Hate group numbers rise again, center says
Anti-Muslim factions see the biggest jump, almost tripling to 101
The number of extremist groups active in the United States rose for the second year in a row last year, propelled in part by the mainstreaming of far-right rhetoric by the Trump campaign, particularly on topics like immigration and Islam, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremism in the United States.
The number of anti-Muslim groups grew the most, almost tripling to 101 in 2016 from 34 in 2015, in part because of President Donald Trump’s 2015 proposal to bar Muslims from entering the United States in response to the Syrian refugee crisis and terrorist attacks in San Bernardino, Calif., and Orlando, Fla. There were a total of 917 hate groups operating in the United States in 2016, an increase from 892 in 2015 and 784 in 2014, the center said in its annual report.
The number of organized antigovernment groups, like armed militias, dropped by almost 40 percent, however, to 623 in 2016 from 998 in 2015. That decline was a consequence of the increasingly mainstream presence of policy ideas and conspiracy theories about Islam and immigrants that originated on the political fringe, researchers said.
‘The Trump phenomenon’
Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the center, said Trump’s election had been “absolutely electrifying to the radical right.”
“Trump has co-opted many of the issues of the radical right, and that has prevented or at least slowed the growth of these groups,” Potok said. He added, “The Trump phenomenon has really unleashed right-wing hate in this country in a way that is difficult to remember.
Trump began his presidential campaign with a series of divisive claims, including a June 2015 speech that referred to Mexican immigrants as “rapists” and “criminals.” That December, he proposed fighting terrorism with a Muslim ban.
Both as a candidate and as president, Trump has used Twitter and speeches to attack an ever-growing list of targets that number in the hundreds. He has sometimes posted images and messages of support on Twitter that appeared to be anti-Semitic or the work of white nationalists, as have his advisers.
Nevertheless, Trump has consistently rejected the notion that his rhetoric or policy proposals have been divisive or extreme. He has often pointed out that his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are Orthodox Jews, and when asked last November about his support among white nationalist groups, he told the New York Times, “I disavow and condemn” them.
Surge in crimes
The Southern Poverty Law Center said its report tracked only groups that engage in activities in the real world, like passing out leaflets, holding rallies or distributing membership cards. But it warned that such an approach could play down the true reach of extremism because many extremists operate primarily on social media and other online forums.
The rise in the number of antiMuslim groups mirrored the 67 percent surge in anti-Muslim hate crimes reported by the FBI in 2015, the last year for which the agency has statistics. There were 257 anti-Muslim episodes reported to the police that year, the highest number since 2001, when more than 480 hate crimes were reported in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
In the first 10 days after Trump’s election, the center said, it documented 867 bias incidents, including more than 300 that targeted immigrants or Muslims.