White supremacists have supported Donald Trump since at least February, and the official KKK newspaper officially endorsed the Republican candidate. With that said, maybe it's not surprising that protests and a riot aren't the only responses to Trump's victory. The KKK has announced a rally in North Carolina in support of Trump.
The Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan will be having a "Victory Klavalkade Klan Parade" on Dec. 3. Their website says in all-caps, "TRUMP = TRUMP'S RACE UNITED MY PEOPLE." Under those words, there's a picture of Trump with the words "PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES," and below that there's a picture of hooded Klansmen. The website, which welcomes visitors with "Racial greetings from the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan!," doesn't yet include a time or exact location for the rally. It will be in North Carolina, though, where Trump defeated Clinton by 5 percentage points.
According to the News & Observer, The Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan are based in Pelham, North Carolina, near the Virginia border. The small community of a few thousand people is named after John Pelham, who fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War. Last year, the group rallied in South Carolina to protest the removal of the Confederate flag from the state Capitol building.
The group's goal, according to their website, "is to help restore America to a White Christian nation, founded on God's word." While claiming "We do not hate any group of people!" the website goes on to say, "We hate drugs, homosexuality, abortion and race-mixing, because these things go against God's law and they are destroying all white nations." The group also wants to live separately from "the darker races."
According to the Anti-Defamation League, the Loyal White Knights, with between 150 and 200 members, has gotten attention in 15 different states and is "perhaps the most active Klan group in the United States today."
Regarding what could happen with white supremacists after Trump's victory, Oren Segal, director of the Center on Extremism at the Anti-Defamation League, told Mic, "We could see some people more openly embrace the racism, xenophobia and conspiracy theories peddled by white supremacists [during the Trump administration], but hard core white supremacist remain very much on the fringes."
Trump has been criticized this campaign for refusing to condemn the KKK, but his campaign did eventually get around to the calling the hate group "repulsive" and saying he "disavow[ed]" David Duke's support. Donald Trump has already denounced the post-election protests:
He has not, however, said anything about the KKK rally announced in his honor. People on Twitter didn't ignore that:
It's gonna be a long four years.
