printIt was but a matter of time before the nation’s premier hate group, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), zeroed in on Donald Trump. Here’s how Mark Potok, the hateful, deeply silly head honcho at Hate Inc., tars individuals with the white supremacist Mark of Cain (via The Huffington Post):
… former White House communications director and three-time presidential aspirant Pat Buchanan was the last presidential candidate to appeal to white supremacist groups in a similar way.
Trump, who is running for president as a Republican, has attracted the support of a number of prominent white supremacists, including David Duke, a former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
An edited transcript of HuffPost’s conversation with Potok is below. The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Potok’s remarks.
When was the last time a presidential candidate or other contender for national office got traction with white supremacists the way Trump has?
There is no question we have not seen anything like this since Pat Buchanan. Those two have a lot in common. I am not sure if Trump views himself as a white nationalist, but he has white nationalist positions. When he calls Mexicans rapists and murderers, he is dog-whistling in a very clear way to this far-right constituency. Buchanan and Trump are appealing to the same constituencies.
In terms of public figures, [Fox Business host] Lou Dobbs had some of the same appeal, but among politicians, Buchanan is really the last person to have the effect Trump is having. …