Look who claimed to be at the White House right after Trump attacked a reporter for asking him if he was giving aid and comfort to white nationalists.
November 9, 2018

After Yamiche Alcindor of PBS asked President Trump at yesterday's news conference whether he was concerned that his use of the term "nationalist" to refer to himself might be seen as giving aid and comfort to white nationalists, Patrick Casey, the executive director of the white nationalist group Identity Evropa (he prefers the term "identitarian"), claimed to be at the White House:

The photos raised alarm because they seemed to be taken in a part of the White House that's not accessible on the usual tour, suggesting that Casey was invited by a White House insider. But we're now being told that the photos were not taken Wednesday.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Lindsay Walters emailed The Daily Beast that Casey “was one of more than twenty-five thousand people who came to the White House Fall Garden Tour, which is open to the public. Free tickets are made available to anyone who wants to attend.”

Though Casey’s post was dated Wednesday, Walters’ explanation suggests that he visited the White House on either October 20 or 21, when the Fall Garden Tour was held. That would explain Casey’s access to the White House’s south front. Sources familiar with how the Trump White House operates had told The Daily Beast that Casey could not have reached the location in which he was pictured on the kind of tour that occurs more commonly than the garden ones.

When asked about his rhetoric, Trump and his surrogates deny any racist intent. Trump responded to Alcindor in the I'm-rubber-you're-glue manner favored by right-wing media whenever the topic turns to racism -- according to Fox News and talk radio, the only racists in America are those who attack racism. The attacks on racism are the racist acts.

But if the administration is so obviously anti-racist, why does a racist group's executive director want to brag about going to the White House? Why -- as NBC News reported last month -- does the group want to seize control of the Republican Party?

As the executive director of Identity Evropa, Casey is on a bold mission. "To take over the GOP as much as possible," he told NBC News.

Casey and his roughly 800 fellow members ... advocate for allowing only Caucasians to immigrate to the U.S. in order to maintain a "white supermajority."

In Casey's perfect world, whites would live among whites in North America, Western Europe, Australia, and South Africa, blacks would live among blacks in Africa, Asians in Asia, and Hispanics in Latin America. "Ethnic diversity has been proven time and time again in many studies to be very detrimental for social cohesion, social capital, and it's just not a good model for society," he said....

He has directed his members to blanket college campuses with recruiting fliers as part of a nationwide effort spanning schools from San Diego State University to New York University. The goal: seed College Republican groups with Identity Evropa members as a stepping stone to careers into politics.

Like children seeking the favor of a father they love, Casey and his allies want to be seen as Republicans in good standing. Note the slogan used at one rally:

In March 2018, dozens of IE members showed up at the Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee, with a large banner that read, “European Roots. American Greatness.”

"American Greatness"? I'm not saying Trump is a racist, but racists think he's a racist.

Crossposted at No More Mr. Nice Blog

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