White Nationalist Party Claims More of Its Members Are Now Trump Delegates

White Nationalist Party Claims More of Its Members Are Now Trump Delegates

Josh Harkinson at Mother Jones

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/05/white-nationalists-trump-delegates

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"[H]ere is what they don't know: we have more delegates!" the American Freedom Party wrote on its Facebook page last week, in response to the Mother Jones report.

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The AFP has come to see the Trump campaign as its path to taking white nationalism into the mainstream. In recent months the group and a related super-PAC have produced and funded pro-Trump robocalls, set up a "political harassment hotline" for Trump supporters, and promoted Trump on a talk radio show.

But movement leaders appear torn about how much to shout from atop the Trump bandwagon versus staying in the shadows. Johnson told Mother Jones that he knows of at least one other AFP member who has been selected by a state party to attend the GOP convention this July. Johnson declined to identify the person for fear of compromising the person's involvement with the GOP, but he disclosed that he is an "honorary" delegate for Trump from an Eastern state. So-called honorary delegates do not have voting power, but typically are selected by state parties to attend the convention, often as a perk in exchange for political donations.

At Johnson's request, the AFP delegate for Trump agreed to be interviewed by Mother Jones, but later backed out. Johnson said there are additional white nationalist Trump delegates who have been in touch with movement leaders, though "I don't actually know who they are. There are people who are surreptitious," he said.

"Right now people are still a little bit afraid because they will have the same reaction that happened to me," Johnson explained. "We just have to give it a few more months before people feel comfortable."

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.



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