White Nationalist Support for Trump Falters with Resignation of American Freedom Party Presidential Candidate Bob Whitaker
For months, all the dark corners of the radical right have stood unified behind the banner of Donald J. Trump鈥檚 campaign for president.
He has been by former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke, hailed as 鈥淕lorious Leader鈥 and 鈥淗umble Philosopher鈥 by the neo-Nazi website the Daily Stormer, been the beneficiary of a American National Super PAC formed by the White Nationalist American Freedom Party (AFP), and credited with creating a space for the ideas of the Alt-Right to enter the mainstream.
But now, in typical fashion, the white nationalist movement has begun infighting, more consumed with squabbling amongst themselves than standing in a united front for Trump.
On Monday, Bob Whitaker, the Presidential candidate for AFP, resigned from the party鈥檚 ticket after a conflict erupted over William Johnson, AFP鈥檚 chairman, and his efforts to aid the Trump campaign rather than the campaign of his own party鈥檚 candidate. Johnson, who is the mastermind behind the American National Super PAC, has spent thousands to generate robocalls ahead of state primaries across the United States. Those robocalls supported Trump, not his own party鈥檚 candidate, Whitaker.
鈥淚 am voting for Donald Trump because he will not only be presidential, he will put America first,鈥 begins the most recent call in Wisconsin. 鈥淔urthermore, he will respect all women and will help preserve Western civilization. If you vote for Donald Trump, he will be a fine president. He will select the very best to be in his cabinet, and the entire world will benefit from his leadership.鈥
Johnson鈥檚 use of the phrase 鈥淲estern civilization,鈥 which is clearly code for white civilization here, is frequently used by white nationalists to seed their ideas in the mainstream without alienating audiences with overt racist language. It is this use of dialed down racism, and a decision by prominent white nationalists to eschew Whitaker鈥檚 very favorite term 鈥渨hite genocide,鈥 that led to Whitaker鈥檚 resignation from the AFP ticket according to leaked emails from AFP鈥檚 leadership.
Whitaker is a white nationalist legend, having created one of the most notorious pieces of white nationalist propaganda, 鈥渢he Mantra,鈥 that reads in part:聽
Asia for the Asians, Africa for the Africans, white countries for everybody! 鈥 If I tell [the] obvious truth about the ongoing program of genocide against my race, the white race, Liberals and respectable conservatives agree that I am a naziwhowantstokillsixmillionjews. They say they are anti-racist. What they are is anti-white. Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white.
According to a emailed to the Huffington Post by his senior staffer, Whitaker, who is outraged by this cleaned up language, has 鈥渂een in campaigns for fifty years, and [he鈥檚] never seen anything as screwed up as this.鈥 Whitaker is referring to a decision by AFP鈥檚 leadership to not only put all of its resources into an opposition candidate, but then to bar the usage of the term 鈥渨hite genocide,鈥 which sits at the core of Whitaker鈥檚 mantra. This tactic was revealed in internal AFP emails that were obtained by the Huffington Post.
鈥淟et鈥檚 be a wee more diplomatic with the ms [mainstream] media,鈥 wrote Tomislav Sunic, a former Croatian diplomat, regular speaker on the white nationalist circuit in the United States, and member of AFP鈥檚 board of directors. 鈥淚nstead of using the right word 鈥榳hite genocide鈥 let鈥檚 use 鈥榩hysical, administrative removal of Americans of European extraction.鈥 Instead of 鈥榳hite nationalists鈥 let鈥檚 use 鈥榳hite advocates鈥 or 鈥榓dvocates of European heritage.鈥欌
Jared Taylor, founder of the white nationalist think tank American Renaissance, spokesman for the Council of Conservative Citizens, and member of AFP鈥檚 board of directors, echoed Sunic鈥檚 sentiments, writing:聽
I agree that 鈥榞enocide鈥 is too strong. It sounds like people attacking us with machetes and pitchforks. I think simple 鈥榙ispossession鈥 is better. Also white nationalism sounds pretty stern, I think white advocacy sounds less scary but says what we want to say.
Kevin MacDonald, a prominent anti-Semite, disgraced former psychology professor at California State University, Long Beach, and AFP board of directors member told his colleagues, 鈥淚f you say genocide, people roll their eyes. It鈥檚 not a good label to use in a sound bite.鈥
This change of heart from his party鈥檚 board of directors likely came as a surprise to Whitaker who was widely viewed as AFP鈥檚 choice for their presidential ticket in order to more widely spread his own mantra.
On the evening of Whitaker鈥檚 resignation, Richard Spencer, the founder of the white nationalist think-tank the National Policy Institute, tweeted to plead with Johnson to stop entirely.
At this point, Bill Johnson鈥檚 Robocalls are probably significantly damaging #Trump鈥檚 campaign. Please Stop!
Spencer has been one of Trump鈥檚 most vocal supporters on the radical right. He recently hosted a gathering in Washington D.C. entitled 鈥淚dentity Politics鈥 that centered almost entirely on Trump鈥檚 rise. Spencer specifically credits Trump with creating a space in the mainstream for the white nationalist ideas of the Alt-Right.
Stormfront, the Internet鈥檚 largest white supremacist forum was split on the controversy. While some members like Robert DePasquale (AKA 鈥楤oyHowdy鈥) dismissed Whitaker as a 鈥渃antankerous old man,鈥 others took Whitaker鈥檚 side on the issue of the terminology.
You aren't going to get your average moderate White man to go from a meh attitude towards the GOP to 14/88 RACE WAR NOW overnight,鈥 wrote 鈥榃hiteNationhood鈥. 鈥淲hat white genocide does do (and amazingly well) is it becomes a little memetic [sic] worm that gets people thinking and looking for more info.
While the chorus of infighting comes as no surprise, it is the first serious stumble in organized support from white nationalists for Trump鈥檚 campaign. If history is any indication, it won鈥檛 be the last.
Calls for comment to both Whitaker and Taylor were not returned.