Before Trump, neo-Nazis pushed false claims about Haitians as part of hate campaign
An extremist group that marched in Springfield, Ohio, and demonized Haitian immigrants saw Trump’s mention of baseless rumors at the debate as a victory: “This is what real power looks like.”
The day after the presidential debate at which former President Donald Trump spread a false story about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, Christopher Pohlhaus, leader of the national neo-Nazi group Blood Tribe, took to his Telegram channel to take credit.
Pohlhaus, a Marine-turned-tattoo artist known as “Hammer” to his hundreds of followers, wrote Blood Tribe had “pushed Springfield into the public consciousness.”
Members of his hate group agreed. “The president is talking about it now,” a member wrote on Gab, a Twitter-like service popular with extremists. “This is what real power looks like.”
