California delegate slates were due in this week, and according to a roster obtained by Mother Jones, Donald Trump’s selection has at least one notable name: white nationalist leader, head of the American Freedom Party and ardent Trump supporter William Johnson.
Johnson, for his part, did apply for the delegate slot, sending his name to the Trump campaign, which accepted and asked Johnson to file a pledge that read, “I, William Johnson, endorse Donald J. Trump for the office of President of the United States. I pledge to cast ALL of my ballots to elect Donald J. Trump on every round of balloting at the 2016 Republican National Convention so that we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” The stylistic “all caps” came from the campaign.
Once Johnson turned in his pledge, his name was submitted to the California Secretary of State, which is how it ended up on the published delegate list. Johnson is thrilled to be a driving force in making America great again (he even has a congratulatory email from the Trump campaign’s California coordinator). The Trump campaign, however, after initially denying Johnson was on the slate, says that his name was checked and withdrawn from delegate contention in February, and that he was only mistakenly included on the final list due to a “database error.”
Trump, of course, has had trouble with “accidentally” legitimizing white supremacists before. But technological mishaps and inadvisable re-Tweets aside, this isn’t the Trump campaign’s first brush with this specific white nationalist.
The campaign became acquainted with Johnson’s American Freedom Party, which “exists to represent the political interests of White Americans” when they funded a get-out-the-vote robocall to Iowa caucus-goers urging them to vote Trump because “[w]e need smart, well-educated white people who will assimilate to our culture.” Johnson helped organize the phone calls. Trump’s campaign was forced to disavow any connection to the party or its SuperPAC.
Trump himself was forced to disavow Johnson, specifically, in February, when journalists for The Hill discovered the campaign had accepted a $250 donation from Johnson. Trump pledged to return the donation. Trump told The Hill, “I would certainly return it if you think it is appropriate.”
Johnson himself has a variety of outside-the-mainstream views (to put it mildly), from a belief that all non-white Americans should be forcibly evicted from the nation, to a radical dislike for Harry Potter’s foreign entanglements. Johnson thought his position as a Trump delegate was the perfect opportunity to bring his message to the masses. He says that he made his background and beliefs obvious to the team vetting Trump’s delegates (though, he says, he didn’t say he was a white supremacist outright). “I just hope to show how I can be mainstream and have these views,” Johnson told Mother Jones. “I can be a white nationalist and be a strong supporter of Donald Trump and be a good example to everybody.”
The Trump campaign only began California operations in earnest in late April, which could explain why the delegate process was in such a disarray that a “database error” was even possible.
