Adelson & KKK endorse Trump
What do Sheldon Adelson and the Ku Klux Klan have in common? Their newspapers are among the very few that have endorsed Donald Trump for President.
Adelson's Las Vegas Review Journal was joined last week by the KKK's The Crusader.
Politico reported than only six newspapers in the country have endorsed Trump. Clinton, by comparison, has more than 200 newspaper endorsements, about a dozen have endorsed not-Trump, one not-Clinton and 38 made no endorsements so far, according to Politico.
Trump took a few days to reject the KKK endorsement – a spokesman called the publication "repulsive" — but he still has the strong backing of its followers among white supremacists, xenophobes and anti-Semites.
David Duke, a former KKK grand wizard and current Republican senate candidate in Louisiana, was an early and enthusiastic Trump backer. After initially denying that he'd ever heard of Duke, Trump eventually rejected the endorsement but that hasn't dampened the enthusiasm of Duke's followers.
Not has his rejection of their endorsements stopped Trump from retweeting their postings, most notoriously a picture of Clinton with a Star of David and a pile of money and a picture showing Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Jew, in a gas chamber with Trump, in Nazi uniform, flipping the gas switch.
Duke again railed against Jews in the Louisiana senate debate this week, He has a problem with "a very strong, powerful tribal group that dominates our media, dominates our international banking," he said, adding, "I'm not opposed to all Jews."
Adelson's other newspaper, Israel Today, is an enthusiastic Trump backer. Readers of Israel's largest circulation daily could easily get the impression that a Trump landslide is in the offing.
"Trump gaining traction among women and minority voters," it declares a headline on today's web page. "As Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's lead shrinks, Trump is appealing to a wider base, including undecided and independent voters."
Another headline declares "race tied" and Trump has "'honesty' edge on Clinton," while the accompanying story says, "FBI said to be investigating everyone in Clinton's inner circle."
The paper has informed readers that its owner "American Jewish businessman and philanthropist Sheldon Adelson urges Republican Jewish leaders to back Trump," but it leaves out the part where they're not listening. Only eight of Adelson's fellow 55 board members on the Republican Jewish Coalition are Trump contributors. Adelson, the RJC's main backer, makes it nine, but there's no indication in Federal Election Commission reporting that he is giving more than a fraction of the $100 million he had pledged to Trump.