Hillary Clinton's campaign released an ad Thursday featuring Ku Klux Klan leaders praising Donald Trump, portraying him as the candidate for white supremacists.
"The reason a lot of Klan members like Donald Trump is because a lot of what he believes, we believe in," says a man in a robe identified as the Imperial Wizard of the Rebel Brigade Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in the video. A Confederate flag, an image of Trump waving, and a man giving a Nazi salute at an apparent Trump rally follow.
According to an unidentified voice on the video, Trump's "alt-right" supporters are "the sort of dressed-up-in-suits version of the neo-Nazi and white supremacist movements."
The video then focuses on Steve Bannon, recently appointed Trump's campaign chief executive, and his former position running Breitbart News, which Politico says is "widely considered to be the most prominent alt-right media outlet."
The video then shows an unnamed CNN panelist calling Bannon "a campaign chair that ran a website that has become a field day for the alt-right, which is racist and all sorts of other 'ists.'"
David Duke, a former KKK Grand Wizard, is quoted as saying "voting against Donald Trump, at this point, is really treason to your heritage."
According to Jared Taylor, a white supremacist and the founder and editor of American Renaissance, a magazine for like-minded readers, Trump's positions are attracting their support.
"Sending out all the illegals, building a wall, add a moratorium on Islamic immigration," he is quoted as saying in a CNN interview. "That's very appealing to a lot of ordinary white people."
Politico notes Trump didn't repudiate Duke, but did tell Bloomberg News: "I don't need his endorsement; I certainly wouldn't want his endorsement."
But some observers upbraided the Clinton campaign for going too far with the ad.
"Hillary Clinton and her campaign went to a disgusting new low today as they released a video tying the Trump campaign with horrific racial images," said the Rev. Mark Burns, a black televangelist, in a statement reported by The Hill.
"This type of rhetoric and repulsive advertising is revolting and completely beyond the pale," Burns said. "I call on Hillary Clinton to disavow this video and her campaign for this sickening act that has no place in our world."
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