Free Republic

Despite mounting criticism for Donald Trump’s failure to disavow former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke’s support, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton once heaped praise for late Klan leader Sen. Robert Byrd. In a video uploaded to the State Department’s official YouTube page on June 28, 2010, Clinton commemorated late Sen. Byrd by saying, “Today our country has lost a true American original, my friend and mentor Robert C. Byrd.” When Byrd was 24-years-old, he joined the Klan because he was worried that during World War II, he might have to fight alongside “race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest...

--SNIP-- Simply put, that's been a central part of almost every Republican presidential campaign and certainly many congressional races since Barry Goldwater became that party's presidential nominee in 1964. And those are campaign tactics, strategies and claims and arguments that have inculcated at least some portion of the entire electorate -- Republicans and Democrats alike -- with what are fundamentally racist, sometimes white supremacist ideas.

The White House today criticized Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump after he initially failed to clearly distance himself from controversial support by a former leader of the Knight s of the Ku Klux Klan. Over the weekend, Trump declined to disavow the support of former grand wizard David Duke, insisting he needed "to look at the group" first, despite being reminded of the former Louisiana lawmaker’s long association with the KKK. "Honestly, I don't know David Duke, I don't believe I've ever met him, I'm pretty sure I didn't meet him, and I just don't know anything about him," Trump...

Trump at timestamp 1:40

"Fred Trump was marching in support of two Americans named Amoroso and Carisi who were Italian immigrants, and had been murdered on the streets by Anarchists, when Irish Catholic cops started beating the hell out of Protestant whites in religious hatred. The murderer arrested was Adamo Mastrangelo, again an Italian." "Look back to that year and you have 1927 and you will find decades of violence being unleashed in America by these Anarchists. The press spiked a lunatic to assassinate President Theodore Roosevelt as they did not like this outsider Republican. The Anarchist was code for MARXIST or COMMUNISTS."

Racism reportedly runs in the family, when it comes to the Trump Klan. Trump’s late father, Fred Trump, was arrested following a Ku Klux Klan riot in Queens in 1927, according to a bombshell report that further suggests unusual ties between the 2016 front-runner and the notorious white supremacist group. Fred Trump Sr. was among seven men arrested following a May 30, 1927 brawl between members of the KKK and the New York Police Department, according to The Washington Post, which unearthed news articles from the June 1, 1927 edition of The New York Times. The elder Trump’s role in the...

Donald Trump’s distinctive rhetorical style — think of a drunk with a bullhorn reading aloud James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake under water — poses an almost insuperable challenge to people whose painful duty is to try to extract clarity from his effusions. For example, last week, during a long stream of semi-consciousness in Fort Worth, this man who as president would nominate members of the federal judiciary vowed to “open up” libel laws to make it easier to sue — to intimidate and punish — people who write “negative” things. Well. Trump, the thin-skinned tough guy, resembles a campus crybaby who...

If Joe Scarborough were ever, as some have claimed, in the the tank for Donald Trump, he has officially climbed out as of this morning. On today's Morning Joe, reacting to the clip of Jake Tapper's interview, Scarborough called Trump's refusal to forthrightly reject the support of Klansman David Duke "disqualifying." A bit later, Joe and Mika Brzezinski said that if Trump fails today to clean up the situation, Chris Christie "cannot stay with Donald Trump's campaign." View the video here.

On September 28, 1868, a mob of Democrats massacred nearly 300 African-American Republicans in Opelousas, Louisiana. The savagery began when racist Democrats attacked a newspaper editor, a white Republican and schoolteacher for ex-slaves. Several African-Americans rushed to the assistance of their friend, and in response, Democrats went on a “Negro hunt,” killing every African-American (all of whom were Republicans) in the area they could find. (Via Grand Old Partisan) On April 20, 1871 the Republicans passed the anti-Ku Klux Klan Act outlawing Democratic terrorist groups. The Miller Center reported: On April 20, 1871, at the urging of President Ulysses...

I hope if you've been paying attention these past few days, you're beginning to understand my position, and why I've been so forceful, consistent, and aggressive in my advocacy of it. Many of you already understood, but certainly there are many others who still need to figure it out. In just the last couple of days, Donald Trump has promised reprisals against his critics when he's elected president, pledging to "open up" libel laws so that he can punish anyone who writes "negative" or "false" stories about him. He said his critics "will have problems" when he's in power. Remember,...

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Sunday found himself at the center of attacks about a possible connection to the Ku Klux Klan and being accused of not outright rejecting support from the group or ex-leader David Duke. ADVERTISEMENT Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, of Cuban descent, suggested on “Fox News Sunday” that a hate group supporting the front-running Trump was making recorded calls – known as “robo-calls” -- telling potential voters not to pick a Cuban candidate. And Trump was repeatedly asked on CNN’s “State of the Union” about retired KKK grand wizard David Duke last week giving his...

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump disavowed white nationalist and former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke in a tweet Sunday. "As I stated at the press conference on Friday regarding David Duke- I disavow." Earlier Sunday morning, Trump avoided a question about whether he'd condemn Duke's racism. The GOP front-runner said on CNN's "State of the Union" he didn't know anything about Duke and would need to research his connections before deciding whether he would condemn them. "I have to look at the group. I don't know what group you're talking about," he said. "You wouldn't want me to...

Three people were stabbed, one with a flagpole, and 12 people were arrested during a brawl on Saturday morning between self-described Ku Klux Klan members and counter-protesters at an Anaheim park, police said. Initially arrested were five Klan members – four men and a woman – and seven counter-protesters – five men, a male juvenile and a woman. Seven people were booked in the Anaheim jail on assault or abuse charges. Police are seeking one additional suspect who can be seen in a video of the altercation punching a Klansman.

“Will you unequivocally condemn David Duke and say that you don’t want his vote or that of other White Supremacists in this election?” Tapper asked. “Well just so you understanding, I don’t know anything about David Duke, or anything about what you’re even talking about with White Supremacy or White Supremacists,” Trump replied. “So I don’t know.”

CNN anchor Jake Tapper repeatedly asked Donald Trump on Sunday to denounce David Duke's support for his candidacy, but Trump insisted he didn't know anything about about the former KKK grand wizard. "Will you unequivocally condemn David Duke and say that you don't want his vote and that of other white supremacists in this election?" Tapper asked Trump on "State of the Union." But Trump, the Republican presidential frontrunner, said he didn't have enough information to answer the question: I don't know anything about David Duke, OK? I don't know anything about what you're even talking about with white supremacy...

Three people were stabbed, including one who was critically wounded, and 13 were arrested when a Ku Klux Klan rally in Anaheim erupted in violence Saturday, police said.

Donald Trump's critics tried to pass off fake Ku Klux Klan members as his supporters on social media Tuesday night. A closer look at the images reveal the so-called white supremacists were black. Almost 50 percent of Nevada caucus-goers gave the Republican hopeful an easy victory on Tuesday night, but not before a bizarre attempt at character assassination by black citizens in KKK garb. Not all of the photos shared on social media showed the color of their skin, which was taken advantage of by Trump's detractors.

Members of the New England Police Benevolent Police Association hold up signs pledging support for the GOP frontrunner Amid the chaos of the Nevada caucus were people dressed in the traditional hoods and robes of the Ku Klux Klan, holding up signs pledging their support for Donald Trump. The members of the New England Police Benevolent Police Association — a controversial group that endorsed Trump in December — were photographed by a number of attendees outside the Cimarron-Memorial High School location in Las Vegas. “KKK in parking lot of Cimarron HS during Republican caucus. They keep saying take our country...

The long association between the Democrats and the KKK is legendary and documented, but you won’t hear that spoken at a democratic fundraiser because they have “cooked” the books so to speak. People like Orval Faubus, George Wallace, Bull Connor and Sheriff Clark had one thing in common. They were Democrats and racist. Research those names from the 1950s and early 60s and see what you find. Research JFK and LBJ and find out that both voted against Civil Rights legislation in 1957. How about this, research the Voting and Civil Rights act of 64 and 65 and see who...

Who speaks for the dead? The victims of black on white violence? In Baltimore, the answer is "what victims?" The locals don't even remember them: In December the Baltimore Sun ran a glowing portrait of Marin Alsop, the symphony conductor who had recently explained to the BBC that riots in Baltimore were necessary because racist white people did not listen to black people.