Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
News

Emboldened by Trump Win, White Nationalists Seek Office

In the wake of Donald Trump’s presidential win, some of the white nationalists who rallied around the Trump campaign are seeking elected office.

“I think this will be inevitable, and I think that Trump will have encouraged this,” Jared Taylor, head of the white nationalist website American Renaissance, told Talking Points Memo, “our people will run for school board, city council, mayor, all that I anticipate certainly.”

William Johnson, chair of the white nationalist American Freedom Party and member of the pro-Trump American National super PAC, said the he would be focusing on “getting people into the administration and working within the system.”

Though Trump has struck a somewhat conciliatory note in public statements — calling President Barack Obama a “good man,” with whom he looked forward to working — the president-elect hasn’t yet indicated that he would be reeling back any of his hard-right positions.

According to TPM, civil rights organizations are gearing up for a potential fight. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Anti-Defamation League, the Southern Poverty Law Center and other advocacy groups are preparing for years of work combatting an invigorated racist right.

“If they find a true home in his administration,” Richard Cohen of the SPLC center told TPM, “that will take some of the wind out of the sails of the violent extremists on the right.”

Cohen added: “If they are shunned by Trump, if they are pushed out, given that he has raised their expectations so high, we could see violence. This rock and hard place are something entirely of his own making.”

Email Sam Kestenbaum at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.