Trump campaign accepts donations from neo-Nazi leader

Neo-Nazi leader Morris Gulett

In 2017, Trump famously described participants in a white supremacist march as "very fine people." Now, as the 2020 presidential campaign barrels toward its conclusion, the Trump campaign is accepting thousands in donations from a notorious neo-Nazi leader and other racist extremists. 

In between stints in prison, Morris Gulett set up an outpost of the Aryan Nations, also known as the Church of Jesus Christ Christian, in Louisiana. He promoted his group as the "most-feared and revered white supremacist organization the world has ever known." The Trump campaign has repeatedly accepted cash from Gulett.

A cache of Gulett's website from 2016 promoted white Anglo-Saxons as "the supreme ruling race." (The website is currently offline.) 

We believe that the White, Anglo-Saxon, Germanic and kindred peoples are the direct descendants of the Adamic man made in the image of YHVH (Genesis 1:27), and were placed here to be the light bearers and supreme ruling race (Deuteronomy 7:6; Deuteronomy 28:10) of this lost and dying world.

The same website also described "miscegenation and integration" as "an abomination to He who created us." He once said that he would celebrate Black History Month when "when every Negro becomes just that – history."

Gulett is also deeply anti-Semitic, ending every sermon with a Nazi salute. His website asserted that "the Jew is the literal child of Satan and is the natural enemy of the White race, the Children of God."

The Trump campaign has accepted at least $2000 from Gulett in 29 separate transactions since December 2017. The most recent contribution from Gulett, according to Federal Election Commission data, was dated May 31, 2020. 

Gulett has also donated at least $626 to the Republican National Committee from August 2018 to June 2020. Most of these contributions appear to be the result of donations to Trump's joint fundraising committees, where the amount donated is split between the Trump campaign and the RNC.

Is it possible that the Trump campaign is simply unaware of these donations or Gulett's background? No. Gulett's contributions were brought to the attention of the Trump campaign in July 2018 by The Forward. At the time, Gulett had donated to the Trump campaign three times for a total of $200. The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment from The Forward. 

The Trump campaign also did not respond to a request for comment by Popular Information about Gulett's continued donations. 

Trump accepts maximum contribution from infamous racist

Businessman Peter Zieve

Gulett's donations are not an anomaly. The Trump campaign has also accepted the maximum donation from Peter Zieve, a Washington State businessman. Zieve was sued by Washington State for discriminating against minority applicants and imposing his racist views on his employees.

The lawsuit describes how Zieve allegedly screened applicants by race, hired a nearly all-white staff, and offered employees a $1000 bonus for getting married and another $1000 bonus for having children. The stated purpose of the "procreation bonus" was to prevent the country from being overrun by minorities.

In a February 6, 2015 email, Zieve stated that he found immigrants from developing countries "repulsive" and didn't want them "around me." In an October 2, 2015 email announcing the birth of his own daughter, Zieve said that "381,000 terrorist savages have gotten into Europe so far this year and if we don’t make more babies the light will out on civilization." 

Zieve settled the lawsuit in 2017 for $485,000 and agreed to a consent decree to curb his discriminatory conduct. 

In 2018, three days after Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) said she would sit in the front row of a lynching, Zieve donated the legal maximum to her campaign. Hyde-Smith returned the money after the donation was reported by Popular Information. 

In 2020, Trump accepted $5600 from Zieve — the legal maximum — to support his primary and general election campaigns. The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

(Zieve has also donated $2800 in 2020 to Senator Martha McSally (R-AZ), who is facing a serious challenge from former astronaut Mark Kelly (D).)

Trump accepts donations from writer for an "overtly white nationalist organ"

K.C. McAlpin is a long-time associate of John Tanton, "the racist architect of the modern anti-immigrant movement." Tanton founded a constellation of anti-immigrant groups. A collection of Tanton's private papers at the University of Michigan exposed his white nationalist views.

"I’ve come to the point of view that for European-American society and culture to persist requires a European-American majority, and a clear one at that," Tanton wrote. McAlpin defended Tanton's comments in a 2018 column posted on Tanton's website. According to McAlpin, Tanton's comments were not "about race" but "the preservation of European culture and traditions." McAlpin argues that "Tanton was right about that concern." McAlpin is also a frequent donor to the Trump campaign. 

McAlpin has held a variety of positions in Tanton's groups and has written regularly for The Social Contract, which the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as an "overtly white nationalist organ."

In a 2017 column, McAlpin praised "The Camp of the Saints," a racist novel favored by white nationalists. The novel depicts immigrants as "diseased people who eat human feces." The plot involves a group of Indian immigrants who invade France, overrun the content of Europe, and destroy the "white race." It was cited as inspiration by mass shooters in New Zealand and Texas. McAlpin said the author, Jean Raspail, had "amazing foresight," and the book is "not racist." McAlpin insisted that Raspali's description of refugees as "wretched creatures" who were "starting to rot" was not an insult. 

McAlpin has donated about $1600 to the Trump campaign since April 2019. The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment from Popular Information. 

Bigoted businessman kicks in $10 million for Trump's reelection

One of the biggest supporters of Trump's reelection campaign is Timothy Mellon, "a ­reclusive heir to the wealthy Mellon family fortune." Mellon has donated $10 million to American First Action, the approved Super PAC of Trump's 2020 campaign. America First Action is chaired by Linda McMahon, a former member of Trump's cabinet, and stocked with alums of the Trump campaign and Trump White House. 

In a self-published autobiography, Mellon wrote that social programs had made black people "even more belligerent" and " unwilling to pitch in to improve their own situations." Blacks who benefit from social programs like nutrition assistance or Obamacare are "slaves of a new Master, Uncle Sam." 

Mellon described "Black Studies, Women’s Studies, [and] LGBT Studies" as "meaningless tripe designed to brainwash gullible young adults into going along with the Dependency Syndrome."

Mellon has also donated $20 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund and $10 million to Senate Leadership Fund, two Super PACs working to elect Republicans to Congress. Oddly, Mellon donated $2,700 to Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) in 2018.

A spokesperson for Ocasio-Cortez told the Washington Post, which first reported on Mellon's autobiography, that she would return the contribution. America First Action did not respond to the Washington Post's request for comment.

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