White nationalist group promotes Trump

Madison — A self-proclaimed white nationalist group flooded Wisconsin with robocalls supporting real estate mogul Donald Trump leading up to Tuesday’s primary.

Trump “will respect all women and help preserve western civilization,” the narrator says on the call. “If you vote for Donald Trump, he will be a fine president.”

The call says it was paid for by William Johnson, who the narrator describes as “a farmer and a white nationalist.”

The ad also mentions two groups affiliated with Johnson, the American Freedom Party and the American National super PAC.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremist groups, describes the American Freedom Party as an organization “established by racist Southern California skinheads that aims to deport immigrants and return the United States to white rule.”

A spokeswoman for Trump denounced the effort.

“We have no knowledge of this and strongly condemn these views,” spokeswoman Hope Hicks said by email.

Johnson said Monday he spent about $6,000 on the call, which went to all Wisconsin landlines starting Saturday. He provided his cellphone number at the end of the call and said he took “hundreds and hundreds of calls” — both positive and negative — in response to the robocall.

He said the reaction was not as negative as it has been in other states, largely because the message was less controversial and the script was read by someone with a “sweet, grandmotherly voice.” The robocall makes only a brief mention about white nationalism, which Johnson said he felt was important.

“I want people to hear, to feel comfortable with, the term ‘white nationalist,’ ” said Johnson, a Los Angeles lawyer and persimmon farmer.