Donald Trump's Positions Are Winning Him Support From Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists

Impact

Donald Trump's proposal this month to ban entry to the United States for all Muslims has kept him surging at the top of the polls, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday.

But it's also winning him support from white nationalists, racial supremacists and neo-Nazis, some of whom remain skeptical about Trump himself but all of whom seem to appreciate him bringing ideas previously considered too radical for electoral politics into mainstream debate.

In a series of interviews this week, members of far-right political organizations made clear Trump stood above all the other candidates as someone willing to defend America from non-white influence.

William Daniel Johnson, head of the white nationalist American Freedom Party, told the Daily Beast that "Donald Trump isn't governed by handlers. He shoots from the hip and he speaks forthrightly. He does not care what public opinion is."

Johnson, who the Daily Beast notes once wrote a 1985 proposal for a constitutional amendment that would strip all non-white Americans of their citizenship, told the site "I was not a supporter of the man until the positions made me a convert ... I admire what he's doing very much."

"I'd want him to focus on all immigration, whether it's illegal or legal," he concluded.

Johnson isn't the only figure in far-right racial politics endorsing Trump, at least partially.

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Richard Spencer, head of the National Policy Institute, a research organization aiming to "to elevate the consciousness of whites," told Vice that he's "glad Donald Trump is running for president. He's brought an existential quality to politics ... He's basically saying that if you are a nation, then at some point you have to say 'There is an 'Us,' and there is a 'Them.' Who are we? Are we a nation?' In that sense, I think it's really great."

"I never expected him to run, and I never expected him to be this radical," Spencer continued. "... He seems to genuinely care about the historic American nation that is white people."

Spencer said Trump was "unquestionably" attracting people to far-right movements.

Rocky Suhayda, head of the American Nazi Party, similarly told BuzzFeed News this week that he was supportive of many of Trump's positions but doubted his ultimate sincerity.

"Look, this phrase 'Muslims' is simply a PC code word to cover the reality of all these THIRD WORLD peoples invading OUR country," Suhayda wrote. "Don't you realize that in about 2025, if these trends continue, White people will become a continuing MINORITY in our own land(s)?"

"Unless Trump plans on ruling by presidential decree, I don't see how he would implement ANY of his 'plans,' the rest of the sold out 'mainstream' political whores would block his every move," he continued. "I seriously doubt if he even believes all what he says, but it's nice to have someone like him saying it."

Finally, neo-Nazi website the Daily Stormer offered an endorsement of Trump this week, calling him their "ULTIMATE SAVIOR" [sic].

In the past, Trump has responded to endorsements from hate groups by saying that while he doesn't want them, he doesn't need them, either. 

The candidate told Bloomberg News in August he would reject an endorsement by former KKK head David Duke, "if it would make you feel better."