Despite actively speaking out against hate crimes Donald Trump is being used by hate groups as a reason to speak out. Photo/Getty Images
Despite actively speaking out against hate crimes Donald Trump is being used by hate groups as a reason to speak out. Photo/Getty Images
Since the appointment of Donald Trump as president of the U.S. hate groups and crimes across the nation have reportedly surged.
60 Minutes reporter Liz Hayes interviewed members of the infamous Ku Klux Klan who are using the inauguration of Trump as a spring board to launch their message, according to Daily Mail.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson's name was brought up during Liz Hayes' visit to the Ku Klux Klan heartland in the mid-west.
Father Thomas Robb and his daughter Rachel Pendergraft run White Resistance News, a small TV show designated to "white nationalism".
In one of their segments they even discussed Australian politician Pauline Hanson.
"Even in Australia the political party known as One Nation seems to be gaining in popularity," they claimed during a broadcast on the 60 Minutes segment where they pictured Pauline Hanson.
Despite Donald Trump actively speaking out against hate crimes, speaking to Liz Hayes Rachel Pendergraft backed up the notion hate groups saw Donald Trump as a shining light.
"He helped legitimise this message," she told Liz Hayes.
"It gave people the courage to say, 'Hey, if he is able to become President of the United States, then that gives me the courage to tell my friends and my neighbours that I believe this or I believe that'."
"You can't call me names because the man that holds the highest office in the land, he shares the same concerns I do."
FBI figures show hate crimes have surged in 2015 against Muslims and Black Americans.
One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson was brought up on White Resistance News during the 60 Minutes interview. Photo/AAP
Speaking to Hayes, the Orange County branch of the Ku Klux Klan vetted the tiny little hotel room before conducting the interview.
The group leader the Grand Dragon claimed President Donald Trump had given them a voice.
"With Donald Trump as our president it has given the white people, especially the white Christian people a voice," he said.
Anti-violence activist Arno Michaelis was a founding member of the world's largest racist skinhead group, but has changed his views.
He said despite the increasing number of hate groups in the U.S. it won't last.
"Yes, hate groups are growing. But I believe as people as a human race I think that we are better than that and ultimately things will work themselves out," he said.
