REMOVED: For the past decade, experts have warned of a resurgence of white supremacy in the United States, driven in part by mainstream influence from politicians like President Donald Trump.
Just this year, the Public Religion Research Institute released the results of a 2025 survey in which more than 20,000 American adults were asked to rate the statement that “immigrants are invading our country and displacing our cultural and ethnic background.”
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This belief is the basis of the Great Replacement Theory, which falsely claims that immigrants, Jews, and non-white groups are replacing white people in the Western world.
The research institute found that 32% of respondents (almost one in three) agreed with this idea.
Critics accuse right-wing leaders like Mr. Trump of normalizing such views through rhetoric that portrays immigrants as an “invasion” and “an attack on the West.”
President Trump has also been accused of colluding with white supremacists and even having dinner with Nick Fuentes, a Holocaust denier and leading figure in the movement, in 2022. In 2017, when white supremacists engaged in deadly clashes with protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, President Trump said, “There are fine people on both sides.”
Al Jazeera correspondent Phil Lovell traveled to Boone County, Arkansas, to see if one of the most notorious white supremacist groups in U.S. history has increased its influence midway through President Trump’s second term.
He spoke to Thomas Robb, head of the white supremacist group formerly known as the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, founded by David Duke in the 1970s.
What Lavelle found was a group that seemed intent on rebranding. The group has shortened its title to “Night’s Party,” and members told Lovell they are trying to re-center their message around family and faith.
But when Lovell asked if Black people were welcome in the group’s church, Rob’s answer was simple.
“No,” Rob answered. “Because this is a white supremacist church.”
The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) has a long history of racism and violence in the United States. The movement began at the end of the Civil War in 1865 in response to government efforts to extend civil rights to blacks and other minority groups.
The KKK sought to prevent nonwhite participation in government and maintain racial divisions through lynchings and other targeted acts of violence.
Robb, a Christian minister, became leader of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, an offshoot of the KKK, in 1989. Since then, he has sought to expand the organization’s appeal.
He changed his title from “Grand Magician” to “National Director,” allowed new members to join confidentially by mail, and distanced himself from the KKK’s violence in public awareness efforts.
Still, he has stuck to the racist philosophy his organization is known for.
“What do you think about politicians like Zoran Mamdani and Abdul El-Sayed?” Lovell asked Robb in the interview, referring to two prominent American politicians who identify as Muslim.
“First of all, they’re not American,” Robb said. When LaBelle pointed out that El-Sayed was born in Michigan, Robb dismissed the contradiction. “I don’t care where he was born. He’s not American.”
He began to distinguish between the children of white immigrants and the children of non-white immigrants. Robb said only the children of white foreigners can be American “because they are white.”
The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan is one of dozens of white supremacist groups operating in the United States.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, an advocacy group, estimates that there are currently at least 152 such groups operating in the United States, what the group calls a growing trend over the past decade.
Just this year, another white supremacist group, the Patriot Front, marched through Washington, D.C., during the Fourth of July holiday.
Critics say Trump has at times echoed their rhetoric. President Trump told the New York Times earlier this year that “white people are treated very badly” in academics and other fields.
He also directed his second administration to scrap diversity initiatives, and under his leadership the government launched investigations into whether universities and companies like Nike discriminated against white people.
Additionally, President Trump has falsely claimed that white South Africans are subject to “genocide” and is giving priority to white South Africans in accepting refugees.
Robb argued that the current rise in white supremacist sentiment began long before Trump, during the election of the country’s first black president, Barack Obama, in 2008.
“People are starting to make noise and get angry because they see what’s going on in this country,” Robb said. “So we kind of represent that.”
Still, Robb acknowledged the public’s wariness about joining white supremacist groups like his. “For people who actually become members, it’s a line that they’re sometimes a little hesitant to cross,” he says.
He also refused when asked to provide his membership number or to provide evidence of his claim that support for his movement is “growing.”
“Maybe we’re wrong. Maybe people hate us. I don’t know,” Rob said.
