Donald Trump Is A Fundraising Engine For White Nationalist Media
Written by Eric Hananoki
Published
Two leading white nationalist media websites have used Donald Trump in their recent fundraising drives. The solicitations hail Trump for spurring “unprecedented interest in” white nationalism and putting their ideas “firmly in the mainstream.”
White nationalists have been backing Trump's presidential campaign, especially his extreme positions on Hispanic and Muslim immigration. And the emergence of Trump has helped bolster white nationalist groups' finances and political organizing.
White nationalist William Daniel Johnson, who wants “a country made up of only white people,” recently founded the American National Super PAC and is robocalling Republican primary voters in support of Trump. Politico wrote in December that “The Ku Klux Klan is using Donald Trump as a talking point in its outreach efforts. Stormfront, the most prominent American white supremacist website, is upgrading its servers in part to cope with a Trump traffic spike. And former Louisiana Rep. David Duke reports that the businessman has given more Americans cover to speak out loud about white nationalism than at any time since his own political campaigns in the 1990s.”
Recent fundraising appeals for the white nationalist websites VDARE.com and American Renaissance illustrate how Trump has become part of the far-right's fundraising strategy.
The anti-immigrant website VDARE.com “regularly publishes works by white supremacists, anti-Semites, and others on the radical right,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
A December 8 post cited Trump's call for a ban on Muslim immigration and concluded "[b]ecause of the improbable rise of Donald Trump ... our ideas are now firmly in the mainstream." VDARE added that Americans are ready for a “rebellion against Open Borders and the tyranny of political correctness” but (emphasis in original) “THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN UNLESS YOU SUPPORT US. I hate to be blunt, but money talks. So many people ask what they can do. And the fact is, the most important thing you can do is put your money to a cause you believe in.”
A December 14 appeal from founder Peter Brimelow contained a picture of his wife, Lydia, attending a Trump rally and hailed the Republican candidate for running “on the patriotic immigration reform issue.” He wrote that VDARE has “defended Trump on Hispanic rapists (they are a problem), black-on-white crime (he's right), ending Muslim immigration (it's legal), ending birthright citizenship (it's legal too), etc. etc.” The appeal added “we can only do this with your help” and solicited donations for the website.
On January 1, Lydia Brimelow wrote that VDARE's “goal was $100,000, more than twice what we've brought in during a single appeal in the past. Not only did we meet our goal-WE SURPASSED IT! As of this writing we have a total of $105,047, and I haven't picked up the mail since 12/30.” She added that “as evidenced by this incredible response, VDARE.com, the voice of the historic American nation, is getting louder and louder!”
American Renaissance is a white nationalist publication that regularly features “proponents of eugenics and blatant anti-black racists,” according to the SPLC. It is produced by the New Century Foundation, which “promotes pseudo-scientific studies and research that purport to show the inferiority of blacks to whites” and sponsors “conferences every other year where racist 'intellectuals' rub shoulders with Klansmen, neo-Nazis and other white supremacists.” White nationalist Jared Taylor is the editor of American Renaissance and president of New Century Foundation.
Taylor wrote a December 21 fundraising email stating that “Trump and the flood of migrants into Europe have resulted in unprecedented interest in American Renaissance” and “we need your help” with donations:
Something has changed.
The rise Donald Trump and the flood of migrants into Europe have resulted in unprecedented interest in American Renaissance.
Never before have our online videos been so popular, or shared so widely.
The last time I wrote to you, our videos had been viewed 342,000 times over the previous year. I thought that was promising, but in just the last six months, they've been watched another 640,000 times--nearly quadruple the previous rate!
One of our videos on Donald Trump has had over 87,000 views. Our video on the “refugee” invasion of Europe has had 230,000 views--and the numbers keep rising.
I used to be excited when a video got 25,000 views in a year.
Thanks to these videos, more and more white Americans--especially young people--are learning about American Renaissance and what we represent.
[...]
We must make the most of this sea-change. We must break the stranglehold of the liberal, anti-white media.
No matter what you can give--$25, $50, $100, $500, or even $1,000 or $5,000, please do so.
Taylor is part of the American National Super PAC's robocall. He states that Trump “is the one candidate who points out that we should accept immigrants who are good for America. We don't need Muslims. We need smart, well-educated white people who will assimilate to our culture. Vote Trump.”