Transcription of 100 DAYS IN - splcenter.org
1 A report by the southern poverty law center 2017100 days IN TRUMP'S AMERICAWHITE NATIONALISTS AND THEIR AGENDA INFILTRATE THE MAINSTREAM2 100 days in trump's americaABOUT THE SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTERThe Southern Poverty Law Center, based in Montgomery, Alabama, is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) civil rights organization founded in 1971 and dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry, and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of more information about THE SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER visit poverty law center 3 CONTENTSEXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5 THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TAKES SHAPE 7100 days REPORT PROFILES 9 THE CONSPIRACY THEORIST-IN-CHIEF: TRUMP AND THE MAINSTREAMING OF THE RADICAL RIGHT 14100 days OF TRUMP'S AMERICA: A TIMELINE 18 HOW YOU CAN PARTICIPATE IN OUR DEMOCRACY 26 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 284 100 days in trump's americasouthern poverty law center 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARYAs he spoke to the nation on Jan.
2 20, President Donald Trump reminded white nationalists why they had invested so much hope in him as their champion and redeemer. He painted a bleak picture of America: a nation of crumbling, third-world infrastructure, rusted-out factories, leaky borders, inner cities wallowing in pov-erty, a depleted military and a feckless political class that prospered as the country fell into ruin. He promised an America First policy that would turn it all around. This American carnage stops right here and stops right now, Trump declared. The inaugural address echoed the themes of a campaign that had electrified the white nationalist or alt-right movement with its promise to stop all Muslim travelers at the border and deport millions of undocumented immigrants killers and rapists, Trump called them.
3 Four days after the inauguration, white nationalist leader Richard Spencer told a TV interviewer, Trump is a white nationalist, so to speak. He is alt-right whether he likes it or not. Despite his failure to achieve any major legislative victories, Trump has not disappointed his alt-right fol-lowers. His actions suggest that unlike the economic populism of his campaign Trump s appeals to the radical right did indeed presage his White House agenda. On Jan. 31, former Klan leader David Duke tweeted: everything I ve been talking about for decades is coming true and the ideas I ve fought for have won. During the first 100 days of Trump s presidency, he surrounded himself with extremist advisers and implemented policies designed to reverse civil rights gains from recent decades and push vulnerable communities even further toward the margins of this report, the Southern Poverty Law Center examines: The extremists who Trump has appointed as key advisers at the White House and leaders within the Administration who are devoted to rolling back civil rights protections, decimating the social safety net and implementing a nationalist worldview.
4 How the Trump presidency is a triumph for the true manufacturers of fake news. His presence in the White House is the end result of a decades-long proj-ect by conservative politicians and media figures to delegitimize mainstream journalism and to herd a highly conservative segment of voters into an echo chamber of right-wing media. First as a candidate and now as president, Trump has given a giant megaphone to the baseless conspiracy theories and fabrications of the radical right. Key moments during the first 100 days , including appointments of extremists who have flown under the media s radar; the promotion of conspiracy the-ories; the ramping up of deportation efforts; and the elimination of Obama-era efforts to reform the crim-inal justice system.
5 WHITE NATIONALISTS AND THEIR AGENDA INFILTRATE THE MAINSTREAM6 100 days in trump's americasouthern poverty law center 7 THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TAKES SHAPETHE EXTREMIST ADVISERSIn the hours after Donald Trump s unexpected election victory there was still talk that he might finally pivot away from the extreme rhetoric of his campaign. In his victory speech he declared "now it's time to bind the wounds of division .. it is time come together as one united people. He pledged to be a President for all Americans. The substance and tone of the speech was a sharp contrast to what Mr. Trump and his surrogates said on the campaign trail. Some thought that he may finally be just 24 hours after that speech it became clear that President Trump would be a continuation of candidate Trump.
6 As early as November 10 rumors began to swirl that Stephen Bannon, who bragged about turning Breitbart News into the platform for the alt-right, would be Trump s chief of staff (ultimately he became a chief strategist). Racists immediately voiced their support, including David Duke who tweeted that Steve Bannon is the one man Trump should keep around. Along with Bannon and an array of conservative billionaires, Trump installed a handful of advisers who are closer to the radical right than to the mainstream. They include: Retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, a conspiracy theory peddler with close ties to Muslim-bashing extremists. Named national security adviser, he was fired less than a month into office, ostensibly for lying to Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with the Russian ambassador.
7 Stephen Miller, a former right hand to then-Sen. Jeff Sessions and a one-time acolyte of anti-Muslim extremist David Horowitz. From his previous perch in the Senate, the senior presidential adviser served as a bridge to Breitbart and a key player in helping defeat efforts to reform the immigration system. Sebastian Gorka, a terrorism adviser who is associ-ated with neo-Nazis in his native Hungary. Gorka has been aligned with anti-Muslim extremist groups since immigrating to the United States in , in particular, embodied the hopes and dreams of white nationalists with his blow-it-all-up style and apocalyptic worldview. He thrilled them with his hyper-nationalism, his firebrand attacks on globalists and Republican cucks, and his stated desire to deconstruct the administrative state.
8 Trump brought into the White House two writers from Bannon s Breitbart: Gorka, as a deputy assistant, and Julia Hahn, as special assistant to the chief of staff for Customs and Border Protection, Trump appointed Julie Kirchner, who spent nearly a decade as executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). The group, which is included on the SPLC s list of hate groups, has deep ties to white nationalists and eugenicists. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) hired Jon Feere, a legal analyst at the Center for Immigration Studies. The group is an offshoot of FAIR and also listed as a hate group by the Trump s most consequential appointment was Jeff Sessions as attorney general.
9 Sessions, who was once denied a federal judgeship amid allegations of racism, was the most powerful ally of anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim extremist groups while serving as a senator from WHITE NATIONALIST AGENDAT rump moved quickly to make good on his most inflammatory promises, particularly those related to immigration, his core issue. Here are the major policy actions of his agenda over the first 100 days : Immigration. Trump signed executive orders instructing the Department of Homeland Security to hire 5,000 new 8 100 days in trump's americaBorder Patrol agents; build detention facilities near the border; take steps to begin building a border wall; and prioritize the deportation of undocumented immigrants charged with any criminal offense or who pose a risk to public safety or national security.
10 In addition, he ordered the withholding of federal funds from so-called sanctuary cities that refuse to use local police to enforce federal immigration law though the order was later blocked in court. Implementing Trump s orders, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly directed ICE to hire 10,000 new agents and gave the agency broad new discretion to arrest and deport immigrants, including parents who can now be accused of participating in smuggling or trafficking if they bring their children into the country. The administration began publishing a weekly list of crimes committed by immigrants; directed federal prosecutors to bring more felony charges against detained immigrants; and announced it will hire 125 new immigration judges over the next two years.