Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist

by Eli Saslow

In the Republican Party, the 2012 primary had become a race to the far conservative right on immigration issues, with one candidate after the next proposing ideas that were once popular only on forums like Stormfront. Rick Santorum tried to please Tea Party activists by saying he wanted to make English the country’s official language, mandatory for all residents. Herman Cain suggested building an electrified border fence, twenty feet high and coiled in barbed wire, with enough voltage to kill a human being. Michele Bachmann said she could do one better by building a “secure double fence” along every foot of the border. Even Mitt Romney, the party’s eventual nominee, had moved away from his centrist roots and suggested an immigration policy of “self-deportation.”

This all seems like the groundwork laid for DJT in 2016.