On Saturday evening, an Arlington-based think tank called the National Policy Institute held its annual conference in the rotunda of the Reagan building in D.C.
The NPI’s website says the group is “dedicated to the heritage, identity, and future of people of European descent in the United States.”
The topic of the conference was the Republican presidential frontrunner, Donald Trump.
NPI President Richard Spencer sees a figure “energizing” the white nationalist movement. So on Saturday, conference attendees enjoyed cocktails, dinner, desert, and three speakers praising and parsing the “Trump phenomenon.”
“He’s fighting for us. He’s saying we’re going to be great again. We’re going to win again. And there’s this implicit identity to this. There’s this implicit nationalism,” Spencer said. “I think he’s evoking a lot of feelings amongst people, and I think implicit in what Donald Trump is doing is a conception of America as a European country.”
Trump and his campaign are not affiliated with the Saturday conference in any way. His campaign did not respond to repeated requests for comment on it.
When Trump repeatedly disavowed Duke and other white nationalist groups later in the week, Spencer was unbothered.
“He never said ‘I condemn this.’ He never said any of that. He said 'I disavow'.
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