]ver 60 percent of the people who support Trump believe that President Obama is a secret Muslim and wasn’t born in this country." The report points to the presidential election cycle as one of the primary reasons for the rising number of hate groups across the U.S., saying last year was marked by a level of hate speech in mainstream politics not seen in decades. The Investigation Discovery network will premiere a series titled "Hate in America," based on the work of the Southern Poverty Law Center, this Monday, February 29, at 8 p.m. Eastern.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Tonight, [ five ] Republican presidential contenders will face off in Houston during the final debate ahead of next week’s Super Tuesday primary, when delegates in Texas and 10 other states, along with American Samoa, will be at stake. This comes as billionaire businessman Donald Trump easily won the Nevada caucus Tuesday night, capturing 46 percent of the vote in his third consecutive victory. Trump thanked supporters during a victory speech in Nevada.
DONALD TRUMP: So, we won the evangelicals. We won with young. We won with old. We won with highly educated. We won with poorly educated—I love the poorly educated—with the smartest people, with the most loyal people. And you know what I really am happy about? Because I’ve been saying it for a long time—46 percent with the Hispanics, 46 percent, number one with Hispanics. I’m really happy about that. So—
TRUMP SUPPORTERS: Trump! Trump! Trump! Trump! Trump! Trump! Trump!
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Donald Trump will be one of five candidates who face off in tonight’s debate. Well, Donald Trump is featured in a new report just published by the Southern Poverty Law Center called "The Year in Hate and Extremism." Its cover includes an image of Trump in front of a microphone. The report details how the number of hate groups rose 14 percent last year, bringing the total number of hate groups in the U.S. to nearly 900. It found the number of Ku Klux Klan groups more than doubled. It also documented 34 anti-Muslim hate groups and 48 anti-LGBTQhate groups.
AMY GOODMAN: The Southern Poverty Law Center points to the presidential election cycle as one of the primary reasons for the rising number of hate groups across the U.S., saying last year was marked by a level of hate speech in mainstream politics not seen in decades. It notes, quote, "Donald Trump’s demonizing statements about Latinos and Muslims have electrified the radical right, leading to glowing endorsements from white nationalist leaders such as Jared Taylor and former Klansman David Duke. White supremacist forums are awash with electoral joy, having dubbed Trump their 'Glorious Leader.'" The Investigation Discovery network will premiere a series titled Hate in America, based on the work of the Southern Poverty Law Center, this Monday, February 29th.
Well, for more, we’re joined by the center’s president, Richard Cohen.
Welcome back to Democracy Now! It’s great to have you for the first time in our studio—
RICHARD COHEN: Thank you, Amy.
AMY GOODMAN: —on our 20th anniversary.
RICHARD COHEN: Perfect!
AMY GOODMAN: So, talk about this report. The picture right here, "The Year in Hate and Extremism," with the major face on the cover, Donald Trump, in front of a microphone.
RICHARD COHEN: I’m not sure that Mr. Trump would object to being center stage. He never seems to. And it’s been an unusual time. You know, usually in the white supremacist world, the attitude is "a pox on both their homes; you know, the system is incredibly corrupt." This time, you know, as you said, people are very, very excited about Trump. They call him the glorious leader. And it’s all about the immigration issue.
AMY GOODMAN: Who is "they"?
RICHARD COHEN: People like Jared Taylor.
AMY GOODMAN: And explain who Jared Taylor is.
RICHARD COHEN: Jared Taylor is a longtime white nationalist. Most recently he came into the public mind because he served as the spokesperson for the Council of Conservative Citizens. That was the hate group whose Kool-Aid Dylann Roof drank when he was radicalized. So, you know, he has been a real fixture on the white supremacist scene and a very influential one.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: So could you talk about some of the main findings of the report?
RICHARD COHEN: Sure, sure. Well, first, you know, we saw an increase in the number of hate groups in the country, going from about 800 to 900. We also saw a similar increase of 14 percent to about a thousand of these radical antigovernment groups, the people who believe that, you know, there are FEMA camps that are awaiting is, that people are trying to make us into the New World Order. Secondly, we saw a really incredible level of violence last year, what was the massacre in Charleston, most well known, but really scores of events, some quite deadly. And lastly, of course, the mainstreaming of hate in the political campaign and by pundits on the airwaves.
AMY GOODMAN: What about—what about the media’s role, Richard?
RICHARD COHEN: I mean, the media amplifies the hate that’s out there. They give—you know, every time Donald Trump starts talking about rapists from Mexico and whatnot, it’s blasted all over the air. It coarsens, you know, kind of, our society. It makes it almost acceptable to talk that way.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And you say in the report that the radical right has shifted its principal base to the Internet. Why is that important?
RICHARD COHEN: Well, you know, it used to be the case that if you wanted to get your fill of hate, you’d go to a Klan rally or cross burning. Nowadays you can do it from your home, and you have the—you know, it’s easier, and you have the benefit of anonymity. And we’ve seen, during President Obama’s administration, a tremendous increase in the number of persons who were online haters. Stormfront, which is the most important online forum for hate members, has grown by 100 percent since Obama has been in office. This is—these are 300,000 people, who don’t just visit—millions visit—but 300,000 people who have signed up and—you know, for posting privileges, so they can spew their venom daily.
AMY GOODMAN: You talk about terrorist attacks and radical plots—
RICHARD COHEN: Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: —proliferating.
RICHARD COHEN: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re not talking about ISIS.
RICHARD COHEN: No.
AMY GOODMAN: So, explain exactly what we’re talking about.
RICHARD COHEN: Well, you know, we did a report and showed that there was a terrorist attack or a domestic incident, domestic terrorism, about once every 34 days over the last five years. Some of these attacks of course are, you know, kind of well known, like the massacre in Charleston, the—
AMY GOODMAN: At the Emanuel Church.
RICHARD COHEN: Right—the killings in the Planned Parenthood. But I just think people don’t get a sense of, you know, how—
AMY GOODMAN: In Colorado Springs.
RICHARD COHEN: Yeah—how common these things are.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, some have criticized the methodology used in the SPLCreport. Vanderbilt University political science professor Carol Swain has argued that the SPLC is too all-encompassing, saying they, quote, "paint with a very broad brush, and in the process they tend to sweep up people that are politically conservative. ... I think they do it in a very harmful way and they abuse their power as an organization." She goes on to say, quote, "These are individuals that are Christian conservatives—they’re just traditional conservatives—but because of their position on LGBT issues, the Southern Poverty Law Center finds ways to malign these individuals or their organizations." Richard Cohen, your response to this criticism?
RICHARD COHEN: Well, our methodology is well known. We call groups hate groups when they vilify entire groups of people because of their immutable characteristics. You know, Focus on the Family is a very conservative Christian organization, and we certainly don’t call them a hate group. But we would call groups that spread demonizing lies about the LGBT community, lies such as, you know, pedophilia is a problem for the gay community, or the American Family Association saying that, you know, gay people brought us the Holocaust and black people rut like rabbits—I think that you can call yourself the American Family Association, you can wrap yourself in the Bible, but when you say things like that, I think you deserve the moniker of a hate group.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, you also say that—the report says that there has been a 14—which we’ve talked about—14 percent increase in hate groups—
RICHARD COHEN: Yes.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: —in 2015. But the report also indicates that that’s probably an underestimation.
RICHARD COHEN: Yeah.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Could you explain?
RICHARD COHEN: Well, you know, our methods of detecting hate groups aren’t foolproof. And we certainly—there’s obvious an undercount. Also, it doesn’t take into account, you know, the hundreds of thousands of people who aren’t formally affiliated with hate groups but have hate in their hearts. It’s just one indicator of the level of rage, the level of vitriol, that exists in the country.
AMY GOODMAN: Last year, Donald Trump faced criticism after a town hall in New Hampshire when, during the Q&A, one of his supporters stood up and said President Obama is a Muslim and not even an American, and asked when the United States could get rid of Muslims.
DONALD TRUMP: OK, this man. I like this guy.
TRUMP SUPPORTER: I’m from White Plains. Amen, OK? We have a problem in this country. It’s called Muslims. We know our current president is one.
DONALD TRUMP: Right.
TRUMP SUPPORTER: You know he’s not even an American. Birth certificate, man.
DONALD TRUMP: We need this question; this is the first question.
TRUMP SUPPORTER: But anyway, we have training camps brewing where they want to kill us.
DONALD TRUMP: Mm-hmm.
TRUMP SUPPORTER: That’s my question: When can we get rid of them?
DONALD TRUMP: We’re going to be looking at a lot of different things. And, you know, a lot of people are saying that, and a lot of people are saying that bad things are happening out there. We’re going to be looking at that and plenty of other things.
AMY GOODMAN: Your response to what Donald Trump said in this town hall meeting, Richard Cohen?
RICHARD COHEN: Well, I’m not surprised by the supporter who stood up. Over 60 percent of the people who support Trump believe that President Obama is a secret Muslim and wasn’t born in this country. So, you know, none of that surprises me. You know, what we’re hearing on the campaign trail, what is leading to the increase in the number of hate groups in our country, is the changing demographics of our country. It’s changing rapidly. And I think, you know, many white people feel like the tide is turning against them. And so we have a reaction to that. We see the reaction in the vilification of Muslims. We see the reaction to it in the vilification of kind of Hispanics. You know, a generation ago, it was the Southern strategy. Now, you know, it’s—different people are targeted.
AMY GOODMAN: How does Oregon fit into this, the standoff that was just finished with the death of the spokesperson and the others in jail?
RICHARD COHEN: Well, I think what really fits into it is what happened on Cliven Bundy’s ranch. You know, he refuses to pay his grazing fees, doesn’t pay his fines. They point—
AMY GOODMAN: This is in Nevada.
RICHARD COHEN: Yeah. They point guns at federal officials, and nothing happens. And so, as a result, the antigovernment patriot organization group grows tremendously and are emboldened. Then they show up in Oregon and take over that—that compound. And, of course, they eventually arrested Cliven Bundy, but they could have arrested him the day after the standoff in Nevada. And I think it was the failure of the federal officials to move more quickly, originally, that led to the explosion in antigovernment groups and led to the situation in Oregon.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: But what are some of the other factors? Because the report talks about how many Americans are now antigovernment.
RICHARD COHEN: Yes.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: What do you think accounts for this growth in suspicion of the government, in addition to what you pointed out? Do you think that having the first, for example, African-American president has contributed to that?
RICHARD COHEN: I think that’s absolutely right. We’ve seen this tremendous increase in the number of antigovernment groups during President Obama’s tenure. You know, there was a big increase during the time of Bill Clinton, then it went down during George Bush’s presidency, and now it’s shot up again under President Obama’s tenure. And there’s also—you know, this changing demographics makes people less trustful of the efficacy of collective action. It’s kind of a well-known sociological fact. And, of course, the vehicle of collective action in our country, perhaps the most important vehicle, is the government itself. So people have lost confidence in institutions.
AMY GOODMAN: And the collapse of the economy for many, not for all.
RICHARD COHEN: Absolutely. You know, we kind of—white working-class people, you know, their prospects aren’t nearly as good as they were a generation ago. And so there’s a tremendous amount of angst and anger in the country as a result.
AMY GOODMAN: On Monday, Investigation Discovery will air a new documentary series called Hate in America: Klan on Trial, recounting the story of Michael Donald, the victim of brutal Klan violence in Mobile, Alabama, in the early ’80s. The SPLCtook the case and helped bring down the United Klans of America. This is the trailer for the series.
NARRATOR: When hatred leads to murder...
TONY HARRIS: Why did they do all that?
UNIDENTIFIED: He died just because the color of his skin.
NARRATOR: ...something needs to be done.
MORRIS DEES: I would like to bring the United Klan to justice.
NARRATOR: ID presents the heroes who overcame the hate...
UNIDENTIFIED: She was the face, the woman that beat the Klan.
NARRATOR: ...and found a way to fight for justice.
UNIDENTIFIED: This is bigger than just our family.
NARRATOR: Hate in America: The Klan on Trial, all new special.
AMY GOODMAN: Hate in America: The Klan on Trial. As we wrap up, Richard Cohen, what are you hoping will come out of this series that you’re doing?
RICHARD COHEN: You know, we’re trying to shine a light on the reality of hate in America, so, you know, people don’t turn their backs, people don’t become apathetic, and people decide or try to build bridges across the racial divide, across the ethnic divide. We’re a better country than what Donald Trump says. You know, what makes America great is not building walls, it’s building bridges.
AMY GOODMAN: When Donald Trump retweets a white supremacist, what is the problem with that when he says, "I don’t know their background, I just liked something they said"?
RICHARD COHEN: Well, it’s wild. You know, one of the things he retweeted was—the hashtag was #WhiteGenocide. I don’t know how you can claim ignorance when it’s—the hashtag is #WhiteGenocide. It’s kind of a well-known meme in the white supremacist world, having to do with the idea that white people under attack. People like Dylann Roof and other killers have bought into that, and they’re striking out. It’s crazy to say he didn’t know what that meant.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, Richard Cohen, I want to thank you for being with us, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, just released its annual report, "The Year in Hate and Extremism," the cover featuring Donald Trump in front of a microphone. The ID network, Investigation Discovery, will be premiering a series titled Hate in America, based on the work of the Southern Poverty Law Center. The first of the series begins Monday, February 29th, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
RICHARD COHEN
president of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
LINKS
- "The Year in Hate" Report by SPLC
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To rouse its voters, the GOP exploited hate, anger, and paranoia—and set the stage for the tycoon.
| Thu Feb. 25, 2016 6:00 AM ESTAfter Donald Trump's third win in a row, pundits and political observers are beginning to accept a stark reality: This guy may become the Republican Party standard bearer in the 2016 presidential election. (The morning after the bigoted, bullying tycoon triumphed in the Nevada caucuses, the Drudge Report splashed a headline simply declaring, "The Nominee," below a photo of Trump.) And tweeters, scribes, and analysts throughout the political-media world began wondering if the GOP elite could do anything to stop him from seizing control of the Republican Party. Whether possible or not to de-Trumpify the GOP at this point, Republican insiders, pooh-bahs, and bigwigs only have themselves to blame for Frankentrump. In recent years, they have fomented, fostered, accepted, and exploited the climate of hate in which Trump's candidacy has taken root. For the fat-cat donors, special-interest lobbyists, and elected officials who usually run the Republican show, Trump is an invasive species. But he has grown large and strong in the manure they have spread across the political landscape.A short history of GOP-approved hate could begin with the 2008 campaign. After Sen. John McCain selected little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, there was an explosion of right-wing loathing. Palin led this angry crusade of animosity. She accused then-Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, of "palling around with terrorists" and pushing socialism. She suggestedthat only certain areas of the United States were "pro-America." (She had to apologize for that.) It was all part of a mean-spirited attempt to delegitimize Obama and his supporters. At McCain-Palin rallies, the atmosphere was ugly. Supporters of the Republican ticket wore T-shirts and carried signs branding Obama a communist. Some shouted "kill him" or "off with his head." Little of this was discouraged. At atown hall meeting in Minnesota, one woman told McCain that Obama was an "Arab." When McCain, to his credit, replied that this was not so, others in the audience shouted "terrorist" and "liar," referring to Obama. McCain noted that he respected Obama and admired his accomplishments, and the crowd booed him. The hatred that Palin had helped to unleash was too much for McCain to tamp down.And it only intensified once Obama took office. Of course, much of this was fueled by the conservative provocateurs and windbags, led by Rush Limbaugh and the like. But elected Republican officials and leading GOPers, who had adopted apolitical strategy of never-ending obstructionism to thwart Obama, often enabled the hate. While delivering a speech to a joint session of Congress in 2009, Obama was heckled by Rep. Joe Wilson, a South Carolina Republican who shouted, "You lie." Wilson apologized, but following his outburst, he received a surge of campaign contributions and went on to win handily his next election. Meanwhile, a dozen or so GOP members of Congress were pushing birtherism—the notion that Obama had been born in Kenya, not Hawaii, and was some sort of usurper of the presidency. This conspiracy theory seemed tinged with racism, despite the denials of birthers, and ran parallel to other right-wing claims that Obama was a secret Muslim or a secret socialist or both. The big point was obvious: He wasn't a real American, he had achieved power through furtive means, he had a clandestine agenda, and Obama hatred was fully warranted.Top Republicans played footsie with all this. In the fall of 2009, then-Rep. Michele Bachmann called for a Capitol Hill rally to protest Obamacare. Several thousand people showed up. Protesters questioned Obama's citizenship, depicted him as Sambo, or called him a traitor. Referring to Obamacare, the crowd shouted, "Nazis! Nazis!" The atmosphere was full of animus. And here's the thing: The entire House Republican leadership, led by Rep. John Boehner, was there. Boehner did not admonish the crowd for its excessive rhetoric. In fact, he joined in, declaring Obamacare the "greatest threat to freedom I have seen." Clearly, he and his lieutenants believed the hate-driven energy of these activists and voters could fuel the Republicans' bid to take control of the House. So the more red meat, the merrier. Republicans fed the paranoia, claiming Obamacare would bring about "death panels" and ruin the country (as would Obama's stimulus bill, his climate change bill, his budget, and almost every other initiative he advanced). In March 2010, after another Capitol Hill rally headlined by Bachmann, tea partiers reportedly hurled racial epithets at members of the Congressional Black Caucus and shouted anti-gay chants at then-Rep. Barney Frank. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) said one of the protesters had spit at him.The Republican effort to portray Obama as the other never waned. In 2010, Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House and a future presidential candidate, toldtwo reporters that Obama was "outside our comprehension" and "that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]." He claimed Obama had played "a wonderful con" to be elected president, was "authentically dishonest," and had a worldview that was "factually insane." This was a heavy indictment, but one that echoed what conservative writers, bloggers, and talkers were saying. Though out of office, Gingrich remained a party leader, and his remarks were an indicator of the state of play on the right and within the party.After the House Republicans' bet on the tea party paid off and they gained control of the House in the 2010 midterm elections, the party's dance with hate did not stop. In 2011, as the GOP's 2012 presidential candidates jockeyed for position, they pandered to those voters who considered Obama a dangerous phony. While pondering a second presidential run, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee claimedObama's perspective was skewed because he had grown up in Kenya and had been subjected to plenty of anti-imperialist talk. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney did not go full birther. But he pitched a related line, declaring, "The Obama Administration fundamentally does not believe in the American Experiment." In other words, Obama was not truly American. A top Romney campaign adviser, John Sununu, put it more bluntly, noting he wished the president "would learn how to be an American." Romney also claimed (falsely) that Obama had gone on a global "apology tour"—another dig designed to suggest Obama was essentially a foreigner.Though Romney did not contend Obama was a covert Kenyan, he warmly accepted the endorsement of the nation's most prominent birther: Donald Trump. Appearingwith Trump at his Las Vegas hotel before Nevada's GOP caucus in February 2012, Romney praised the real estate magnate and noted it was awesome to be backed by Trump: "There are some things that you just can't imagine happening in your life." By this point, Trump had sent investigators to Hawaii—or said he had—to investigate Obama's birth, and he had even suggested Obama might be a Muslim. With this meeting, Romney signaled that Trump was fine company for the GOP. Trump's over-the-top birtherism was not a disqualification. The Republican tent had room for this reality-denying reality television celebrity. (Romney, his former strategist Stuart Stevens tells me, did say no to Trump's requests to campaign with Romney and to speak at the GOP convention.)After Obama's reelection, the hate machine churned on. Republicans continued to whip the false meme that Obama was bent on taking all guns away from Americans. They routinely claimed not that his policies were wrong but that he was feckless and weak—or dictatorial and authoritarian. Last year, Rudy Giuliani said, "I do not believe the president loves America." And Dick Cheney claimed Obama operates as if he wants to "take America down." (That's a theme Sen. Marco Rubio has, uh, repeatedly, pushed on the campaign trail, contending that the president is deliberately weakening the United States.) Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Sen. Ted Cruz, another presidential wannabe, gave credence to the wacky notion that Obama was going to invade and seize control of Texas.It's been a long run of Republicans accepting, encouraging, and exploiting uncivil discourse, anti-Obama hatred, and right-wing anger. (Republicans also welcomednearly $300,000 in campaign contributions from Trump since he went birther.) The GOP raised the expectations of its Obama-detesting base and primed the pump for Trump. There is not much wonder that a xenophobic and misogynistic bigot and bully who bashes immigrants and calls for a Muslim ban—and who also slams the Republican insiders for rigging the system—should now find a receptive audience within the GOP's electorate. For years, Republicans gave their voters a taste for the reddest of meat. That increased the appetite for more. And here comes Trump the butcher with a heaping plate.Oh, the clichés abound. You play with fire. The chickens come home to roost. Hoisted on your own petard. You reap what you sow. The call is coming from inside the house. The GOP elite laid the foundation on which Trump is building the biggest, classiest—really classy—most beautiful insurgent presidential campaign in all of US history. And there may be no emergency exit.
Fmr. KKK Grand Wizard David Duke Urges People to Support Trump
FEBRUARY 26, 2016
Meanwhile, white nationalist and former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke is using his radio program to urge listeners to support Trump, saying Wednesday, "voting against Donald Trump at this point is really treason to your heritage." Duke went on to encourage listeners to go to Trump’s headquarters to volunteer, saying, "Go in there. You’re gonna meet people who are going to have the same kind of mindset that you have."
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