Trumps Signals to White Supremacists Arent Dog Whistles. Theyre Flares.

[Arkansas Granny]

“They may not be ready for the Ku Klux Klan yet, but as anti-white hatred escalates, they will.”

That was Rachel Pendergraft, a spokeswoman for the political arm of the Ku Klux Klan (yes, this exists), talking last year about the way the Trump campaign was helping racist and white supremacist groups reach a growing audience. Mother Jones interviewed her as part of a big investigation, which found that these extremists were seeing Trump as legitimizing their once-hidden views.

Hearing people like Pendergraft talking this way — taking off the hood, as it were — was shocking enough. But here’s what really stunned us in reporting out that story: Not only were extremists excited by Trump’s campaign. Not only were they using it to recruit on a scale they hadn’t imagined before. They felt that the campaign was signaling to them actively and deliberately — and the more we dug, the more we realized they were right.



http://billmoyers.com/story/trumps-signals-white-supremacists-arent-dog-whistles-theyre-flares/

[annabanana]

1. This breaks my heart AND

makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

[Botany]

2. I might be wrong but I think Trump flashes a white power sign all the time.

n/t

[Lyricalinklines]

7. Yes. I've thought that as well. His semi-raised fist. Eom

[PatSeg]

3. It is people like Pendergraft

who cause anti-white hatred to escalate.

[unblock]

4. not really even merely flares; donnie ran as a white supremacist candidate.

the republican party is no longer a party that winks and nods to its white supremacists.

it *is* a white supremacist party, their leader is a white supremacist president who ran a white supremacist campaign.

that's not an exaggeration. all his attacks were based on supremacy, that part's obvious. but his platform, his issues were, too. build a wall, renegotiate trade deals, etc., it's all about white supremacy, and he argued for them using white supremacist reasons.

white supremacy, and the misogyny and xenophobia that goes along with it, explains virtually all things trump.


so of course the kkk and nazis and other haters feel more comfortable these days. having one of their own in the white house will do that.

[Arkansas Granny]

5. I live in a deep red state in the south. The people I know who voted for Trump are racists, to a

certain degree, with some being more blatant about it than others. Most deny being racist because of that "black friend" they all claim to have, but they all appear to believe that white people are basically smarter, harder working, more honest, etc than African Americans.

My late father-in-law once stated that he was not prejudiced because he'd known some good ni**ers and truly believed he was making a true statement. It's just a mindset that has been drilled into them since they were children. When bigots raise children, many of them grow up to be bigots themselves.

[unblock]

6. i live in connecticut. the trump supporters here are in deep denial.

not saying there aren't out-and-out racists here, but most of them know to keep quiet about it.
but we have an awful lot of trump supporters who insist that they're only in it for the tax cut or deregulation or whatever.

that crap might have worked up to donnie, but the wink-and-nod act doesn't apply anymore.

in fact, it's the other way around -- donnie is a white supremacist, and they're giving the occasional wink-and-nod to traditional business conservatives.