White supremacists have been emboldened by Donald Trump from the moment he came down the escalator in Trump Tower and announced his bid for the White House by branding all immigrants of Mexican descent rapists and criminals. That travesty of a campaign continued in that vein, as has this sorry excuse of a  presidency.  Trump knows that these people think they have a friend in him (and they do, honestly), so he refuses to disavow them.The latest debacle in that direction is, of course, Trump s disgraceful equivocation between neo-Nazis and their counter protesters during the violent white nationalist gathering in Charlottesville, Virginia. Of course, that gathering claimed the life of Heather Heyer, a brave activist standing up against hate.After Trump s remarks, former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke was alight with praise. It turns out there s a reason for that, and it is much more sinister than those of us who are not within the white power movement to really comprehend. There is one person who does, though: Derek Black, a former white nationalist and the son of Don Black, the founder of the infamous neo-Nazi website Stormfront.The younger Black warns that Trump s heightened flirtation with Nazis and his legitimizing of their message via equivocation with counter protesters is really making things much worse. At first, the white nationalists  message wasn t getting out due to the news being focused on all of the violence. According to Black, though, that all changed with Trump. Speaking to New York Times writer Michael Barbaro, Black said of Trump s response to Charlottesville: He salvaged their message. The message that they were trying to get out was that tearing down Robert E Lee s statue is an assault on white culture, so if you think that tearing down REL s statue is the wrong choice then these are your guys. But then amidst all the violence and the chaos, I think that got lost   you re not going to follow those people even if you believe that. But then in [Trump s] message, saying these are good people because they re fighting for something that a lot of people believe in, he salvaged the message that they wanted to spread, which is that if you believe this too and maybe you re on the edge about whether this is a fringe movement or not, Donald Trump thinks we re fine. And that is just yet. It is why they are wearing khakis and polos now instead of hoods. It is why they are re-branding themselves the so-called  alt-right.  It is why they are even telling people who come to their rallies to look  sexy    so that they can disassociate from uneducated, mouthbreathing rednecks who everyone mocks and no one takes seriously. They want to make sure this is someone who could be your cookie cutter suburban family, just living next door, and you d be none the wiser. That s why it is so important to keep this a fringe group in the minds of everyone, regardless of whether their politics are left-wing or right-wing. Black further explains: It s just impossible to say what will happen in the future. Maybe nothing. But the point of that rally was to try to recruit people, to try to grow. And if you were on the fence about whether you should get involved in that stuff or not, the president s OK is the biggest thing that s ever happened. That s why what Trump is doing here is so dangerous. It s why we all need to MAKE SURE that white supremacy, no matter how it is dressed up, is NEVER normalized. Ever. That will be the job of all of us, because clearly, that messaging will never come from the White House.Thank you, Derek Black, for denouncing your family s hateful beliefs, and speaking out in a unique way to counter this kind of hate.Featured image via Twitter