Hate in the Race
A remarkable level of vitriol has characterized the contest for president. And it鈥檚 showing no signs of letting up.
Editor鈥檚 Note: This article will be continuously updated. It was last updated on Nov. 2, 2016.
翱肠迟辞产别谤听2016
In an Oct. 2 interview with ABC鈥檚 鈥淭his Week,鈥 Trump advisor Rudy Giuliani lambasted Hillary Clinton with an apparently misogynistic comment, , "Don鈥檛 you think a man who has this kind of economic genius is a lot better for the United States than a woman, and the only thing she鈥檚 ever produced is a lot of work for the FBI checking out her emails.鈥
Trump鈥檚 son Eric was interviewed on Oct. 5 on the far-right radio show, 鈥淟iberty Roundtable.鈥
The Norfolk County Republican Committee held an Oct. 6 鈥淢assachusetts Patriots Unity Rally鈥 in Randolph to urge support for Trump. Speakers included Jessica Vaughn of the anti-immigrant group Center for Immigration Studies, which Trump cites often, and Raymond Hanna, the Boston chapter leader of the rabidly anti-Muslim organization ACT! for America.听
A local Republican headquarters in Hillsborough, N.C., was firebombed on Oct. 12. The words 鈥淣azi Republicans leave town or else鈥 were spray-painted nearby. No one was hurt in the attack.
In an Oct. 13 speech in Florida, Trump claimed that 鈥済lobal special interests鈥 and 鈥渢he Washington establishment and the financial and media corporations that fund it鈥 were conspiring to steal the election from him. 鈥淗illary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers, her special interest friends and her donors,鈥 he added, using language reminiscent of anti-Semitic theories about Jewish 鈥渋nternational bankers鈥 plotting to take over the world.
The radical antigovernment Oath Keepers announced on Oct. 25 that it was launching 鈥淥peration Sabot 2016鈥 to ensure that the election is not 鈥渟tolen.鈥 鈥淸W]e call on you to form up incognito intelligence gathering and crime spotting teams,鈥 group leader Stewart Rhodes told followers who had heard Trump complain for weeks of a 鈥渞igged鈥 election. 鈥淎nd go out into public on election day, dressed to blend in with the public 鈥 with video, still camera, and notepad in hand, to look for and document suspected criminal vote fraud or intimidation activities.鈥
About 50 scholars signed a statement supporting Trump 鈥 including Holocaust deniers, white nationalists and partisans of the so-called Alt-Right. They included Boyd Cathey, a radical traditionalist Catholic who was a state manager for the 1992 presidential campaign of white nationalist Pat Buchanan and who joined the editorial advisory board the Holocaust-denying Journal of Historical Review in 1989. Another was Wayne Lutton, the gay- and immigrant-bashing editor of The Social Contract, a nativist hate journal. Lutton is also tied to other hate groups, including the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens, the Holocaust-denying Institute of Historical Review, and the racist journal The Occidental Quarterly. A third signatory was Paul Gottfried, who apparently organized the statement and is credited with coining the phrase Alternative Right. Gottfried is the founder of the white nationalist H.L. Mencken Club and once argued that Martin Luther King Jr. had pushed the nation onto a path that 鈥渉ad more to do with political coercion and relentless indoctrination than with appeals to conscience.鈥
On Nov. 1, a black church in , Miss., was set afire and vandalized with the words 鈥淰ote Trump鈥 spray painted on the outside walls.听聽
September 2016
Trump spoke in Houston at a Sept. 17 conference of the nativist Remembrance Project, whose extremist leader, Maria Espinoza, has claimed that 12 Americans a day are murdered by undocumented immigrants. That is false. If it were so, it would mean that 3.5% of the U.S. population is responsible for 31% of all murders.
On Sept. 19, Donald Trump Jr. , effectively saying that even if only a few are dangerous, all should be kept out 鈥 an analogy that could be used to bar any group. Donald Trump鈥檚 eldest son posted a photo of a bowl of Skittles with the caption, 鈥淚f I had a bowl of Skittles and I told you just three would kill you. Would you take a handful? That鈥檚 our Syrian refugee problem.鈥
Trump attended a Sept. 21 鈥淢idwest Vision and Values鈥 conference co-hosted by Frank Amedia, Trump鈥檚 鈥渓iaison for Christian policy.鈥 Amedia has said he鈥檚 ready to be thrown into a furnace to protest 鈥淟GBT equality,鈥 and, in 2010, suggested that he might not distribute food to starving Haitians if they refused to give up voodoo.
Donald Trump Jr., echoing the extreme rhetoric of white nationalists in both the U.S. and Europe,聽told a reporter that 鈥溾 by immigrants to Europe, adding that 鈥渢he statistics are going through the roof.鈥
On Sept. 22, an Ohio county chairman for Trump named after telling The Guardian that there was 鈥渘o racism鈥 in America in the 1960s. She added: 鈥淚f you鈥檙e black and you haven鈥檛 been successful in the last 50 years, it鈥檚 your own fault. You鈥檝e had every opportunity, it was given to you.鈥
White nationalist William Johnson of the American Freedom Party, who had earlier purchased numerous pro-Trump radio ads, that he has bought still more Trump radio ads in swing states.听
On Sept. 28, Trump economic advisor Stephen Moore appeared on the far-right radio show, 鈥淟iberty Roundtable,鈥 hosted by Sam Bushman. Bushman is a friend white nationalist James Edwards, host of 鈥淭he Political Cesspool鈥 radio show, who interviewed Trump鈥檚 son Donald Jr. in February 2016.听
August 2016
Trump held up a at an Aug. 11 rally in Florida that purportedly detailed foreign donations to the Clinton campaign. As Buzzfeed reported, the image on the sign came from neo-Nazi and former Klan leader David Duke.
At an Aug. 12 rally in Pennsylvania,聽Donald Trump told supporters that the only way he can lose in the state is if 鈥渋n certain sections of the state they cheat.鈥 He urged聽supporters to monitor polling places in an effort to 鈥渟top crooked Hillary from rigging this election.鈥 Trump鈥檚 call to action is promoted by white supremacists on聽Stormfront, the world鈥檚 leading neo-Nazi website. One Stormfront thread features a video by Alex Jones, America鈥檚 No. 1 radical-right conspiracy theorist, claiming that 鈥淸t]hey stole the election from [Bernie] Sanders and are planning it for Trump.鈥澛(Read 人兽性交 President Richard Cohen's commentary "Donald Trump, Poll Watchers & Voter Fraud")
In a major campaign staff shakeup, Trump on Aug. 17 appointed Steve Bannon as his new campaign chief. Bannon heads the Breitbart News Network, a far-right online organization that has become even more extremist in the last year and a half. In March, for example, Breitbart a primer on the 鈥渁lternative right鈥 that totally ignored the explicit racism that is at the heart of the movement.
In an Aug. 22 , The Associated Press looked into communications by more than 50 current and former Trump staffers and found that they 鈥渉ave declared on their personal social media accounts that Muslims are unfit to be U.S. citizens, ridiculed Mexican accents, called for Secretary of State John Kerry to be hanged and stated their readiness for a possible civil war.鈥
July 2016
On July 2, Trump's Twitter account tweeted out an image of Hillary Clinton with a headline reading "Most Corrupt Candidate Ever!" in a red Star of David on a background of $100 bills. The campaign quickly took it down and tweeted a new image where the Star of David was replaced with a circle. It was reported that the image originated on a racist and antisemitic section of the 8Chan web forum.
Trump again denounced immigrants on the July 14 edition of Michael Savage鈥檚 radio show, saying 鈥渢he people are pouring into this country and, in many cases they鈥檙e not well people, in many respects.鈥
Following his acceptance of the GOP nomination, Trump told NBC鈥檚 鈥淢eet the Press鈥 that he was seeking an 鈥渆xpansion鈥 of his planned ban on Muslim immigration by restricting entry into the United States from places deemed to have a terrorism problem. 鈥淚鈥檓 looking now at territory,鈥 he said. 鈥淧eople were so upset when I used the word 'Muslim': 'Oh, you can't use the word "Muslim."' Remember this. And I'm okay with that, because I'm talking territory instead of Muslim."
One of Donald Trump鈥檚 senior policy advisors, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, tweeted an anti-Hillary message on July 24 that linked to blatantly anti-Semitic rhetoric. 鈥淭he corrupt Democratic machine will do and say anything to get #NeverHillary into power. This is a new low,鈥 Flynn鈥檚 tweet read. It carried a link to another message that read, 鈥>Cnn implicated. 鈥楾he USSR is to blame!鈥 鈥 Not anymore, Jews. Not anymore.鈥 Flynn later deleted the tweet and apologized.
After Khizr Khan, the father of slain Muslim Iraq War hero Humayun Khan, said in a Democratic National Convention speech that Trump had 鈥渟acrificed nothing and no one鈥 in the war effort, Trump responded by attacking his wife, who stood next to her husband during his talk but said nothing. Trump suggested that she had not spoken because Muslim women are supposedly expected to remain silent. But Ghazla Khan wrote a rejoinder in The Washington Post saying she was still too grief-stricken to speak about her son publicly, and that it had nothing to do with the Gold Star family鈥檚 religion. Trump then went even further, insinuating, as did a number of white supremacists, that Khizr Khan was a terrorist sympathizer.
June 2016
Trump attacked U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, the judge hearing the case brought by former students of Trump University who say they were ripped off as they paid thousands of dollars to learn Trump鈥檚 real estate strategies. Trump said that Curiel had 鈥渁n absolute conflict鈥 in judging the case because he is 鈥淢exican鈥 鈥 although Curiel was born in Indiana of parents who emigrated from Mexico 鈥 and Trump, as he said repeatedly, is 鈥渂uilding a wall鈥 on the Mexican border.
The comments unleashed a firestorm, as both Democrats and Republicans excoriated Trump as a bigot or, in some cases, tried to avoid saying anything about the incident at all. House Speaker Paul Ryan, the highest-ranking official in the GOP, described Trump鈥檚 words as 鈥渁 textbook definition of a racist comment.鈥
Trump soon extended his remarks to Muslims, who he suggested also might not be able to judge him fairly, given his proposal to ban Muslims from immigrating to the United States. He later claimed his comments had been misconstrued.
In an , the Times Leader based in Wilkes-Barre, U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Penn) revealed that he was asked by the Trump campaign to draft a policy paper on immigration. Barletta has a long history of working with anti-immigrant groups including the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) dating back to his time as the mayor of Hazelton, PA. Hazelton introduced one of the harshest anti-immigrant ordinances in the mid-2000鈥檚 as part of FAIR鈥檚 policy of attrition through enforcement 鈥 passing harsh anti-immigrant laws so that immigrants 鈥渟elf-deport鈥 out of the area and ultimately, back to their country of origin.
In the aftermath of the June 12 massacre of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., Trump suggested repeatedly that 鈥渢he Muslim community鈥 must have been complicit in the attack, saying, 鈥淔or some reason, the Muslim community does not report people like this鈥 even though, as he said of the killer elsewhere, 鈥淭hey know that he was bad.鈥 He also extended the claim, for which there was no evidence at all, to the December 2015 massacre of 14 people by a Muslim couple in San Bernardino, Calif. In interview after interview, Trump claimed that 鈥渢here were numerous people that saw bombs all over the apartment floor鈥 at the home of the California killers. There is no evidence whatsoever that that was true.
Trump also suggested that Obama might have been on the side of the Orlando mass murderer. He repeatedly said that 鈥渢here鈥檚 something going on鈥 with Obama because he didn鈥檛 use the phrase 鈥渞adical Islamic terrorism.鈥 In fact, Obama has been behind the killing of more radical Islamists than any other president.
In mid-June, . The group has organized events on campus such as building a replica border wall called 鈥渢he great wall of Trump.鈥 At another event, the co-founder of the group, Volodymyr Kolychev, held a sign stating, 鈥淓very single BLM Martyr is a THUG.鈥 Kolychev cites white nationalist Jared Taylor as one of his influences and聽regularly posts anti-Semitic and white nationalist memes and tropes on social media sites.
One June 21, Trump in New York City, including members of some of the most notorious anti-LGBT groups in the U.S. such as the American Family Association and the Family Research Council.
On June 22, ACT! for America circulated an email announcing that in an advisory capacity. Flynn has advised Trump on a 鈥渞ange of issues鈥 鈥 according to an interview with CNN. Flynn is also scheduled to speak at ACT!鈥檚 national conference in September.
May 2016
Trump appointed Frank Amedia as his 鈥渓iaison for Christian policy,鈥 arranging for Trump meetings with conservative religious leaders. Amedia has said that people get AIDS 鈥渂ecause of unnatural sex,鈥 admitted under a grant of immunity that he once tried to bribe a prosecutor not to charge a car dealer for rolling back odometers, and claimed to stop a tsunami through prayer.
In Washington, D.C., police released a video showing an unidentified white woman assaulting a black woman wearing a hijab. The victim, who said the woman also poured a strange-smelling liquid on her, said her attacker called her 鈥渇------ Muslim trash,鈥 shouted that she was voting for Trump, and said she hoped that as president he would send 鈥渁ll of you terrorist Muslims out of the country.鈥
John Martin Roos, another Trump supporter, was arrested in Oregon after allegedly threatening to kill President Obama repeatedly on social media. The threats, the Huffington Post reported, included this: 鈥淥bama you goat fffing fudgepacker, the refugees are men of fighting age. Black lives matter! Sure we need someone to pick cotton and wash cars. Paris, burn diseased muslim neighborhoods to the ground and start over with human beings. Obama you are on a hit list.鈥
Also in May, it came to light that the American Freedom Party鈥檚 William Johnson was listed as a Trump delegate in California. The campaign described his listing as a 鈥渄atabase error,鈥 although that was never explained publicly.
That wasn鈥檛 Trump鈥檚 only delegate problem. One Trump delegate in Maryland was indicted on weapons and child pornography charges. Another in Tennessee was reported to have said that current U.S. leaders need to be killed. Yet another, Everett Corley of Kentucky, had a Facebook page that 鈥渞eveals strong support for Trump and the Confederacy, and he also shares phony memes about a wall between Mexico and Guatemala and complaints about 鈥榖lack thugs鈥 removing white farmers from their land in Rhodesia,鈥 according to Raw Story.
April 2016
Fans of Elkhorn High School in Wisconsin yelled out 鈥淒onald Trump, build that wall!鈥 and similar chants at a girls鈥 soccer game against Beloit Memorial High School, whose team is mostly Latina or black. The Beloit coach said afterwards that his players 鈥渨eren鈥檛 able to finish the game鈥 because they were so distraught.
The Cruz campaign released a list of 50 religious leaders backing their candidate. It included Julaine Appling, who Mother Jones reported 鈥渙nce stood up for the idea that gay couples who married in another state should be sent to prison.鈥 In Colorado, the campaign announced its Colorado Leadership Team, including Gordon Klingenschmitt, who Right Wing Watch reported has said gay people are demonic and teaching children about same-sex marriage is like mental rape.
The Guardian reported that Tim Clark and Ron Nehring, who were running the California campaigns for Trump and Cruz, respectively, were once paid advisers to a Guatemalan presidential candidate who called for public executions.
March 2016
Former Alabama Klan leader and Duke associate Don Black, who runs the largest white supremacist Web forum in the country, told his radio audience that although Trump was not a perfect candidate, 鈥渨e are all pulling for him, voting for him if we can.鈥 The American Freedom Party, meanwhile, organized robocalls in Utah attacking Mitt Romney for denouncing Trump, and launched a hotline 鈥渢o help those who are attacked physically and verbally for supporting Trump.鈥
But much of the violence seemed to be coming from the other side. Matthew Heimbach, a key white supremacist, was videotaped at a Trump rally in Louisville, Ky., shoving an African-American woman. He later boasted about the attack.
At a rally in Fayetteville, N.C., Trump supporter John McGraw was videotaped sucker-punching a black protester as he was being led away by police. McGraw was arrested the next day and charged with assault, and the local sheriff described the attack as 鈥渁 cowardly, unprovoked act.鈥 Trump, however, told two national news outlets that he was looking into paying McGraw鈥檚 legal fees.
As part of his new National Security Advisory Committee, Trump chose Joseph Schmitz, a fellow at the anti-Muslim Center for Security Policy, and Walid Phares, an American of Lebanese Christian extraction who Mother Jones magazine said 鈥渨as a high ranking political official in a sectarian religious militia responsible for massacres during Lebanon's brutal, 15-year civil war.鈥
For his part, Cruz named to his new National Security Coalition extremists including Boykin, Gaffney and two staffers at Gaffney鈥檚 Center for Security Policy, Fred Fleitz and Clare Lopez. Lopez is known for statements like one she made in 2013, saying that 鈥淸w]hen Muslims follow their doctrine, they become jihadists.鈥
Reacting to Islamist attacks in Brussels, Belgium, Cruz said there was a 鈥渘eed to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized.鈥 His proposal was criticized by many police leaders.
Cruz also held his Texas primary election watch party at the Redneck Country Club founded by radio host John Berry. Berry has referred to black people as 鈥渏ungle animals鈥 and mocked black victims of gun violence, Media Matters reported.
February 2016
Duke, in the closest thing to a formal endorsement of Trump yet, told his followers that 鈥渧oting against Trump at this point is really treason to your heritage.鈥
Trump appeared later on CNN鈥檚 鈥淪tate of the Union,鈥 where he repeatedly dodged questions about Duke, saying, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know anything about David Duke, okay?鈥 That was false. In fact, Trump had criticized Duke in 1991, when he came close to winning the race for governor of Louisiana. And in 2000, Trump decided not to run for the Reform Party presidential nomination because, in large part, he did not want to be associated with Duke, who was supporting another candidate, Pat Buchanan, for the Reform Party鈥檚 nomination. At the time, Trump called Duke 鈥渁 bigot, a racist, a problem鈥 and, separately, 鈥渁 Klansman鈥 and 鈥渁 neo-Nazi.鈥
Trump later blamed his refusal to disavow Duke on a 鈥渂ad earpiece.鈥 But it functioned well enough that he heard the words 鈥淒avid Duke,鈥 at the least.
Asked in the CNN interview about the Ku Klux Klan and related groups, Trump demurred. 鈥淚 have to look at the group. I mean, I don't know what group you're talking about. You wouldn't want me to condemn a group that I know nothing about. I'd have to look.鈥 By this time, many white supremacists were publicly describing Trump as their 鈥渇earless leader,鈥 a phrase coined by a neo-Nazi.
Also in February, Trump told a South Carolina audience a story about General John Pershing executing Muslim prisoners in the Philippines with bullets dipped in pig鈥檚 blood,鈥 a complete fairy tale that that effectively demeaned Muslims.
In a speech on caucus day in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Trump told his audience that he would pay the legal fees of followers who beat up protesters at his rallies. 鈥淚f you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them,鈥 he said. 鈥淛ust knock the hell out of them. I promise you, I will pay your legal fees.鈥
Later, Trump claimed he had 鈥渘ever said鈥 that.
The American Freedom Party鈥檚 Johnson continued his robocalls for Trump in states including Vermont and Minnesota. In them, Johnson said, 鈥淒on鈥檛 vote for a Cuban,鈥 a reference to Marco Rubio. 鈥淰ote for Donald Trump.鈥 Trump later said that he would return the $250 Johnson donated to his campaign in September.
On Feb. 27, the Trump campaign gave press credentials to James Edwards to cover a Memphis rally. Edwards is host of 鈥淭he Political Cesspool,鈥 a racist radio show that has featured a Who鈥檚 Who of radical-right guests. At the rally, Edwards interviewed one of Trump鈥檚 sons, who later said he didn鈥檛 know who Edwards was.
Another echo of Trump鈥檚 rhetoric was seen in Merrillville, Ind., when white Andrean High School students chanted 鈥淏uild a wall鈥 at their counterparts from predominantly Latino Bishop Noll Institute during a basketball game.
Cruz was endorsed by Jerry Boykin, a vice president of the anti-LGBT Family Research Council who has said that Islam should not be protected under the First Amendment and that Muslims want to 鈥渄estroy our Constitution.鈥
January 2016
Trump retweeted a message mocking Jeb Bush from the account @WhiteGenocideTM, which earlier sent messages claiming 鈥淗itler SAVED Europe鈥 and 鈥淛ews/Israel did 9/11.鈥 鈥淲hite genocide鈥 is the idea promoted by white supremacists that white people, far from running most of the developed world, are actually being subjected to a genocide that will ultimately wipe out their race. Trump also retweeted a message from a Southern secessionist during the same month.
William Johnson鈥檚 PAC, now renamed the American National Super PAC, started rolling out robocalls in favor of Trump, first in Iowa. Joining Johnson on the call was racist leader Jared Taylor, who said, in part, 鈥淲e don鈥檛 need Muslims. We need smart, well-educated white people who will assimilate to our culture.鈥
Trump boasted of an endorsement from Carl Gallups, a Florida pastor who is also a Sandy Hook 鈥渢ruther鈥 who believes that the 2012 massacre of children in Newton, Conn., was set up by the government as an excuse to seize Americans鈥 guns. Such ideas are common in the antigovernment 鈥淧atriot鈥 movement.
Trump, Cruz and six other Republican presidential candidates recorded speeches for a 鈥淔ree to Believe鈥 broadcast organized by the anti-LGBT Family Research Council. The group鈥檚 leader has claimed that pedophilia is a 鈥渉omosexual problem鈥 despite the fact that virtually all medical associations disagree.
A rally for Cruz was hosted by a number of hardline radio hosts and included people like Steve Deace, who has suggested that President Obama may refuse to leave office when his term is up in early 2017. Separately, the Cruz campaign lauded the endorsement of pastor Mike Bickle, who said this in a recent sermon attacking same-sex marriage: 鈥淭he young boy with the old man, the pedophiles, all of this will end up being presented as normative, acceptable, healthy sexual patterns in the school systems, millions of children systematically taught this.鈥
December 2015
In the aftermath of the November Islamic State attacks in Paris and a suburb that left 130 dead, Trump called for a 鈥渢otal and complete shutdown鈥 of Muslims entering the United States. His statement was accompanied by a link to a 鈥減oll鈥 from Gaffney鈥檚 Center for Security Policy claiming that 鈥25% of those polled agreed that violence against Americans here in the United States is justified.鈥 In fact, Gaffney鈥檚 data was from a wildly unscientific 鈥渙pt-in鈥 poll. Other, serious surveys have shown that the number of American Muslims supporting violence is relatively tiny.
Rachel Pendergraft, the national membership coordinator for the Knights Party 鈥 also known as the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the group started by Duke 鈥 told the Washington Post that the Trump campaign was helping outreach.
Cruz, meanwhile, made a video appearance at another of Gaffney鈥檚 National Security Action Summits, in Las Vegas. He was not the only GOP presidential candidate to speak 鈥 so did Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina and Rick Santorum.
November 2015
After a Black Lives Matter activist was beaten by Trump supporters at a Nov. 21 rally in Birmingham, Ala., the candidate told Fox News, 鈥淢aybe he should have been roughed up. It was absolutely disgusting what he was doing.鈥
The next day, Trump retweeted an image of a black man dressed like a gangster that claimed, among other things, that blacks were responsible for 81% of whites murdered in the United States 鈥 a 鈥淧ants on Fire鈥 falsehood, according to PolitiFact, that was almost the exact reverse of the truth (in 2014, 82% of murdered whites were killed by other white people). The website Little Green Footballs traced the original tweet to a Hitler admirer. Trump never retracted or apologized for the tweet, one result of which was a jump in Google searches for the phrase 鈥渂lack on white crime鈥 from 2,900 searches in October to 8,100 in November.
Trump also made a claim that he had watched the World Trade Center collapse on 9/11 鈥渁s thousands of people were cheering鈥 in New Jersey. Multiple investigations of the alleged celebration by Muslims found that no such thing occurred, but Trump repeated the allegation and refused to retract it.
The white supremacist American Freedom Party leader founded a political action committee, the American National Trump Super PAC. The group would soon start conducting robocalls in a string of states promoting Trump鈥檚 candidacy.
The same month, Cruz gushed over his endorsement by anti-abortion hardliner Troy Newman, writing, 鈥淲e need leaders like Troy Newman in this country who will stand up for those who do not have a voice.鈥 Newman, the head of Operation Rescue, where a leading staffer is a convicted clinic bomber, once argued that Paul Hill, who murdered an abortion doctor and his bodyguard, should have been allowed to present a defense of 鈥渏ustifiable defensive action.鈥
Cruz also spoke, along with GOP rivals Mike Huckabee and Bobby Jindal, at the National Religious Liberties Conference organized by pastor Kevin Swanson in Des Moines, Iowa. Swanson has called for punishing homosexuality with death. Also speaking at the conference was Cruz鈥檚 father, Rafael Cruz, who said in 2013 that same-sex marriage was a government plot to destroy the family.
September 2015
With white nationalists, Klansmen and neo-Nazis increasingly flocking to Trump鈥檚 cause, American Freedom Party head William Daniel Johnson donated $250 to the Trump campaign. Johnson, whose organization includes some of America鈥檚 leading racist thinkers, is infamous for a constitutional amendment he once proposed and promoted that would have deported any American with 鈥渁n ascertainable trace of Negro blood,鈥 along with other nonwhites.
Also in September, Trump and Cruz teamed up to organize a rally opposing the nuclear treaty signed with Iran. Gaffney鈥檚 Islam-bashing Center for Security Policy co-sponsored the rally that featured a number of the country鈥檚 leading anti-Muslim activists, including Brigitte Gabriel, who heads ACT! for America. Gabriel has said that any practicing Muslim 鈥渃annot be a loyal citizen of the United States,鈥 called Arabs 鈥渂arbarians,鈥 and claimed American textbooks glorify Islam.
August 2015
Trump introduced a six-page immigration plan that read like the playbook of the organized anti-immigration movement in America 鈥 deportation of some 12 million people, a border wall to be paid for by Mexico, and gutting the 14th Amendment guarantee of citizenship to anyone born in this country. The plan was devised with the help of nativist lawyer Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state who also serves as an attorney for the legal arm of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a far-right anti-immigration group. Kobach is known for promoting and defending anti-immigrant legislation and voter ID laws.
Neo-Nazi and former Klan leader David Duke praised Trump鈥檚 immigration plan, telling followers that 鈥渉e has really said some incredibly great things recently. So whatever his motivation, I don鈥檛 give a damn. I really like the fact that he鈥檚 speaking out on this greatest immediate threat to the American people.鈥
One echo of Trump鈥檚 rhetoric was seen when two brothers in Boston beat a homeless Latino man with a metal pipe and urinated on him. After their arrest, one told police, 鈥淒onald Trump was right, all these illegals need to be deported.鈥
Following a clash with Fox News host Megyn Kelly, Trump told CNN that Kelly had 鈥渂lood coming out of her wherever,鈥 a comment taken by millions to blame Kelly鈥檚 tough debate questions on her menstrual cycle. It was only the latest apparently misogynistic comment from Trump, who regularly slams women.
In the middle of the month, Trump claimed to fire his top adviser, Roger Stone, although Stone told reporters before that announcement that he had actually resigned. (Politico reported that Stone was bothered by Trump鈥檚 sustained attack on Kelly.) In fact, Stone remained close to the campaign, according to several media accounts. Stone, who had a minor role in the Watergate scandal, is known for his political dirty tricks and for racist attacks using phrases like 鈥渟tupid Negro,鈥 鈥淗ouse Negro,鈥 Nigga,鈥 鈥淯ncle Tom,鈥 鈥淎rrogant Know-It-All Negro鈥 and more.
Ted Cruz, meanwhile, visited the Tupelo, Miss., headquarters of the American Family Association, an anti-LGBT group known for linking gay men to pedophilia, among other falsehoods. Cruz was interviewed on one of the group鈥檚 radio programs and was pictured there with Bryan Fischer 鈥 a former group spokesman who has claimed that gay men orchestrated the Holocaust and that welfare was destroying African-American families because it rewarded people who 鈥渞ut like rabbits.鈥
July 2015
Ted Cruz, who had announced his presidential bid in March, submitted a video speech to the National Security Action Summit in New Hampshire. The event was organized by the anti-Muslim Center for Security Policy, which is headed by Frank Gaffney. Gaffney is known for his paranoid ideas about Muslims, including the claim that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated American government. At one point, he even accused two leading conservatives of being Brotherhood agents.
June 2015
The nation got its first taste of Donald Trump as a candidate when the New York billionaire real estate developer opened his campaign with a June 16 speech that horrified Latinos, immigrants and millions of others. 鈥淲hen Mexico sends its people, they鈥檙e not sending their best,鈥 he said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e sending people that have lots of problems and they鈥檙e bringing those problems with us. They鈥檙e bringing drugs. They鈥檙e bringing crime. They鈥檙e rapists.鈥 Two weeks later, under criticism across the political spectrum, he insisted his claims were 鈥渢otally accurate.鈥
The speech left white nationalists overjoyed 鈥 they could hardly believe that views so close to their own were being made by such a public figure. Members of the White Genocide Project, which promotes the myth that white people worldwide are being subjected to mass murder, started a petition to honor Trump for 鈥渙pposing white genocide.鈥 Jared Taylor, who heads the racist journal American Renaissance and has said black people are incapable of sustaining civilization, said his followers 鈥渉ave been dreaming of a candidate who says the obvious, that illegal immigrants from Mexico are a low-rent bunch that includes rapists and murderers.鈥
