Donald Trump has assembled a rainbow coalition of bigots. Days after a former KKK grand wizard said that white voters who oppose Trump are betraying their heritage, Nation of Islam founder Louis Farrakhan praised the Donald’s efforts to get Jewish money out of politics.
Donald Trump “is the only member who has stood in front of Jewish community, and said I don’t want your money,” Farrakhan said in a Sunday sermon, the Anti-Defamation League reports. “Any time a man can say to those who control the politics of America, ‘I don’t want your money,’ that means you can’t control me. And they cannot afford to give up control of the presidents of the United States.”
Farrakhan seemed to be referring to Trump’s appearance before the Republican Jewish Coalition last December, when the mogul told the gathered Jewry, “I don’t want money, so, therefore, you’re not going to support me because, stupidly, you want to give money … You want to control your own politician.”
Despite Trump’s rebuke of the Republican Jewish Coalition, Farrakhan is withholding his endorsement for now, telling his congregation, “Not that I’m for Mr. Trump, but I like what I’m looking at.”
It’s no secret that Farrakhan isn’t a big fan of the Jewish people. But the fact that the civil-rights leader “likes the look” of Trump — a right-wing demagogue who has disparaged the Black Lives Matter movement and proposed banning Muslims from the country — suggests that Farrakhan may actually be more anti-Semitic than he is pro-Islam.
Most pundits argue that Trump has too little crossover appeal to compete in a general election. But Farrakhan’s pseudo-endorsement suggests that the GOP front-runner might be able to bring together a cross-racial coalition of the hateful. As MSNBC’s Chris Hayes suggested Monday, this might be a good time to get familiar with the term “kakistocracy.”
