Marianne Williamson referred to President Trump as “a megaphone for white nationalism” in an interview aired Tuesday.
The self-help author and White House hopeful applied the label during an interview on The Hill newspaper’s online program “Hill.TV” about Mr. Trump’s recent attacks against several Democratic minority members of Congress.
“He is a megaphone for white nationalism in the United States,” said Ms. Williamson. “And unfortunately, he is also a megaphone for this kind of autocratic right-wing fascistic-tending pattern throughout the country.”
“I think people underestimate the danger represented by this presidency at their peril,” she added. “It’s very dark, some of what he’s doing.”
Mr. Trump was called a racist by critics earlier this month after targeting several Democratic congresswomen of color known as “The Squad,” and similar allegations erupted as a result of his attacks this week against Rep. Elijah Cummings, Maryland Democrat, the city of Baltimore and civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton.
“The FBI has been saying for a very, very long time — and many in the Republican Party have been trying to squash this message — that the most dangerous element that threatened us in terms of domestic terrorism was domestic white nationalism,” Ms. Williamson said during the interview. “We should not underestimate the danger of the fact that a voice for that white nationalism is now in the White House.
“He took off after the ’Squad,’ he took off after Elijah Cummings, today he took off after Al Sharpton,” said Ms. Williamson. “It’s not hyperbole to say that if you didn’t know better, you’d think he was stoking a race war.”
The White House did not immediately return a request for comment.
Ms. Williamson, 67, is among 10 candidates participating in a televised Democratic presidential debate Tuesday evening. Ten others are slated to debate Wednesday night. Ten others are slated to follow suit Wednesday night.
Several fellow 2020 hopefuls labeled Mr. Trump a racist this week after he took aim on Twitter at Mr. Cummings and the black-majority congressional district he has represented since 1996, calling the lawmaker a “bully” responsible for a “rat and rodent infested.” Mr. Trump has denied the comments were racist.
The majority of roughly 100 domestic terrorism-related arrests made by the FBI since last October involved white supremacists, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray testified last week.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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