--- title: KKK Leader Says Donald Trump is a Great Recruiting Tool description: Donald Trump is inspiring Ku Klux Klan members, and his candid rhetoric is being used to recruit more white supremacists. canonical: https://time.com/4156821/donald-trump-kkk/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-21T15:41:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:42:15.286Z article:section: Politics og:title: KKK Leader Says Donald Trump is a Great Recruiting Tool og:description: “They like that he’s not willing to back down" og:url: https://time.com/4156821/donald-trump-kkk/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt90ea47cc5330b47c/69887656cd1bba5b706fea04/gettyimages-501657770.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Holds Rally In Mesa, Arizona og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: KKK Leader Says Donald Trump is a Great Recruiting Tool twitter:description: “They like that he’s not willing to back down" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt90ea47cc5330b47c/69887656cd1bba5b706fea04/gettyimages-501657770.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # KKK Leader Finds Donald Trump a Great Recruiting Tool > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Donald Trump: 'I Have to Win' [Watch (HLS stream): Donald Trump: 'I Have to Win'](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/RaDVQ2PJ.m3u8) (2:30)  _Published 2015-12-09. Watch Time magazine's interview with Donald Trump for Person of the Year_  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Dec 21, 2015 3:41 PM UTC  Donald Trump waves to the crowd as he arrives at a campaign event at the International Air Response facility on Dec. 16 in Mesa, Arizona. Donald Trump waves to the crowd as he arrives at a campaign event at the International Air Response facility on Dec. 16 in Mesa, Arizona. (Photo by Ralph Freso/Getty Images)  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Dec 21, 2015 3:41 PM UTC Donald Trump is inspiring white supremacists, according to a national organizer of a leading Ku Klux Klan group — and [his candid rhetoric is being used to recruit more](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/12/21/how-donald-trump-is-breathing-life-into-americas-dying-white-supremacist-movement/?tid=sm%5Ffb) of them. The KKK is using the Republican presidential frontrunner as an outreach tool, Rachel Pendergraft, the national membership coordinator for the Knights Party, told The Washington _Post_. Trump’s candidacy, which has been characterized by often divisive nativist rhetoric, has “electrified” some members, the newspaper reported Monday. “They like the overall momentum of his rallies and his campaign,” Pendergraft said. “They like that he’s not willing to back down. He says what he believes and he stands on that.” The KKK organizer said the group uses the headlines Trump makes to start conversations with separatists about issues that are important to the white supremacist movement. “One of the things that our organization really stresses with our membership is we want them to educate themselves on issues, but we also want them to be able to learn how to open up a conversation with other people,” Pendergraft said. \[[_Washington Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/12/21/how-donald-trump-is-breathing-life-into-americas-dying-white-supremacist-movement/?tid=sm%5Ffb)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4156821/donald-trump-kkk/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4156821/donald-trump-kkk/"},"headline":"KKK Leader Finds Donald Trump a Great Recruiting Tool","datePublished":"2015-12-21T15:41:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:42:15.286Z","description":"“They like that he’s not willing to back down\"","url":"https://time.com/4156821/donald-trump-kkk/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt90ea47cc5330b47c/69887656cd1bba5b706fea04/gettyimages-501657770.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt90ea47cc5330b47c/69887656cd1bba5b706fea04/gettyimages-501657770.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Holds Rally In Mesa, Arizona","caption":"Donald Trump waves to the crowd as he arrives at a campaign event at the International Air Response facility on Dec. 16 in Mesa, Arizona.","creditText":"(Photo by Ralph Freso/Getty Images)","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4156821/donald-trump-kkk/","name":"KKK Leader Finds Donald Trump a Great Recruiting Tool"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Donald Trump: 'I Have to Win'","description":"Watch Time magazine's interview with Donald Trump for Person of the Year","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/RaDVQ2PJ/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-12-09T12:02:29.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/RaDVQ2PJ.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4156821/donald-trump-kkk/","duration":"PT2M30S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4156821/donald-trump-kkk/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```