August 25, 2016 Hillary Clinton Outlines Dangers of Trump's Divisive "Alt-Right" Candidacy in Reno

Hillary Clinton « August 25, 2016 Alt-Right Speech in Reno

August 25, 2016

Hillary Clinton Outlines Dangers of Trump's Divisive "Alt-Right" Candidacy in Reno

At a speech in Reno on Thursday, Hillary Clinton highlighted Donald Trump and his advisors' embrace of a hate movement - the disturbing "alt-right" political philosophy. This "alt-right" brand is embracing extremism and presenting a dystopian view of America, Clinton said, which should concern all Americans regardless of party. Clinton argued that Trump's embrace of this ideology, cemented by hiring the former head of a leading "alt-right" website Breitbart.com as his campaign CEO, dovetails with a troubling history of hateful behavior: Trump was sued by the U.S. Department of Justice for racial bias in the 1970's and started his presidential campaign calling Mexicans criminals, drug traffickers and rapists.

Clinton contrasted Donald Trump's divisiveness with her vision of an America that is stronger together. Clinton said, "So no one should have any illusions about what’s really going on here. The names may have changed. Racists now call themselves ‘racialists.’ White supremacists now call themselves ‘white nationalists.’ The paranoid fringe now calls itself ‘alt-right.’ But the hate burns just as bright. [...] this isn’t just about one election. It’s about who we are as a nation. It’s about the kind of example we want to set for our children and grandchildren."

Clinton's remarks, as transcribed, are below:

“Thank you. Thank you so much. I am so thrilled to be back in Reno! Thank you.

I have to say though, I know when I’m back here in Reno, I’m the other Hillary, and I am more than okay with that, because I think your mayor is doing a terrific job. The fact that she herself is a small business woman and really committed to really lifting up Reno and giving everybody in this great city, the biggest little city with a great heart, a chance to get ahead and stay ahead. I could not be more honored than to have her support and endorsement in this race, so thank you.

Let me also thank Dr. Karen Hilersin and others at Truckee Meadows Community College. I love community colleges and I know something about what this college is doing to give people of all ages, not just young people, a real chance to get the skills and opportunities that everyone in America deserves, so thank you.

Now I have to begin by saying my original plan for this visit was to focus on our agenda to help small businesses and entrepreneurs. This week we proposed new steps to cut red tape and taxes, to make it easier for small businesses to get the credit they need to grow and hire. I want to be a small business president. My father was a small businessman. And I believe that in America, if you can dream it, you should be able to build it.

We’ll be talking a lot more small business and about our economic plans in the days and weeks ahead.

But today, here in this community college devoted to opening minds and creating great understanding in this world and the place we live. I want to address something I hear from Americans all over our country. Everywhere I go, people tell me how concerned they are by the divisive rhetoric coming from my opponent in this election. I understand that concern because it’s like nothing we’ve heard before from a nominee for President of the United States from one of our two major parties.

From the start, Donald Trump has built his campaign on prejudice and paranoia. He is taking hate groups mainstream and helping a radical fringe take over the Republican party. His disregard for the values that make our country great is profoundly dangerous.

In just the past week, under the guise of ‘outreach’ to African Americans, Trump has stood up in front of largely white audiences and described black communities in such insulting and ignorant terms. ‘Poverty. Rejection. Horrible education. No housing. No homes. No ownership. Crime at levels nobody has seen.’ ‘Right now,’ he said, ‘you walk down the street and get shot.’ Those are his words.

But when I hear them, I think to myself how sad. Donald Trump misses so much, he doesn’t see. This is a man who clearly doesn’t know about Black America and doesn’t care about Black America.

Donald Trump misses so much. He doesn’t see the success of black leaders in every field, the vibrancy of the black-owned businesses, or the strength of the black church. He doesn’t see the excellence of historically black colleges and universities or the pride of black parents watching their children thrive. He apparently didn’t see Police Chief Brown on television after the murder of five of his officers conducting himself with such dignity.

And he certainly doesn’t have any solutions to take on the reality of systemic racism and create more equity and opportunity in communities of color and for every American.

It really does take a lot of nerve to ask people he’s ignored and mistreated for decades, ‘What do you have to lose?’ Because the answer is everything.

Now, Trump’s lack of knowledge or experience or solutions would be bad enough. But what he’s doing here is more sinister. Trump is reinforcing harmful stereotypes and offering a dog whistle to his most hateful supporters.

It’s a disturbing preview of what kind of President he’d be.

And that’s what I want to make clear today: A man with a long history of racial discrimination, who traffics in dark conspiracy theories drawn from the pages of supermarket tabloids and the far, dark reaches of the internet, should never run our government or command our military. Ask yourself, if he doesn’t respect all Americans, how can he serve all Americans?

Now, I know that some people still want to give Trump the benefit of the doubt. They hope that he will eventually reinvent himself – that there’s a kinder, gentler, more responsible Donald Trump waiting in the wings somewhere.

Because after all, it’s hard to believe anyone – let alone a nominee for president – could really believe all the things he says.

But here’s the hard truth, there is no other Donald Trump. This is it.

And Maya Angelou, a great American who I admire very much, she once said: ‘When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.’ Well, throughout his career and this campaign, Donald Trump has shown us exactly who he is. And I think we should believe him.

When he was getting his start in business, he was sued by the Justice Department for refusing to rent apartments to black and Latino tenants. Their applications would be marked with a ‘C’ – ‘C’ for ‘colored’ – and then rejected. Three years later, the Justice Department took Trump back to court because he hadn’t changed.

And the pattern continued through the decades.

State regulators fined one of Trump’s casinos for repeatedly removing black dealers from the floor. No wonder the turnover rate for his minority employees was way above average.

And let’s not forget that Trump first gained political prominence leading the charge for the so-called ‘Birthers.’ He promoted the racist lie that President Obama is not really an American citizen – part of a sustained effort to delegitimize America’s first black President.

In 2015, Trump launched his own campaign for President with another racist lie. He described Mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals. And he accused the Mexican government of actively sending them across the border. None of that is true.

Oh, and by the way, by the way, Mexico’s not paying for his wall either. If he ever tries to get it built, the American taxpayer will pay for it. We’ll be stuck with the bill.

But there has been a steady stream of bigotry coming from him.

We all remember when Trump said a distinguished federal judge born in Indiana couldn’t be trusted to do his job because, quote, ‘He’s a Mexican.’ Think about that. The man who today is the standard bearer of the Republican Party said a federal judge, who by the way, had a distinguished career, who had to go into hiding because Mexican drug gangs were after him, who has Mexican heritage but who just like me was born in this country, is somehow incapable solely because of his heritage. Even the Republican Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, described that as ‘the textbook definition of a racist comment.’

To this day, Trump has never apologized to Judge Curiel.

But for Trump, that is just par for the course.

This is someone who retweets white supremacists online, like the user who goes by the name ‘white-genocide-TM.’ Trump took this fringe bigot with a few dozen followers and spread his message to 11 million people.

His campaign famously posted an anti-Semitic image – a Star of David imposed over a sea of dollar bills – that first appeared on white supremacist websites.

The Trump campaign has also selected a prominent white nationalist leader as a delegate in California. And they only dropped him under pressure.

When asked in a nationally televised interview whether he would disavow the support of David Duke, a former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, Trump wouldn’t do it. Only later, again under mounting pressure, did he backtrack.

And when Trump was asked about anti-Semitic slurs and death threats coming from his supporters, he refused to condemn them.

Through it all, he has continued pushing discredited conspiracy theories with racist undertones.

You remember, he said that thousands of American Muslims in New Jersey cheered the 9/11 attacks. They didn’t.

He suggested that Senator Ted Cruz’s father was involved in the Kennedy assassination. Perhaps in Trump’s mind, because Mr. Cruz was a Cuban immigrant, he must have had something to do with it. And there is absolutely, of course, no evidence of that.

Just recently, Trump claimed that President Obama founded ISIS. And then he repeated that over and over again.

His latest paranoid fever dream is about my health. All I can say is, Donald, dream on.

But, but my friends-- but my friends, this is what happens when you treat the National Enquirer like Gospel. They said in October I’d be dead in six months.

It’s also what happens when you listen to the radio host Alex Jones, who claims that 9/11 and the Oklahoma City bombings were inside jobs. He even said, and this really is just so disgusting, he even said that the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre were child actors and no one was actually killed there. I don’t know what actually happens in somebody’s mind or how dark their heart must be, to say something like that.

But Trump didn’t challenge those lies. He went on Jones’ show and said, ‘Your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down.’

This from the man who wants to be President of the United States.

I’ve stood by President Obama’s side as he made the toughest decisions a Commander-in-Chief has to make. In times of crisis, our country depends on steady leadership, clear thinking, calm judgment, because one wrong move can mean the difference between life and death. I know we have veterans here and I know we have families - mothers and spouses and children of people who are currently serving.

The last thing we need in the Situation Room is a loose cannon who can’t tell the difference, or doesn’t care to, between fact and fiction, and who buys so easily into racially-tinged rumors. Someone so detached from reality should never be in charge of making decisions that are as real as they come.

That is yet another reason why Donald Trump is simply temperamentally unfit to be President of the United States.

Now, I hear and I read some people who are saying that his bluster and bigotry is just over-heated campaign rhetoric – an outrageous person saying outrageous things for attention. But look at his policies. The ones that Trump has proposed, they would put prejudice into practice.

And don’t be distracted by his latest efforts to muddy the waters. He may have some new people putting new words in his mouth, but we know where he stands.

He would form a deportation force to round up millions of immigrants and kick them out of the country.

He’d abolish the bedrock constitutional principle that says if you’re born in the United States, you’re an American citizen. He says that children born to undocumented parents in America are ‘anchor babies’ and should be deported. Millions of them.

He’d ban Muslims around the world from entering our country just because of their religion.

Think about that for a minute. How would it actually work? People landing in U.S. airports would line up to get their passports stamped, just like they do now. But in Trump’s America, when they step up to the counter, the immigration officer would ask every single person, ‘What is your religion?’

And then what? What if someone says, ‘I’m a Christian,’ but the agent doesn’t believe him? Do they have to prove it? How would they do that?

Really, ever since the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock, America has distinguished itself as a haven for people fleeing religious persecution, believing in religious freedom and religious liberty. Under Donald Trump, America would distinguish itself as the only country in the world to impose a religious test at the border.

Now come to think of it, there actually may be one other place that does that. The so-called Islamic State. The territory ISIS controls. What a cruel irony that someone running for President would equate us with them.

Don’t worry, some will say, as President, Trump will be surrounded by smart advisors who will rein in his worst impulses.

So when a tweet gets under his skin and he wants to retaliate with a cruise missile, maybe cooler heads will convince him not to.

Well, maybe.

But look at who he’s put in charge of his campaign.

Trump likes to say he only hires the ‘best people.’ But he’s had to fire so many campaign managers it’s like an episode from the Apprentice. And the latest shake-up was designed to – quote – ‘Let Trump be Trump.’ So to do that, he hired Stephen Bannon, the head of a right-wing website, called Breitbart.com, as campaign CEO.

Now to give you a flavor of his work, here are a few headlines they’ve published. And I’m not making this up.

‘Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy.’

‘Would You Rather Your Child Had Feminism or Cancer?’

‘Gabby Giffords: The Gun Control Movement’s Human Shield’

‘Hoist It High And Proud: The Confederate Flag Proclaims A Glorious Heritage.’

That one came shortly after the Charleston massacre, when Democrats and Republicans alike were doing everything they could to heal racial divides that Breitbart and Bannon tried to inflame.

Just imagine – Donald Trump reading that and thinking: ‘this is what I need more of in my campaign.’

Now Bannon has nasty things to say about pretty much everyone. This spring, he railed against Speaker Paul Ryan for, quote ‘rubbing his social-justice Catholicism in my nose every second.’ No wonder he’s gone to work for Trump – the only Presidential candidate ever to get into a public feud with the Pope.

It’s truly hard to believe, but according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, Breitbart embraces ‘ideas on the extremist fringe of the conservative right.’ This is not conservatism as we have known it, this is not Republicanism as we have known it. These are racist ideas. Race-baiting ideas. Anti-Muslim, anti-Immigrant, anti-women –– all key tenets making up an emerging racist ideology known as the ‘Alt-Right.’

Now, Alt-Right is short for ‘Alternative Right.’ The Wall Street Journal describes it as a loose, but organized movement, mostly online, that ‘rejects mainstream conservatism, promotes nationalism and views immigration and multiculturalism as threats to white identity.’

So the de facto merger between Breitbart and the Trump Campaign represents a landmark achievement for this group. A fringe element has effectively taken over the Republican Party.

This is part of a broader story -- the rising tide of hardline, right-wing nationalism around the world.

Just yesterday, one of Britain’s most prominent right-wing leaders, a man named, Nigel Farage, who stoked anti-immigrant sentiments to win the referendum to have Britain leave the European Union, campaigned with Donald Trump in Mississippi.

Farage has called for the bar of legal immigrants from public school and health services. Has said women, and I quote, ‘are worth less than men,’ and supports scrapping laws that prevent employers from discriminating based on race. That’s who Donald Trump wants by his side when he is addressing an audience of American voters.

And the grand godfather of this global brand of extreme nationalism is Russian President Vladimir Putin. In fact, Farage regularly appears on Russian propaganda programs. Now he’s standing on the same stage as the Republican nominee. Trump himself heaps praise on Putin and embraces pro-Russian policies. He talks casually of abandoning our NATO allies, recognizing Russia’s annexation of Crimea, giving the Kremlin a free hand in Eastern Europe. American Presidents from Truman, to Reagan, to Bush and Clinton, to Obama, have rejected the kind of approach Trump is taking on Russia. And we should, too.

All of this adds up to something we have never seen before. Of course there’s always been a paranoid fringe in our politics, a lot of it rising from racial resentment. But it’s never had the nominee of a major party stoking it, encouraging it, and giving it a national megaphone. Until now.

On David Duke’s radio show the other day, the mood was jubilant. ‘We appear to have taken over the Republican Party,’ one white supremacist said. Duke laughed. ‘No, there’s still more work to do,’ he replied.

So no one should have any illusions about what’s really going on here. The names may have changed. Racists now call themselves ‘racialists.’ White supremacists now call themselves ‘white nationalists.’ The paranoid fringe now calls itself ‘alt-right.’ But the hate burns just as bright.

And now Trump is trying to rebrand himself as well. But don’t be fooled.

There’s an old Mexican proverb that says ‘Tell me with whom you walk, and I will tell you who you are.’

But we know who Trump is. A few words on a teleprompter won’t change that.

He says he wants to ‘make America great again,’ but more and more it seems as though his real message seems to be ‘Make America hate again.’

And this isn’t just about one election. It’s about who we are as a nation. It’s about the kind of example we want to set for our children and grandchildren.

Next time you see Trump rant on television, think about all the children listening across America. Kids hear a lot more than we think.

Parents and teachers are already worrying about what they call the ‘Trump Effect.’ They report that bullying and harassment are on the rise in our schools, especially targeting students of color, Muslims, and immigrants. At a recent high school basketball game in Indiana, white students held up Trump signs and taunted Latino players on the opposing team with chants of ‘Build the wall!’ and ‘Speak English.’ After a similar incident in Iowa, one frustrated school principal said, ‘They see it in a presidential campaign and now it's OK for everyone to say this.’

We wouldn’t tolerate this kind of behavior before and we wouldn’t tolerate it in our own homes. And we shouldn’t stand for it in a presidential candidate.

My friends, this is a moment of reckoning for every Republican dismayed that the Party of Lincoln has become the Party of Trump. It’s a moment of reckoning for all of us who love our country and believe that America is better than this.

Twenty years ago, when Bob Dole accepted the Republican nomination, he pointed to the exits in the convention hall and told any racists in the Party to get out.

The week after 9/11, George W. Bush went to a mosque and declared for everyone to hear that Muslims ‘love America just as much as I do.’

In 2008, John McCain told his own supporters that they were wrong about the man he was trying to defeat. Senator McCain made sure they knew – Barack Obama, he said, is an American citizen and ‘a decent person.’

We need that kind of leadership again.

We can have our disagreements, and believe me, I understand that. I think that’s healthy. We need good debates, but we need to do it in a respectful way, not finger pointing and blaming, and stirring up this bigotry and prejudice.

Every day, more Americans are standing up and saying ‘enough is enough’ – including a lot of Republicans. And I am honored to have their support in this campaign.

And I promise you this: with your help, I will be a president for Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. For those who vote for me and for those who vote against me. I will be a president for all Americans.

Because I truly believe we are stronger together.

This is a vision for the future rooted in our values and reflected in a rising generation of young people. The young people in america today are the most open, diverse, and connected generation we have ever seen.

How many of you saw any of the Olympics? Right? I was so proud, I always get so carried away whenever the Olympics are on. And you look at the diversity of our athletes - look at our fabulous Olympic team representing the United Stated of America. Ibtihaj Muhammad, an African-American Muslim from New Jersey, won the bronze medal in fencing with grace and skill. Would she even have a place in Donald Trump’s America?

And I will tell you, when I was growing up, in so many parts of our country, Simone Manuel wouldn’t have been allowed to swim in the same public pool as Katie Ledecky. And now together on our swimming team they’re winning Olympic medals as teammates.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think we have a person to waste. We want to build an America where everyone has a place. Where if you work hard and do your part you can get ahead and stay ahead. That’s the basic bargain of America. And we cannot get to where we need to be, unless we move forward together and stand up against prejudice and paranoia. And prove, again, that America is great because America is good.

Thank you all so very much, let’s go out and win the election. God bless you and God bless the United States of America.”

###

For Immediate Release, August 25, 2016

STATEMENT FROM TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER KELLYANNE CONWAY ON CLINTON'S LATEST ATTACK

“Today proved to the American public what we have known all along – Hillary Clinton has no hope, no vision and no ideas for the future of our country. Clinton lied about her emails, she lied about Colin Powell, and today she lied about Donald Trump. Donald Trump is talking about issues; Hillary Clinton is talking about Donald Trump. Today, as she took a break from her Hillary-in-Hiding Tour, she missed another opportunity to talk about education, infrastructure, terrorism, healthcare, the economy and energy. We’re living in her head rent-free, and that must terrify the political insiders who want to keep things exactly the way they are.” – Kellyanne Conway, Trump Campaign Manager

Hillary for America

Memos

Background Report: Donald Trump: Mainstreaming a Hate Movement

“The alt-right began with a speech the conservative writer Paul Gottfried gave in 2008, after the Republican Party’s electoral wipeout…But it was Donald Trump’s presidential campaign that brought the movement into the mainstream.” [Washington Post, 8/23/16]

On June 16, 2015, Donald J. Trump officially launched his campaign for President of the United States by telling voters “when Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best… They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.” In that moment, Trump extended his hand to an extremist right wing faction that refers to itself as the “Alt-Right.” But this was not the first time Trump had made such an overture; it was just the latest in a decades-long record of trafficking in racism, sexism, bigotry and offensive behavior outside the mainstream of American society, and more recent association with movements in the paranoid fringe of American politics.

Alt-Right is a euphemism. It is a term used by the extreme fringe of the conservative movement to conceal a set of views that can be variously described as bigoted, intolerant, racist, white nationalist, and anti-women. In his public and private life, and now as candidate for president, Trump has espoused, endorsed and encouraged the views and conspiracy theories now held at the core of movement–in his own words and tweets, in his choice of advisers (both formal and informal), and in the fueling of hate speech and conduct among supporters.

Executive Summary

As the Southern Poverty Law Center has written, Alt-Right “is a set of far-right ideologies, groups and individuals whose core belief is that ‘white identity’ is under attack by multicultural forces using ‘political correctness’ and ‘social justice’ to undermine white people and ‘their’ civilization.” It has been compared to various far-right anti-immigrant parties in Europe as well as to the 1992 movement in support of Pat Buchanan’s run for President. Donald Trump, through his own words and policies, his choice of advisers and associates, and his signals to supporters and followers, has capitalized on a symbiosis with this movement.

Long before he launched his presidential bid, Trump was known for controversial comments, conspiracy theories, and hubristic style. He was the most prominent proponent and amplifier of “birtherism”—the movement that called into question the citizenship and legitimacy of the first African-American President. Today, Trump and his fringe allies are again surfacing theories about Hillary Clinton, doctoring medical reports to call her health into question, and suggesting that she co-founded ISIS. These tactics are not new.

With the hiring of Steve Bannon as his new campaign CEO - a man who proudly proclaimed just weeks ago that he and his former media company, Breitbart was the “platform for the Alt-Right” - Trump has now given an official leadership role to these hateful, fringe conservative movements, alongside other advisors and allies that traffic in hate, such as Roger Stone and Alex Jones. A Trump presidency would legitimize what most Americans rightfully deem unthinkable, grotesque, and dangerous: it would elevate this fringe movement to the Oval Office.

I. TRUMP’S OWN WORDS, POLICIES, AND THEORIES ARE DRAWN FROM EXTREME FRINGES OF THE CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT

Long before he launched his Presidential bid, Donald Trump was known for his controversial comments, conspiracy theories, and hubristic style. He was the face of one conspiracy theory in particular - “birtherism” - that the far right seized upon.

CONSPIRACY THEORY: TRUMP QUESTIONED PRESIDENT OBAMA’S BIRTHPLACE AND RELIGION

2011: Trump Repeatedly Called To See President Obama’s Birth Certificate, Even Announcing He Was Sending Investigators To Hawaii To Look Into It. [ABC News, 9/18/15]

2011: Trump On President Obama: “He Doesn’t Have A Birth Certificate. He May Have One But There’s Something On That Maybe Religion, Maybe It Says He Is A Muslim… Or He May Not Have One.” [O’Reilly Factor, Fox News, 3/30/11]

2012: Trump: “An ‘Extremely Credible Source’ Has Called My Office And Told Me That @BarackObama’s Birth Certificate Is A Fraud.” [@realDonaldTrump, Twitter, 8/6/12]

INFOWARS HEADLINE: “Evidence Obama Born In Kenya Goes Beyond 1991 Brochure.” [Infowars, 5/18/12]

INFOWARS HEADLINE: “Bombshell: Obama ‘Born In Kenya.’” [Infowars, 5/17/12]

When he entered the crowded Republican field, Trump captured headlines by saying Mexican immigrants were rapists and criminals. He championed the same issues the Alt-Right supported, and Alt-Right supporters took note.

Trump: “When Mexico Sends Its People, They’re Not Sending Their Best… They’re Bringing Drugs. They’re Bringing Crime. They’re Rapists.” TRUMP: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.” [Trump Presidential Campaign Announcement, New York NY, 6/16/15; Washington Post, 7/8/15]

Mic: Trump’s Attacks on Political Correctness Contributed to Rise of Alt-Right. “Donald Trump has decried the proliferation of political correctness in his meteoric rise to the Republican nomination, saying America’s problems need a leader willing to unabashedly discuss what ails the nation before anything can be fixed. That call to defy the norms of political correctness has contributed to the rise of the ‘alt-right’ — a group that bills itself as the alternative to mainstream conservatism by embracing white supremacist, anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant views that have historically manifested in hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan.” [Mic, 8/23/16]

Politico: Donald Trump Was A Boon For White Supremacists, Who Used His Candidacy As A Tool To Expand Their Movement. “The Ku Klux Klan is using Donald Trump as a talking point in its outreach efforts. Stormfront, the most prominent American white supremacist website, is upgrading its servers in part to cope with a Trump traffic spike. And former Louisiana Rep. David Duke reports that the businessman has given more Americans cover to speak out loud about white nationalism than at any time since his own political campaigns in the 1990s.” [Politico, 12/10/15]

His plan to “build a wall” appealed directly to prominent figures in the Alt-Right community.

Trump: “We’re Going To Do A Wall… Mexico’s Going To Pay For The Wall.” [Republican Primary Debate, Boulder CO, 10/28/15; CNBC, 10/28/15]

VDARE’s Patrick Cleburne Referred To Immigration As “Immivasion” And Thought The Public Would Prefer To Support The “Great Wall Of Trump.” “Anyone who thinks that given the choice between a virtually unreported policy of No Borders and National obliteration and the Great Wall Of Trump Americans will enthusiastically choose the former is delusional. And anyone who thinks Donald Trump can be induced, like Romney, to forgo the issue does not appreciate the Donald’s instinct for the Jugular.” [Patrick Cleburne, VDARE, 3/4/16]
Daily Stormer Argued That A Border Wall Was Effective In Hungary Despite Claims By “Lying Jews And Communists” That It Would Not Work. [Daily Stormer, 7/9/16]
Jared Taylor of American Renaissance: Trump’s “Heart Is In It When He Says We Need To Build A Wall.” Jared Taylor on Donald Trump, “His heart is in it when he says we need to build a wall, deport illegals, and have an immigration ‘pause’ until every American who wants a job gets one.”[Jared Taylor, American Renaissance, 7/20/15]

Prominent Alt-Right supporters also mirrored Trump’s refugee rhetoric.

Trump On Refugees: “We Cannot Let The Syrians Come In That We Have No Idea Who They Are. We Don’t Know If They Are Syrians. This Could Be The All-Time Great Trojan Horse.” [Campaign Rally, Milwaukee WI, 4/4/16]

Trump: “Hillary Clinton Is Running To Be America’s Angela Merkel, And We’ve Seen How Much Crime And How Many Problems That’s Caused The German People And Germany.” [Campaign Speech, Charlotte NC, 8/18/16]

Jared Taylor Wrote An Article Titled “Is This the Death of Europe?” Attacking Europe And Merkel’s Acceptance Of Refugees. [Jared Taylor, American Renaissance, 9/22/15]

Jared Taylor: “Islam Is Incompatible With The West… Muslims Should Be Kept Out.” “Not one dares point out that Islam is incompatible with the West, and that these murders are just one more proof that Muslims should be kept out.” [Jared Taylor, American Renaissance, 1/7/15]

Richard Spencer Tweeted That On The Refugee Crisis, Merkel Was “Acting Like A Typical White-Guilt Obsessed Politician.” [@RichardBSpencer, Twitter, 5/26/16]

Support for his candidacy continued to grow among extreme fringe conservatives - support that Trump failed to denounce, and in fact amplified at times.

New York Magazine: “[The] data shows that 62 percent of the accounts Trump has retweeted recently have white-supremacist connections.” [New York Magazine, 1/27/16]

New York Times: “Mr. Trump has amplified the messages of some white-power proponents himself: In January, he resent a Twitter message from a site called @WhiteGenocideTM. And he has done the same with statistics on black-on-white crime that were later shown to be false.” [New York Times, 2/29/16]

HEADLINE: “Trump Retweets Another Apparent White Supremacist” [The Hill, 4/19/16]

HEADLINE: “Donald Trump Can’t Stop Retweeting White Supremacist Twitter Accounts” [Talking Points Memo, 4/20/16]

As it became increasingly clear that Trump would likely be the Republican nominee, he ramped up his nationalist rhetoric, continuously touting a slogan used by an anti-semitic organization.

Trump: “America First Will Be The Major And Overriding Theme Of My Administration.” [Trump Foreign Policy Speech, Center for the National Interest, Washington DC, 4/27/16; Politico, 4/27/16]

As Historians Have Noted, “America First” Was Also The Slogan Of An Anti-Semitic Movement, Championed By Charles Lindbergh, That Opposed American Intervention In World War II. [New Yorker, 8/24/16]

Williams College Professor Susan Dunn: “Donald Trump Chose To Brand His Foreign Policy With The Noxious Slogan “America First,” The Name Of The Isolationist, Defeatist, Anti-Semitic National Organization That Urged The United States To Appease Adolf Hitler.” [Williams College Professor Susan Dunn, CNN, 4/28/16]

HEADLINE: “Anti-Defamation League To Trump: Your ‘America First’ Slogan Has Anti-Semitic Roots.” [Raw Story, 4/29/16]

HEADLINE: “Virginia KKK Leader Endorses Trump: ‘What He Believes In, We Believe In’” [Talking Points Memo, 4/30/16]

HEADLINE: “White Nationalists See Advancement Through Donald Trump’s Candidacy.” [Wall Street Journal, 5/17/16]

Fringe conservatives were “energized” by what they saw at Trump’s Republican National Convention.

Trump: “Americanism, Not Globalism, Will Be Our Credo.” [Republican National Convention, Cleveland OH, 7/21/16]

AP: “Energized White Supremacists Cheer Trump Convention Message.” [Associated Press, 7/24/16]

Just 83 days from the election, Trump elevated two advisors, Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway, to senior leadership positions. Hiring Bannon (executive chairman of Breitbart News) made official the long-standing union between Trump and the Alt-Right.

U.S. News & World Report: “When Donald Trump hired Breitbart’s Steve Bannon to lead his campaign, the alt-right rejoiced.” [U.S. News, 8/23/16]

“Not only had one of their own made it into the halls of power, he was seated at the right hand of the candidate who has done more to advance their politics of white nationalism, men's rights and conspiracism than any nominee in a generation or more.” [U.S. News, 8/23/16]

Mic: “Republicans who fear the alt-right will cannibalize the GOP, were dealt a blow last week when Trump brought on Steve Bannon to serve as the CEO of his campaign. Bannon was the chairman of Breitbart, a breeding ground for the alt-right that helped push Trump’s candidacy during the crowded Republican primary.” [Mic, 8/23/16]

Washington Post: “‘Racialists’ Are Cheered By Trump’s Latest Strategy” [Washington Post, 8/20/16]

Jared Taylor, White Nationalist Author And Editor: “Donald Trump May Be The Last Hope For A President Who Would Be Good For White People.”[Jared Taylor, American Renaissance, 8/20/15]

He has continued to espouse conspiracy theories that either originate with or are repeated by Alt-Right websites.

CONSPIRACY THEORY: TRUMP SAYS THE GENERAL ELECTION IS GOING TO BE RIGGED

Trump Said He Knew The Election Was Going To Be Rigged Because “I Just Hear Things And I Just Feel It.” [WJLA, (ABC 7 Washington), 8/2/16]

PolitiFact Gave Trump A Pants On Fire For Claiming The Election Was Rigged. “Trump has repeatedly claimed that the U.S. election system is rigged. While it is possible to tamper with electronic voting machines, there is no evidence deliberate malfeasance has altered any election. We rate Trump’s claim Pants on Fire.” [PolitiFact, 8/15/16]

HEADLINE: “Roger Stone Says There Will Be A ‘Bloodbath’ If Election Is Stolen From Trump” [Mediaite, 8/02/16]

Daily Stormer Criticized A “Jew” Political Scientist Who Rejected Trump’s Claims The Election Would Be Rigged And Called To “Get Pro-Trump Guys On The Ground During The Voting, In Order To Prevent The Foul-Play Which Is Sure To Be Attempted.” [Daily Stormer, 8/4/16]

CONSPIRACY THEORY: TRUMP PUSHES DEBUNKED INTERNET RUMORS ABOUT HILLARY CLINTON’S HEALTH

Washington Post’s Fact Checker Gave Trump Four Pinocchios For His Claims Clinton Lacked The Mental And Physical Stamina To Be President, Calling The Claims “Half-Baked” And “Debunked Internet Rumors From The Fringes Of The Right.” “Trump has claimed twice, without proof, that Clinton lacks the physical and mental stamina to be president. In the absence of any evidence, he earns Four Pinocchios. Four Pinocchios.” [Fact Checker, Washington Post, 8/18/16]

Huffington Post: A group of conspiracy-minded conservatives have been increasingly pushing the theory that Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is hiding a serious physical or mental ailment from the American people. They have an ally in Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who took a jab at Clinton’s “mental and physical stamina” during a speech on Monday. [Huffington Post, 8/15/16]

Breitbart, the Alt-Right’s most prominent media backer, has energetically promoted this conspiracy theory:

Breitbart Re-posted An Article From Website Zero Hedge That Said “Hillary Has At Multiple Times Had Convulsions That Appear To Be Seizures On Camera, Including A Series Of Seemingly Inexplicable Coughing Fits”: “Hillary’ bizarre, erratic behavior on the campaign trail (culminating with last week’s perplexing ‘short-circuit’ comment) has left many wondering whether she is seriously ill.” [Breitbart, 8/11/16]

Breitbart Editorialized That The Mainstream Media Has Been “Strangely Silent” About a Possible “Traumatic Brain Injury.” [Breitbart, 8/10/16]

Extremist supporters of the Alt-Right movement have found a candidate in Trump who shares their core beliefs. Plus, many people are saying that he is, indeed, normalizing and espousing the views of the Alt-Right - many people who happen to be experts on the subject.

Chip Berlet, veteran researcher of the far right: “Berlet does not think that American politics has been in such a dangerous place vis-a-vis the far right for almost a century. For him, the parallels between the Trump campaign and the alt-right are ‘the most important pushback against having a multicultural and pluralistic society since the 1920s Klan’.” [Guardian, 8/23/16]

Washington Post: “The alt-right began with a speech the conservative writer Paul Gottfried gave in 2008, after the Republican Party’s electoral wipeout… But it was Donald Trump’s presidential campaign that brought the movement into the mainstream.” [Washington Post, 8/23/16]

HEADLINE: “Donald Trump And The Normalization Of White Male Supremacy” [ThinkProgress, 7/25/16]

New York Times: “Even as He Rises, Donald Trump Entertains Conspiracy Theories.” [New York Times, 3/1/16]

CONSPIRACY THEORY: TRUMP REPEATEDLY TELLS A HOAX STORY ABOUT AN AMERICAN GENERAL EXECUTING MUSLIM PRISONERS WITH BULLETS COVERED IN PIG’S BLOOD

CNN: “Donald Trump on Friday cited an apocryphal story about a U.S. general who purportedly dipped bullets in pigs’ blood to execute Muslim prisoners a century ago in an effort to deter Islamic terrorism. [CNN, 2/19/16]

PolitiFact: Gave Trump A Pants On Fire For His Story About Gen. Pershing. [PolitiFact, 2/23/16]

Over to you, Breitbart:

Breitbart Targets the Council on American Islamic Relations For Publishing “Negative Publicity” About Trump After He Tells Hoax Story About Gen. Pershing. [Breitbart, 2/21/16]

CONSPIRACY THEORY: TRUMP TRIED TO SUGGEST VINCE FOSTER DID NOT COMMIT SUICIDE:

Trump Called The 1993 Suicide Of Former White House Aide Vince Foster “Very Fishy” And Said Theories Of Possible Foul Play Were “Very Serious.” “In one recent interview, Trump said another topic of potential concern is the suicide of former White House aide Vincent Foster, which remains the focus of intense and far-fetched conspiracy theories on the Internet.” [Washington Post, 5/23/16]

“...Some voices on the far right have long argued that the Clintons may have been involved in a conspiracy that led to Foster’s death….‘He had intimate knowledge of what was going on,’ Trump said, speaking of Foster’s relationship with the Clintons at the time. ‘He knew everything that was going on, and then all of a sudden he committed suicide.’” [Washington Post, 5/23/16]

Over to you, Breitbart:

Breitbart Falsely Claims New Evidence In Vince Foster Case. “However, newly discovered evidence increased belief that foul play was involved and resulted in an alleged coverup.” [Breitbart, 5/24/16]

—————————————————————————————————————-

II. TRUMP HAS HIRED AND SURROUNDED HIMSELF WITH SOME OF THE LEADING VOICES ON THE ALT-RIGHT CONSERVATIVE FRINGE

Trump has mutual relationships with and respect for Breitbart’s Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, and Alex Jones. A brief examination of the hate, conspiracy, and dangerous vitriol propagated by these three men and their megaphones should tell us something about the values of their close friend who is running for president:

BANNON’S BREITBART

The Southern Poverty Law Center has noted that “…the Outlet [Breitbart] Has Undergone A Noticeable Shift Toward Embracing Ideas On The Extremist Fringe Of The Conservative Right. Racist Ideas.” [Southern Poverty Law Center, 4/28/16]

Steve Bannon, Trump’s new campaign CEO, comes to the campaign directly from Breitbart News. Under Bannon’s leadership, Breitbart has regularly used homophobic, misogynistic, and offensive language in its headlines and coverage:

HEADLINE: “Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy.” [Breitbart, 12/8/15]

HEADLINE: “Would You Rather Your Child Had Feminism or Cancer?” [Breitbart, 2/19/2016]

HEADLINE: “Suck It Up Buttercups: Dangerous Faggot Tour Returns To Colleges In September.” [Breitbart, 7/6/16]

HEADLINE: “Trannies Whine About Hilarious Bruce Jenner Billboard.” [Breitbart, 12/4/15]

HEADLINE: “Bill Kristol: Republican Spoiler, Renegade Jew.” [Breitbart, 5/15/16]

HEADLINE: “Planned Parenthood’s Body Count Under Cecile Richards Is Up To Half A Holocaust.” [Breitbart, 8/22/15]

HEADLINE: “Gabby Giffords: The Gun Control Movement’s Human Shield” [Breitbart, 3/8/2015]

HEADLINE: “Hoist It High And Proud: The Confederate Flag Proclaims A Glorious Heritage.” [Breitbart, 7/1/15]

Breitbart Defended White Nationalists Such As Richard Spencer And Jared Taylor, Claiming They “Have Been Accused Of Racism”: “Breitbart recently published a lengthy defense of the AltRight, claiming the white nationalists such as Richard Spencer and Jared Taylor who created the ideology ‘have been accused of racism,’ choosing to ignore the well documented openly racist views.” [Southern Poverty Law Center, 4/28/16]

Breitbart has also served as a Trump Propaganda Machine.

One Breitbart Editor Said He Was Told By An Executive That Trump Paid Breitbart For Positive Coverage. [BuzzFeed, 8/9/15]

A Breitbart Source Said Bannon Was Required To Sign Off On “Everything That Is Written About Trump.” [Vanity Fair, 3/14/16]

ALEX JONES AND INFOWARS

Alex Jones, whose show Trump has appeared on, and who Trump has praised publicly, is a prominent conspiracy theorist.

Jones pushed several conspiracy theories around national tragedies: “Jones’s amazing reputation arises mainly from his high-volume insistence that national tragedies such as the September 11th terror attacks, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Sandy Hook elementary-school shooting, and the Boston Marathon bombing were all inside jobs, ‘false flag’ ops secretly perpetrated by the government to increase its tyrannical power (and, in some cases, seize guns). Jones believes that no one was actually hurt at Sandy Hook—those were actors—and that the Apollo 11 moon-landing footage was faked.” [New Yorker, 6/23/16]

Jones on the Gabby Giffords shooting: “My gut tells me this was a staged mind-control operation. The government employs geometric psychological-warfare experts that know exactly how to indirectly manipulate unstable people through the media.” [Rolling Stone, 3/2/11]

Jones on the Orlando nightclub shooting: “In a YouTube video posted Sunday evening, the Infowars.com founder called Mateen’s shooting rampage ‘a false-flag terror attack.’” [Daily Beast, 6/12/16]

Apart from conspiracy theories, Jones has a history of offensive comments.

“Real women don’t need #feminism! It destroys society! It promotes division & hate against men! http://bit.ly/1EyNooc #tcot” [@RealAlexJones, Twitter, 3/7/15]

“Sheriff Clarke: Black Lives Matter Is A ‘Vulgar, Vile, Vicious, Slimy Movement’ http://www.infowars.com/sheriff-clarke-black-lives-matter-is-a-vulgar-vile-vicious-slimy-movement/ …” [@RealAlexJones, Twitter, 9/1/15]

“Unedited Video Shows Bundy Making Pro-Black, Pro-Mexican Comments – http://www.infowars.com/unedited-video-shows-bundy-making-pro-black-pro-mexican-comments/ … #BundyRanch” [@RealAlexJones,4/25/14]

The list of disturbing and bizarre headlines on Jones’ site, Infowars, is unending. Visit http://www.infowars.com/ for a view into the mind of a man Trump has said he “greatly admires.”

STONE’S RECENT HITS

Roger Stone, another Trump associate, has a record of offensive and racist comments that resulted in recent bans from major media outlets.

Both CNN and MSNBC banned Stone over offensive comments. “As Media Matters notes, Stone’s Twitter history got him banned from both CNN and MSNBC, and yet he was still on the Trump campaign team, is still on Fox News regularly, and is still quoted as a Trump surrogate without much mention of how his Twitter feed reads like the bathroom wall at a white supremacist rally.” [Salon, 4/6/16]

Stone repeatedly targeted minorities with offensive tweets and called them “quota hires.” “Stone sent out tweets over the past few days calling Navarro, who was a Jeb Bush supporter, ‘Entitled Diva Bitch,’ ‘Borderline retarded’ and ‘’dumber than dog s—.’ He also tweeted about Navarro in December, saying she reminded him of a ‘rabid pekinese.’ He previously called Navarro and former contributor Roland Martin ‘quota hires’ for the network.” [Politico, 2/23/16]

Roger Stone Called CNN Analyst Roland Martin A “Fat Negro.” [WBUR, 6/6/16]

Roger Stone Called Roland Martin A “Stupid Negro.” “Stone called Navarro a ‘diva bitch,’ and ‘borderline retarded.’ He said Martin was a ‘stupid negro,’ and called both of them ‘quota hires.’” [Daily Caller, 2/24/16]

Roger Stone: “Would @BenCarson2016 HQ Be Called Uncle Tom’s Cabin ? Just Asking……” [@RogerJStoneJr, Twitter, 11/15/15]

Roger Stone: “Herman Cain – 999 Or 69 ? #Swordsman #Hung #mandingo @magerhabepolitico.” [@RogerJStoneJr, Twitter,11/28/11]

And for good measure, Stone recently attacked the Khan family:

Roger Stone: Mr. Khan More Then An Aggrieved Father Of A Muslim Son – He’s Muslim Brotherhood Agent Helping Hillary Clinton. “Roger Stone ‏@RogerJStoneJr: Mr. Khan more than an aggrieved father of a Muslim son- he’s Muslim Brotherhood agent helping Hillary http://linkis.com/shoebat.com/2016/07/amTCP” [Twitter, Roger Stone, 7/31/2016]

Mother Jones: Roger Stone said that Khizr Khan, The Father Of A Slain Soldier Was “Working For The Muslim Brotherhood.” “Roger Stone, an informal adviser to Donald Trump, took to Twitter on Sunday to claim that Khizr Khan, the father of a slain war hero who spoke at last week’s Democratic National Convention, is working for the Muslim Brotherhood.” [Mother Jones, 8/1/16]

For years, Trump has maintained relationships with all three of these–all of whom have promoted and contributed to the dialogue among extremist groups on the far right.

A WEB OF RELATIONSHIPS AMONG TRUMP, BANNON, JONES, AND STONE:

2015: Trump Allegedly Called Bannon And Asked For Breitbart To Write Positive Stories About Him. “But my sources at Breitbart said the billionaire has regularly taken advantage of his relationship with the site by placing calls to Bannon and asking for stories to be written about himself. They said his typical requests for coverage in the past tended to center on his serial flirtations with running for office, but they added that his constant presence on the homepage — and his general knack for pandering to the conservative fever swamps — had won him a true following among their readership.” [BuzzFeed, 8/9/15]

2015: Bloomberg: Breitbart News “Has Championed Trump’s Presidential Candidacy.” [Bloomberg, 10/8/15]

2016: Bannon Had Been Advising Trump For Months Prior To Being Formally Hired: “Bannon, in phone calls and meetings, has been urging Trump for months to not mount a fall campaign that makes Republican donors and officials comfortable, the aides said. Instead, Bannon has been telling Trump to run more fully as an outsider and an unabashed nationalist.” [Washington Post, 8/17/16]

2016: A Breitbart Source Said Bannon Was Required To Sign Off On “Everything That Is Written About Trump.” “At Breitbart, pro-Trump coverage is rigidly enforced from the top down, according to two people with knowledge of the site’s editorial process. ‘Everything that is written about Trump must be approved by Bannon,’ said a source who did not wish to be named for fear of retribution. [Vanity Fair, 3/14/16]

After Trump chose extremist Bannon to lead his campaign, reporters took note of its implications.

Mic: “Republicans who fear the alt-right will cannibalize the GOP, were dealt a blow last week when Trump brought on Steve Bannon to serve as the CEO of his campaign.” [Mic, 8/23/16]

“Bannon was the chairman of Breitbart, a breeding ground for the alt-right that helped push Trump's candidacy during the crowded Republican primary.” [Mic, 8/23/16]

Washington Post: “[Trump’s] decision to elevate Breitbart’s Steve Bannon to run his campaign only reinforced the alt-right’s appreciation.” [Washington Post, 8/23/16]

Mother Jones: “‘We’re the platform for the alt-right,’ Bannon told me proudly when I interviewed him at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in July.” [Mother Jones, 8/22/16]

Roger Stone and Donald Trump have been close for decades.

National Review: “Hard To Overstate” How Close Trump And Stone Have Been—Comparative To Bush And Rove Or Obama And Axelrod. [National Review, 8/10/15]

1979: Roger Stone First Met Donald Trump, When Stone Was Working For Ronald Reagan’s Presidential Campaign New York. “Trump and Stone first met in 1979, when Stone was working for Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaign in New York state.” [National Review, 8/10/2015]

1988: Paul Manafort Said He Was Introduced To Donald Trump By Roger Stone At The 1988 Republican National Convention. “Mr. Stone introduced Mr. Manafort to Mr. Trump at the 1988 Republican National Convention, as Mr. Stone was squiring the New Yorker around, though the two had known each other since the early 1980s, Mr. Manafort said.” [New York Times, 4/8/16]

1993: Roger Stone Accompanied Trump To A Congressional Hearing Where Trump Gave Controversial Testimony Opposing Tribal Gaming. “Stone, who has had a long, sometimes controversial Washington career – he was once an assistant to Bart Porter, who helped manage the Watergate era dirty-tricks operation – accompanied Trump last week to the House hearing…Trump complained about ‘Indians who don’t look like Indians’ running casinos and about organized crime running ‘rampant.’” [Hartford Courant, 10/10/93]

2000: Stone Helped Trump Explore Run For President On The Reform Party. “Stone was there to help his friend and longtime client Donald Trump explore a Reform party presidential candidacy in 2000.” [Weekly Standard, 11/5/07]

2015: Before Donald Trump Hired Corey Lewandowski, His Entire Political Staff Consisted Of Michael Cohen, Roger Stone, And Sam Nunberg. [New York Magazine, 8/6/15]

And although Trump has said that Stone is no longer a part of the campaign, Stone would beg to differ.

MARCH: Stone Said That He Talks To Donald Trump From Time To Time – We Just Have A Rhythm, More Than Weekly But Not Every Day, Not Every Other Day. [GQ, 3/30/16]

MAY: “[Roger Stone] left in August amid staff infighting (he butted heads, in particular, with campaign manager Corey Lewandowski), but he returned to the inner circle when Trump hired Paul Manafort, who’d been his partner at Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly, a lobbying firm in D.C. that they started in the early 1980s.” [Daily Beast, 5/13/16]

JULY: Stone On His Role In The Trump Campaign: “Have Access To All The Right People… He Returns My Calls.” ROGER STONE: “He returns my calls and I have enormous respect for Donald Trump.” CHARLIE ROSE: What do you talk about most? Politics or the campaign? Does he call you out and say what do you think I should do? ROGER STONE: Sometimes I call him. I’m a prolific writer of memos and I know his style so I know how to put together a brief piece of paper that will inform him without being overpowering.” [Charlie Rose, PBS, 7/21/16]

JULY: Stone Said He Talked To Donald Trump When He Rolled Out Mike Pence As His Running Mate. MICHAEL ISIKOFF: “When was the last time you talked to him?” ROGER STONE: “Saturday, at the time he rolled Mike Pence out as his running mate.” [Yahoo News, 7/20/16]

Donald Trump also shares a mutual admiration with conspiracy theorist and radio show host, Alex Jones.

2015: Donald Trump to Alex Jones: “I just wanted to finish by saying that your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down. You’ll be very, very impressed, I hope, and I think we’ll be speaking a lot, but you’ll be looking at me in a year, or two years—give me a little bit of time to run things—but a year into office, you’ll be saying, ‘Wow, I remember that interview, he said he was gonna do it, and he did a great job.” [Vanity Fair, 12/2/15]

2015: “Alex Jones Is A Big Fan Of Donald Trump, And The Feeling’s Mutual.” “Republican front-runner Donald Trump appeared on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ show on Wednesday in a lengthy display of mutual appreciation. Appearing on a blurry video connection, Trump talked to Jones about Trump’s false claims about Muslims in New Jersey cheering 9/11, Hillary Clinton, and Trump’s book, among other topics. Jones told Trump he had been ‘vindicated’ in his claims. I know it happened and I held my line and people wanted me to apologize and I can’t do that,’ Trump told Jones. ‘People like you and I, we can’t do that so easily.’“[BuzzFeed, 12/2/15]

2016: “Alex Jones Celebrates Trump’s Takeover Of The GOP.” Jones took in Trump’s Republican Convention and “spent Monday mobbed by reporters, sharing a podium with Trump adviser Roger Stone and welcoming several far-right candidates onstage as part of an ‘America First Project’ unity effort.” [Washington Post, 7/18/16]

2016: Trump’s Senior Policy Advisor Stephen Miller Talked To Infowars And Praised Alex Jones For Being On Top Of The Issues Close To The Trump Campaign. “In a February 8 interview with Infowars.com, Trump senior policy adviser Stephen Miller praised Jones and Infowars for having ‘been on top of … the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and on the immigration issue.’ Miller then repeatedly pitched Trump to Jones’ audience, telling them that ‘if you want to stop the Trans-Pacific Partnership, if you want to close the border, if you want to protect American jobs and wages, then you have to support Donald J. Trump.’” [Media Matters, 2/10/16; Infowars, 2/8/16]

And Jones, Stone, and Bannon appear to enjoy one another’s company as well

Alex Jones And Roger Stone Crashed The Set Of A Progressive Livestream Together During The Republican Convention. “A tense encounter between several hosts of The Young Turks and conservative stalwarts Roger Stone and Alex Jones almost came to fisticuffs on Thursday. Cenk Uygur, a co-founder of the progressive internet show, was hosting a segment live from the Republican National Convention on Thursday, speaking about GOP nominee Donald Trump’s overwhelming support among white men in America. Jones, a conservative radio talk show host and noted conspiracy theorist, aggressively interrupted Uygur.” [Huffington Post, 7/21/16]

HEADLINE: “Alex Jones, Roger Stone Hijack Liberal Livestream At RNC — And Things Get Very Real, Very Fast.”[Huffington Post, 7/21/16]

HEADLINE: “Alex Jones, Roger Stone Bring The Crazy To RNC 2016.” [Daily Beast, 7/18/16]

Stephen Bannon Interviewed Roger Stone On His Breitbart Radio Show. [Breitbart News Daily, Sirius XM, 7/5/16; 6/15/16; 6/8/16; 4/20/16]

—————————————————————————————————————-

III. DONALD TRUMP’S RHETORIC - RHETORIC THAT IS MIRRORED BY THE ALT RIGHT - HAS ALREADY LED TO VIOLENCE, RACISM AND INTOLERANCE AROUND THE COUNTRY

Just this week brought additional developments in a racist, sexist coordinated assault on actress Leslie Jones–one begun and led by a top editor at Breitbart, which has become the Alt-Right’s platform. What has happened to Ms. Jones in recent months is evidence of the resentments fueling what is known as the Alt-Right, and its dangers. The effect is real.

Breitbart Editor Milo Yiannopoulos Was Slapped With A Rare Lifetime Ban From Twitter For Provoking The Vicious, Racist Attacks Against Leslie Jones - Bannon’s Response: “Did You Hear About Milo? It’s Great.” “Just before one of our two meetings this summer, Breitbart’s technology correspondent, Milo Yiannopoulos, was slapped with a rare lifetime ban from Twitter for an essay that provoked vicious, racist attacks by his followers against the actress Leslie Jones, a gifted performer whose major crime was finding work, in this case as part of the all-female ensemble on the new Ghostbusters movie. Across the Web, Yiannopoulos’s actions were noted as an example of race-baiting. Bannon’s first words to me that day were, ‘Did you hear about Milo? It’s great.’” [Vanity Fair, 8/17/16]

Salon: Under Bannon, Yiannopoulos Was Hired By Breitbart “Because Of His Skills At Whipping Up The Sociopathic Internet Into A Frenzy Of Resentment At Even The Hint That They Might Have To Share The World With Women And People Of Color.” “And Yiannopoulos’s boss Stephen Bannon now runs the Donald Trump campaign. Make no mistake: Yiannopoulos got his job at Breitbart not despite, but because of his skills at whipping up the sociopathic internet into a frenzy of resentment at even the hint that they might have to share the world with women and people of color. Under Bannon, Yiannopoulos was brought on to be the editor of their supposed ‘tech’ vertical, even though there’s no evidence that he knows much about tech and despite his history of bashing video game players.” [Salon, 8/24/16]

Trump’s policies and rhetoric have had a ripple effect, popping up in society in menacing ways. The “Trump Effect” is having a disturbing impact on American communities.

Washington Post: “Trump’s vitriol is making it off the campaign trail and into the lingua franca of children at an alarming rate. Just watch coverage from Trump rallies to hear the next phrases kids will be slinging at school.” [Washington Post, 3/7/16]

Huffington Post: “Even though they can’t vote… kids are paying attention to the 2016 election. Trumps bigotry is moving from the political stage to the community level.”[Huffington Post, 5/15/16]

Southern Poverty Law Center: “Our report found that the campaign is producing an alarming level of fear and anxiety among children of color and inflaming racial and ethnic tensions in the classroom. Many students worry about being deported.” [Southern Poverty Law Center, 4/13/16]

HEADLINE: “The Trump Effect”: Hatred, Fear And Bullying On The Rise In Schools.” [Huffington Post, 4/13/16]

● “Overall, more than two-thirds of the teachers who took the survey reported that their students — mainly Muslims, immigrants and children of immigrants — were worried about what could happen to them and their families after the November election. And more than one-third of the teachers said they’ve noticed a rise in anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiment among their students as well.” [Huffington Post, 4/13/16]

HEADLINE: “The Parent-Child Discussion That So Many Dread: Donald Trump” [New York Times Video, 3/10/16]

“Quite frankly, it’s been quite embarrassing when I have an 11-year-old who is better behaved and more polite than some people who are the potential next leaders of our country,” said Maury Peterson, who runs Parenting Journey, a nonprofit group in Somerville, Mass., that provides support for families. “This name-calling and making fun of people is basically the opposite of what he’s been taught at home and at school.” [New York Times, 3/10/16]

HEADLINE: “The ‘Trump Effect’ Is Contaminating Our Kids – And Could Resonate For Years” [Washington Post, 5/7/16]

“I don’t know whether Trump was the inspiration for the kids on an all-white Annapolis-area hockey team who singled out the black players on my son’s team, calling them the N-word and harassing them throughout the game. But they heard those words somewhere. They learned that cruelty somewhere. And I don’t think it’s a stretch to blame their behavior on the nation’s growing tolerance of open displays of bigotry.” [Washington Post, 5/7/16]

The Trump Effect has carried over to states:

Massachusetts Trump supporters attacked Latino man: “The first known victim of Trump-inspired violence emerged much earlier. On August 20, 2015, in Boston, Massachusetts, two Trump supporters physically attacked a homeless Latino man. One of the attackers informed police that he was motivated by Trump’s immigration message that Mexicans were criminals and rapists.” [When Islamophobia Turns Violent, Georgetown University, 4/25/15]

In Indiana: “‘Build the wall!’ That was the chant at a high school basketball game in Indiana last week, directed by kids from a majority-white school who held up Trump signs and yelled at the opposing players and fans, who were from a predominantly Latino school.” [Washington Post, 3/7/16]

“‘During the course of that game, a group of Andrean students produced signs and images of presidential candidate Donald Trump and began to chant ‘Build that wall,’ at the Bishop Noll team and fans, who are heavily Hispanic,’ the Catholic Dioceses of Gary, which oversees both schools, said in a statement. … Ashley Howard was at the game cheering for her cousin, who plays for Bishop Noll. … The signs, she said were coupled with chants like ‘Build a wall,’ ‘No comprende’ and ‘Speak English.’” [CNN, 3/1/16]

After a similar incident in Iowa, Perry High School Principal Dan Marburger responded: “They see it in a presidential campaign and now it’s OK for everyone to say this. It’s almost a sense that you feel that you don’t belong in your own country.” [CNN, 3/1/16]

In Wisconsin: “A Wisconsin high school girls soccer match turned traumatizing after fans in the rafters were shouting racial slurs at the players from the Beloit Memorial High School — and included chants like, ‘Donald Trump, build that wall,’ witnesses said.” [NY Daily News, 4/10/16]

Trump and the Alt-Right both support keeping Muslim immigrants outside of the U.S.:

African-American Muslim students fear deportation under Trump: “‘My students are terrified of Donald Trump,’ says one teacher from a middle school with a large population of African-American Muslims. ‘They think that if he’s elected, all black people will get sent back to Africa.’” [Southern Poverty Law Center, 4/13/16]

Muslim woman assaulted by a Trump supporter in Washington, DC: “Several weeks ago, in Washington, D.C., a Muslim woman was called ‘a worthless piece of Muslim trash’ and a ‘terrorist’ by a fellow Starbucks customer… After pouring something on the Muslim woman, the assaulter told her victim that she was planning on voting for Donald Trump, who would send Muslims ‘back to where you come from.’” [Slate, 5/9/16]

Trump has expressed a violent, aggressive attitude toward protesters and those who disagree with him. At times, these words have seemingly given license to supporters and rally attendees to express open hatred and to commit actions that typically invite rebuke from a candidate for president.

HEADLINE: “Trump On Protester: ‘I’d Like To Punch Him In The Face’” [Politico, 2/23/16; Trump Campaign Rally, Las Vegas NV, 2/22/16]

Trump: “We’re Not Allowed To Punch Back Anymore…You Know What They Used To Do Guys Like That When They Were In A Place Like This? They Would Be Carried Out In A Stretcher, Folks.” [Politico, 2/23/16; Trump Campaign Rally, Las Vegas NV, 2/22/16]

Donald Trump Said That A Protester Who Interrupted His Rally Was “So Obnoxious And So Loud” That “Maybe He Should Have Been Roughed Up.” [Washington Post, 11/22/15]

HEADLINE: “Voices From Donald Trump’s Rallies, Uncensored” [New York Times, 8/3/16]

HEADLINE: “Skinheads Come Out in Full Force for Donald Trump in Pennsylvania Donald Trump has attracted the attention” [Daily Beast, 4/26/16]

At A Trump Rally, A Young Boy Repeatedly Yelled “Take The Bitch Down” About Hillary Clinton. “Even by the standards of rowdy Donald Trump rallies, the sight of a boy repeatedly yelling ‘take the bitch down’ about presidential candidate Hillary Clinton stood out.” [Wall Street Journal, 8/2/16]

Huffington Post: “The rise of Donald Trump has exposed the frightening underbelly of America’s foulest tendencies. Our racism, nativism, xenophobia, misogyny, Islamophobia, ableism, and propensity toward authoritarianism have been laid bare.” [Huffington Post, 6/6/16]

Just this week, an AP analysis found that Trump’s own campaign staff have employed offensive language, that has also been employed by supporters at rallies and writers and commenters across so-called “Alt-Right”, extreme corners of the internet.

Trump staffers express racially charged views: “The campaign has employed a mix of veteran political operatives and outsiders. Most come across as dedicated, enthusiastic partisans, but at least seven expressed views that were overtly racially charged, supportive of violent actions or broadly hostile to Muslims.” [Associated Press, 8/22/16]

“A graphic designer for Trump's advance team approvingly posted a video of a black man eating fried chicken and criticizing fellow blacks for ignorance, irresponsibility and having too many children.” [Associated Press, 8/22/16]

“A Trump field organizer in Virginia declared that Muslims were seeking to impose Sharia law in America and that "those who understand Islam for what it is are gearing up for the fight.” [Associated Press, 8/22/16]

That first Trump campaign speech was not the beginning of the movement, nor was it the beginning of the disturbing ties between Trump and hate groups. But it was the launch of a new kind of presidential campaign–one that normalized hate and bigotry and lifted up hate groups in a way no mainstream presidential campaign in modern history has. This kind of hatred is impacting our families, our communities and the public discourse – the so-called “Trump effect” – and we must recognize and stand up against it in order to keep the fringe extremism out of the White House.