Donald Trump will be on two ballots in California this November — once as the GOP nominee, and then as the nominee of a far-right party that once nominated one of America’s most ardent segregationists.
The American Independent Party is the far-right group “best known for supporting segregationist George Wallace in the 1968 election,” notes TPM.
“We are the demographic that Trump is appealing to,” said the party secretary. “We are heeding the voice of our voters.”
The news that the same party that nominated a man who infamously proclaimed “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!” has also nominated Donald Trump shouldn’t be shocking or surprising. A recent NYT profile notes that white supremacists have been reinvigorated by Trump’s racist campaign.
“The reason a lot of Klan members like Donald Trump is because a lot of what he believes in, we believe in,” said one Virginia KKK leader earlier this year.
Former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke credits Trump for inspiring him to run for Louisiana Senate, saying Trump has “embrace[d] most of the issues that I’ve championed for years.”
More from TPM:
The LA Times reported that Trump didn’t explicitly work to be nominated by the party or to be the first candidate in 80 years to be on the ballot for two parties, but Trump’s position on immigration– his proposal to build a wall and deport millions of undocumented immigrants– appealed to the party.
