Super Tuesday will test Trump's popularity after KKK controversy

It’s 2016 and, somewhat improbably, the Ku Klux Klan is dominating the news cycle heading into the Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses.

Yes, that Klan. The one with white robes and a dark history — hoods and buing crosses — that terrorized and murdered blacks while aiming to rid America of anyone it deemed not white or Protestant enough. A hate group that, over decades, has faded in influence as it became the butt of jokes in such films as “Django Unchained” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

Over the past few days, however, the Klan came out of nowhere to be more than just a punch line.

There was the bloody melee in Anaheim, where a group identified as the KKK marched and was confronted by counter-protestors. Just hearing there were Klansman in Anaheim startled many in Orange County.

•RELATED STORY: KKK leader says request for police security denied before Anaheim rally

Then, on Sunday, Donald Trump — the frontruer for the Republican presidential nomination — initially refused to reject an endorsement by David Duke, a white supremacist who ran for goveor of Louisiana in 1991 as a member of the Klan.

Trump was blasted by his key rivals, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. Both trail the wealthy businessman in delegates after caucuses and primaries in four states, and polls show them behind in most of the 13 states (plus American Samoa) set to vote on Super Tuesday.

A convincing showing by Trump — picking up more than half of the almost 600 delegates up for grabs Tuesday — could make his ascendency to being the GOP nominee a foregone conclusion. But could the controversy over Trump and the Klan affect today’s outcome?

Unlikely, said Claremont McKea College Political Science professor Jack Pitney.

In Pitney’s opinion, a large number of voters in such states as Teessee have already cast ballots in early voting, so the Trump-Duke matter didn’t influence them. He also noted that many people don’t follow the news closely, and some voters actually approve of Duke.

“But the most important reason of all is Trump supporters have been impervious to evidence and logic,” Pitney said. “It ought to have a major impact, but it probably won’t.”

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The Ku Klux Klan as an organization hasn’t had influence in decades, according to the Southe Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based nonprofit that tracks hate groups.

Mark Potok, senior fellow at the center, said that in 2014 there were 71 KKK chapters in the country. He said the number jumped to 190 chapters in 2015, but he insists that was the result of a splintering of the 71 chapters into smaller groups. Some chapters have fewer than five members. The Anaheim group has about 10.

“Their influence is almost nil,” Potok said. “Once upon a time, the Klan controlled entire states and thousands of police departments. Today it controls almost nothing. The Klan is weak, fractured and without any coection to real power.”

RELATED STORY: Why Super Tuesday could be the ‘last stand’ for Ted Cruz

Duke, he said, is the only national figure of note the Klan has.

Duke’s campaign in 1991 sent shock waves through the Republican Party when he became the GOP nominee. The party was so repulsed by his candidacy, many prominent Republicans backed Duke’s Democratic opponent, Edwin Edwards. President George H.W. Bush said Duke was unfit to hold office.

As for Trump, he finally rejected Duke’s support in a Tweet on Sunday.

“I disavow,” he wrote.

Rubio and Cruz piled on Trump for not repudiating Duke and the Klan sooner.

“We caot be a party that nominates someone who refused to condemn white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan,” Rubio tweeted.

“Really sad. (Donald Trump) you’re better than this,” Cruz added on Twitter. “We should all agree, racism is wrong. KKK is abhorrent.”

Jody David Armour, a USC law professor, said Trump has eschewed “dog whistle politics” — a term for using coded language and images that are covertly racist — and has instead engaged in direct language, emboldening racists.

“When you do have the KKK in your coer and you don’t denounce them and distance yourself from them immediately, then it does seem you are allowing back into American politics something we thought had been left behind,” Armour said.

He added that Trump built his campaign on anti-immigration rhetoric, supported the halt of Muslim immigrants into the country and has used demeaning language toward women.

In Armour’s opinion, the country is now at a pivotal moment in history, especially if Trump wins the nomination at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

“It will be an election for the soul of the nation,” Armour said.

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