Donald Trump is “the real deal” in the eyes of America’s most prominent white nationalist.
Appearing Wednesday afternoon on CNN’s The Lead, corporate attorney and American Freedom Party chief William Daniel Johnson laid out the case for the presumptive Republican nominee whose xenophobic policy suggestions have long tantalized white supremacists and xenophobes throughout the 2016 campaign.
“Mr. Trump is the real deal,” Johnson gushed to host Jake Tapper. “He will not govern by public opinion poll. He says what’s on his mind.”
Johnson, who previously ran for president with the catchy slogan “Diversity Is a Codeword for Genocide,” was famously selected as a California delegate for Trump earlier this week before the campaign quickly scrambled to nix his role following outcry.
Trump’s camp blamed Johnson’s appointment on a “database error,” and the white nationalist—whose law firm unironically assists Chinese businesses with coming to the U.S.—happily backed away so as not to “negatively impact Trump’s efforts,” he told The Daily Beast.
“We live in a society where white people hate white people who like white people,” he explained. “And me being a white nationalist doesn’t sit well with some people. So I understand his campaign’s concerns.”
Asked by CNN whether he believes the white race is superior, Johnson played coy: “I believe that Western civilization is declining and dying out in every country around the world that has traditionally been white. Europe is being replaced by immigrants from Africa; America is the same thing happening here. And so I believe that we need to be aware of this precipitous decline in the white race.
“The whites now are so afraid to be proud of their heritage because they’re called bad names if they are.”
Despite his desire not to harm The Donald’s efforts, Johnson has previously caused the campaign some headaches. After the lawyer contributed $250 to the campaign in September 2015, Trump agreed to return the funds over concerns about his racist views. Nevertheless, Johnson went on to fund outwardly white supremacist radio ads on Trump’s behalf in a number of states, and set up a 24/7 hotline for Trump supporters who feel that they’ve been marginalized by society for their beliefs.
Johnson himself is familiar with being “marginalized,” as he lamented to CNN: “In today’s society, they’re passing around the word ‘racist’ more and more and everybody is being called a racist nowadays. So that term and all of these invectives are having less meaning. Everybody is being called that so it doesn’t mean much anymore.”
Pressed further on his views, Johnson added, “I do believe that when you replace one people with another, that is not a good thing, whether it takes place in Mongolia or in Sweden.” However, he noted, “I think that Donald Trump has to be a president for all peoples.”
