A California Ku Klux Klan leader on Monday endorsed Hillary Clinton, saying he believes she would do the exact opposite of what she promises.
Not only is it a stupid position, but an expert on hate groups said the Klan leader cannot be trusted.
Will Quigg, grand dragon of a Klan chapter in California who last month participated in a KKK rally in Anaheim, California, that ended in violence, told The Telegraph he's switching his support from Republican front-runner Donald Trump to Democrat Hillary Clinton.
"We want Hillary Clinton to win," Quigg told the newspaper.
Quigg said he believes Clinton is really an uber-conservative out to dupe the public.
"She is telling everybody one thing, but she has a hidden agenda," said Quigg. "She’s telling everybody what they want to hear so she can get elected, because she’s Bill Clinton’s wife, she’s close to the Bushes. Once she’s in the presidency, she’s going to come out and her true colors are going to show. Border policies are going to be put in place. Our Second Amendment rights that she’s saying she’s against now, she’s not against. She’s just our choice for the presidency."
Quigg has tweeted support for Trump in the past, according to Brian Levin, a professor at California State University, San Bernardino, who heads the school's Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism.
Levin told The Huffington Post that Quigg's endorsement is garbage.
"It's not true," Levin said. "His recent publicized change of heart stands in sharp contrast to his consistent and effusive support over the last six months for Mr. Trump. I just totally don't buy it. Quigg is playing everybody."
Levin last month interviewed a Quigg lieutenant at the Anaheim KKK rally, who said Trump was his choice for president. Levin asked Quigg a similar question, to which he responded "Hillary Clinton." But Levin said Quigg didn't seem "wholly sincere." When pressed, Quigg waffled, saying he was "undecided," Levin said.
WARNING: Graphic video from the February KKK rally in Anaheim that Levin recorded. Watch the exchange between Levin and Quigg's associate at about 4:50, and between Levin and Quigg at 7:15.
It's possible that Quigg suddenly changed his position. He told The Independent he couldn't "reveal sources" for his Clinton conspiracy theory. Considering that his white nationalist, white supremacist views are consistent with those who have shown support for Trump, Levin said such a change of heart is extremely unlikely.
"The support that existed for Trump is so overwhelming with folks in that world," Levin added. "I've never seen anything like this kind of support Trump is getting in my decades-long career of monitoring extremism."
Levin added: "These guys play the press all the time. Quigg is just pivoting. He'll get some attention and he knows it'll take a little heat off Trump."
Some news outlets seem to be obliging, suggesting Quigg's endorsement means Clinton has her own KKK problem.
There's nothing similar about these storylines. On one side, white supremacists are endorsing a candidate because the things he stands for are ideologically in line with their beliefs. On the other, a KKK leader is endorsing a candidate because he claims she doesn't actually stand against his brand of hate.
To treat that as serious or significant is silly. Whatever you think of Clinton, she would not be an ally to the Ku Klux Klan as president. It would be like The Huffington Post officially endorsing Trump in the belief that he'd actually be a truth-telling, bridge-building ally to people of color and feminists, and would champion empathy and religious inclusion -- the exact opposite of what he's made himself out to be.
Editor's note: Donald Trump is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist, birther and bully who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims -- 1.6 billion members of an entire religion -- from entering the U.S.
