Trump Refuses To Denounce His Racist Neo-Nazi Supporters

Perhaps being gay and having been on the receiving end of name calling and threats - and even harassment by some Norfolk police officers roughly a decade ago - I am perhaps extra sensitive to the dangers of those who seemingly get their thrills by threatening others and and venting their anger at those deemed "other," but one of the frightening things about Donald Trump's candidacy - there are sadly, so many to choose from - is his coddling of and tacit approval of white supremacist and neo-Nazi aggressiveness and threats of violence.  Instead of acting presidential as his apologists claim, he looks more akin to Hitler encouraging his brown shirts to engage in violence against enemies of his foul and ultimately murderous regime.  A piece in Media Matters looks at Trump's ongoing refusal to condemn some of his most frightening supporters.  Here are highlights:

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has thrilled and emboldened his racist online neo-Nazi supporters with his refusal to denounce them in a recent CNN interview.

Reporter Julia Ioffe recently wrote a profile of Melania Trump for GQ which was criticized by Melania Trump for purportedly being unfair. The Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi website that’s endorsed Trump, responded to Ioffe’s piece by directing followers to “go ahead and send her a tweet and let her know what you think of her dirty kike trickery.”

What followed was a barrage of anti-Semitic messages and death threats against the reporter. Ioffe told CNN that Trump fans have been sending her “the most obscene, anti-Semitic stuff I have frankly ever seen directed at me in my life.” She “also received a call from someone claiming to be from a company called ‘Overnight Caskets.’ ‘We got an email with your phone number saying you'd need our services,’ Ioffe detailed in a post on her Facebook page.”

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer interviewed Trump on May 4 and asked if he would denounce the anti-Semitic death threats against Ioffe. Trump refused to condemn the threats, saying he was unaware of them and adding, “I don’t have a message to the fans. A woman wrote a article that was inaccurate.”

Trump’s refusal to condemn their behavior has thrilled Trump’s neo-Nazi fans. Daily Stormer editor Andrew Anglin responded to the interview with the headline, “Glorious Leader Donald Trump Refuses to Denounce Stormer Troll Army.” He began:

Asked by the disgusting and evil Jewish parasite Wolf Blitzer to denounce the Stormer Troll Army, The Glorious Leader declined.

The Jew Wolf was attempting to Stump the Trump, bringing up stormer attacks on Jew terrorist Julia Ioffe. Trump responded to the request with “I have no message to the fans” which might as well have been “Hail Victory, Comrades!”

The pro-Hitler writer explained that “we are his most ardent supports. We will be on the ground, getting him elected. By the way: You all need to get ready to volunteer. We’re going to need a lot of boots on the ground to ensure the evil bitch Hillary is vanquished from the realm.”

Anglin -- an ally of fellow Trump supporter David Duke -- then turned his attention to Blitzer, directing followers: “Tell the dirty Jew Wolf Blitzer (זאב ברק) what you think of his diabolical agenda against us and Our Leader: @wolfblitzer.” (A separate Anglin post about the Blitzer interview was headlined, “Glorious Leader Holocausts Filthy Kike Wolf Blitzer.”)

Trump's campaign has received support from numerous white nationalist groups and leaders, who have used Trump's campaign to recruit followers, fundraise, and spread their message.

 To those I know who are flirting with supporting Trump, are these the types of people with whom you with to associate?  If not, perhaps you ought to reanalyze your pro-Trump leanings. If they are, then shame on you!