Ku Klux Klan Newspaper Backs Trump

The official newsletter of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, The Crusader, published a glowing endorsement of Donald Trump and his "Make America Great Again" message Tuesday.

The Knights of the Ku Klux Clan is a faction of the KKK that was founded by David Duke, who is currently running for a U.S. Senate seat from Louisiana, reports Vocativ. The Trump campaign responded to the endorsement, saying, "Mr. Trump and the campaign denounces hate in any form. This publication is repulsive and their views do not represent the tens of millions of Americans who are uniting behind our campaign."

Race has been a large part of discourse surrounding the election, and it seems to have a determining effect on many voters. The Knights said that Trump's "Make America Great Again" message is a testament to the founding of the United States as a "White Christian Republic."

Trump has attempted to court African-American and Latino voters, but his support by people of color is overwhelmingly low. The Trump campaign and his supporters have regularly been called out for overt or covert racism, misogyny, and xenophobic attitudes, but Trump has repeatedly said that he is better for "the African-Americans and the Latinos" than Hillary Clinton -- something point that news organizations like The Root and others have overwhelmingly refuted.

In the latest Elon University poll of North Carolina likely voters, 100 percent of African-American respondents support Clinton for president, compared to 67 percent of white voters likely supporting Trump. To have any shot at the presidency, North Carolina, Florida, and Ohio are "must-win" states for Trump.

A recent campaign stop by Trump in North Carolina included a speech targeting African-American voters, with rhetoric about bringing African-Americans out of the inner city. But while the problems of the inner city are critical, not all black people are from the inner city, nor do only black people live there, a point the Republican nominee still hasn't managed to grasp.

During his stop in North Carolina, Trump kicked out one of his African-American supporters, accusing him of being a "thug" hired by the Clinton campaign. The man was attempting to give a letter to Trump outlining his dissatisfaction with Clinton and President Obama, according to a report from The Washington Post.

Clinton has a 69 percent chance of winning the election, while Trump has a 30 percent chance, reports FiveThirtyEight. With just a week until the election and especially after this latest endorsement, it is nearly impossible to not equate the Trump campaign with the worst of American bigotry.