US Nazis hope Trump presidential win will give them kiss of life

8 Aug, 2016 07:41 / Updated 8 years ago

A win for Donald Trump in the presidential race would be a “great opportunity for white nationalists” to build “pro-white” unions, the leader of the US Nazi party said, adding that the candidate's statements have shown that Nazi views are not so unpopular.

The remarks were made by American Nazi Party (ANP) chairman Rocky Suhayda, on his radio program in July. The statements resurfaced in the US media on Saturday, with BuzzFeed releasing the audio from the program. 

“We have a wonderful opportunity here folks, that may never come again, at the right time,” Suhayda said. “Donald Trump’s campaign statements, if nothing else, have shown that ‘our views’ are not so ‘unpopular’ as the Political Correctness crowd have told everyone they are!”

Suhayda said he believes Trump “is going to win the election this November, for various reasons.”

“I think it’s gonna surprise the enemy, because, I think that they feel that the white working class, especially the male portion of the working class, and with him his female counterparts have basically thrown in the towel. Given up hope of any politician again standing up for their interests,” he said.

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If Trump wins, “it’s going to be a real opportunity for people like white nationalists, acting intelligently to build upon that, and to go and start – you know how you have the black political caucus and what not in Congress, and, everything, to start building on something like that,” the American Nazi leader said.

“It doesn’t have to be anti, like the movement’s been for decades, so much as it has to be pro-white. It’s kinda hard to go and call us bigots, if we don’t go around and act like a bigot. That’s what the movement should contemplate. Alright.”

The ANP is based largely upon the ideals and policies of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party in Germany, which was widely condemned following the atrocities of World War II. Founded by white supremacist George Lincoln Rockwell in 1959, the ANP uses Nazi iconography and symbols. Although the public display of all Nazi insignia, emblems, and uniforms is banned in several countries – including Austria, France, Germany, and Israel – such use is protected in the US under freedom of speech.

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The ANP's website allows any user to download Hitler's 'Mein Kampf,' which is banned in some EU countries and Russia. The group, which calls non-whites “aliens” who are invading their country, provides information on how 'Non-Aryans' can join the group, so long as they identify as Nazi sympathizers.

It's not the first report somehow linking the Republican candidate with Nazis. In May, the former head of the Anti-Defamation League, Abe Foxman, said that when Trump raised his right arm to ask supporters to pledge their loyalty to him during speeches, the move was “about as offensive, obnoxious and disgusting as anything I thought I would ever witness in the United States of America,” The Times of Israel reported. Foxman called it a “fascist gesture” resembling the 'Heil Hitler' salute.

In February, London street artist Pegasus sent a clear message that he believes Donald Trump is a tyrant in the making. His artwork likening the Republican candidate to Hitler was painted on the side of a pub in Bristol, UK.