May 25, 2016
Page 7
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Trump and the Bigoted Conspiracy Peddlers
A coalition of
the unhinged
m iChael b. K eegan
It’s no secret that
Donald Trump, the
GOP’s all but oficial
new standard-bearer,
is a promoter of wild
conspiracy theories and
harmful lies — from
his smear of Mexican
immigrants as rapists
and drug dealers to his offensive
questioning of President Obama’s
place of birth and religious be-
liefs.
But Trump’s rhetoric is just the
tip of the iceberg when it comes
to the vast network of fringe ig-
ures he’s decided to associate
himself with. The billionaire pol-
itician has elevated the proile of
some of the most bizarre and big-
oted peddlers of conspiracy theo-
ries and vitriol in America today.
He’s courted the support, for
example, of far-right conspiracy
theorist radio host Alex Jones. In
December, Trump went on Jones’
radio show, lavishing Jones with
praise and promising him: “I will
not let you down.”
This is a radio host who’s sug-
gested that the U.S. government
was complicit in the September
11 terrorist attacks, the Newtown
school shooting rampage, and
the massacre at a black church in
by
Charleston, South Carolina. He
thinks Beyoncé is part of a CIA
effort to instigate racial violence
and that President Obama is a
“demonic creature”
and a “precursor” to
the Antichrist.
Jones also recently
said that conserva-
tive columnist George
Will, who’s been crit-
ical of Trump, should
“do the right thing”
and shoot himself in
the head.
And this is a man Donald
Trump doesn’t want to let down?
Or take Michael Savage, the
host of the popular right-wing
radio show The Savage Nation,
where Trump has appeared mul-
tiple times.
Savage has called veterans
coping with PTSD “a bunch of
losers” and accused President
Obama of “dumping” unaccom-
panied migrant children into our
country to “wipe out” Americans
through the spread of disease. On
his short-lived television show in
2003, Savage told a gay caller to
“get AIDS and die, you pig.”
Trump has called Savage a
“special guy” doing “an amazing
job.”
And then there’s the infamous
Ann Coulter.
Trump’s repeatedly invited the
notoriously offensive right-wing
commentator to speak at his cam-
paign rallies, calling himself a
“big fan” of hers. Unsurprisingly,
Trump doesn’t seem concerned
by the endless stream of hateful
anti-immigrant, racist, and sexist
ideas Coulter has pushed through-
out the years.
Coulter has warned, for ex-
ample, that if the United States
doesn’t crack down on immigra-
tion, parents should “get used
to your little girls being raped.”
She’s voiced support for poll tax-
es, which existed to keep African
Americans away from the ballot
box, and isn’t sure women should
have the right to vote at all.
Speaking about women widowed
by the September 11 attacks, she
said: “I have never seen people
enjoying their husbands’ death so
much.”
In short, Trump is raising up
the cruelest and most extreme
voices on the right — people who
bash immigrants, demonize wom-
en and LGBT people, and spread
outrageous lies about government
conspiracies. And his support of
these igures is entirely consistent
with his own wild claims.
While these fringe igures have
existed for years, they haven’t al-
ways had a presidential nominee
to echo and elevate their toxic
rhetoric. And that should concern
all of us.
Michael Keegan is the presi-
dent of People for the American
Way.
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