Eddie Glaude Equates Trump Administration and White Nationalist Group

Siena Do
July 8th, 2026 3:17 PM

Text to Speech

00:00 00:00
Font Size

Over the weekend, a Reuters photo of a black woman sitting on the D.C. Metro amid masked members of a white nationalist group, The Patriot Front, went viral online. On Monday, MS NOW’s Symone Sanders-Townshend and guest, race hustler Eddie Glaude, jumped on that train (presumably not the one with the white nationalists) and eagerly equated Patriot Front with the Trump administration.

“Now, photos like this, they resonate with so many of us,” Sanders proclaimed. “And not because every day looks like that, to be clear, but because so many Americans, myself included, understand that feeling. That's the feeling of living in a country that we love, but also feeling the danger of being surrounded by people who do not believe that we belong.”

According to Glaude, the photo was “a kind of still representation of, in so many ways, the hatred that threatens to suffocate American democracy, the contradiction in full view. And, you know, Black women often are - should be considered, kind of, the load-bearing beam of this democracy.”

 

 

Sanders then referenced Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s statement:

He said, "There are plenty of things that I see that I might personally find offensive, reprehensible, but in America, free speech is allowed." He then went on to compare white nationalism to democratic socialism as comparable extreme viewpoints. 

Burgum actually compared the white nationalists to communists. However, Glaude immediately shot down the idea:

Well, Simone, I think, you know, in this country, and I feel this often that the country is more comfortable with the extremism on the right than with those who claim to be on the left. They are more comfortable with white nationalists and white supremacists than they are with folk who are advocating for workers, who are described as socialist and the like.

 

 

That’s an interesting statement, considering that several self-proclaimed socialists just won elections in New York, or that only a few years ago the entire country suffered through a billion dollars’ worth of damage from the fiery BLM rampages. Very few BLM rioters have been prosecuted and convicted, compared to how persistently the Biden administration hounded those who stepped foot near the Capitol on January 6th. The mainstream liberal networks certainly are more comfortable with extremists on the left - their shows are overrun with them.

“When we look at the assault on diversity, when we look at the assault on federal contracts across the board, affirmative action, across the board, what's the substantive difference between the Trump administration's policies and the position of the Patriot - of the Patriot Front?” Glaude asked. Later, he went on:

Trump and his followers, they want to be white without judgment. They want to be white without the judgment of history.

 

 

Apparently, in Glaude’s race-obsessed mind, every policy from the Trump administration he doesn't like makes them equivalent to a white nationalist group. Despite what the administration says, according to Glaude, just because they took a stand against promoting people just because of their skin color, they’re the racists continually oppressing black people.

The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:

MS NOW's The 11th Hour with Ali Velshi
7/6/26
11:45:52 p.m. Eastern

SYMONE SANDERS-TOWNSEND: This weekend, Americans gathered for the nation's 250th birthday. Families came together to barbecue, to watch fireworks and hit America's beaches and shores. 

In Washington, D.C. right down the street from where I am right now, the Patriot Front, a white nationalist organization that is designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, well, they were on the march. They covered their faces with masks, and they marched with a combination of U.S. and Confederate flags demanding a return to an America that is European in racial character. That's according to the group's manifesto.

Aboard the Washington Metro, a photographer captured this unforgettable scene. As Errin Haines wrote for the 19th News site, quotes, "Once again, a Black woman was captured in a moment where she must confront the worst of America with composure and become the mirror that shows the distance between who we are and who we say we are, or who we say, who we want to be as a country. We do not yet know the name or age of the woman in the visceral and now-viral photograph taken by Reuters photographer Cheney Orr. But we know the look on her face.”

Now, photos like this. They resonate with so many of us. And not because every day looks like that, to be clear, but because so many Americans, myself included, understand that feeling. 

That's the feeling of living in a country that we love, but also feeling the danger of being surrounded by people who do not believe that we belong. That is the tension that is central to the American story. And as we commemorate 250 years of this country, it's more important than ever to remember it. 

And we have someone here to help us have this conversation. The great professor, Eddie Glaude, is joining me now, of Princeton University. He's an MS NOW analyst, and his newest book is America, U.S.A.: How race shadows the nation's anniversaries.

Eddie, it's very good to see you. Let's be honest. We've seen striking photos like this one before, okay. 

Errin wrote about this in her article. She also cites this photo from 1957 of Elizabeth Eckford. She is walking past a racist mob to attend her first day at Little Rock High School. As well as this photo, this is from 2016 of Iesha Evans. She is facing down armed police at a protest in Baton Rouge over the death of Alton Sterling. What do you - what's the value of photos like these? It's more than just a viral moment.

EDDIE GLAUDE: First of all, it's great to see you, Symone.

I think, you know, whether it's Elizabeth Eckford in Little Rock Nine or Dorothy Counts in Charlotte, North Carolina, or this current photograph we see in this moment a kind of still representation of, in so many ways, the hatred that threatens to suffocate American democracy, the contradiction in full view. 

And, you know, black women often are - should be considered, kind of, the load-bearing beam of this democracy. They have to bear the weight of that contradiction. And these images capture it very clearly. 

And so here we are in the 250th year of the country, still grappling with, you know, the implications of the divided soul of the nation.

SANDERS-TOWNSEND: The Interior Secretary, Doug Burgum, he was actually the one Trump official who spoke about Patriot Front's march. We have yet to hear from the president or anybody else in the White House. He said, "There are plenty of things that I see that I might personally find offensive, reprehensible, but in America, free speech is allowed."

He then went on to compare white nationalism to democratic socialism as comparable extreme viewpoints. 

Now, professor, I don't know if the Interior Secretary needs a history lesson, but what does this response reveal about this particular administration and also, frankly, this particular time in our country?

GLAUDE: Well, Symone, I think, you know, in this country, and I feel this often that the country is more comfortable with the extremism on the right than with those who claim to be on the left. They are more comfortable with white nationalists and white supremacists than they are with folk who are advocating for workers, who are described as socialist and the like. 

Let's just be clear, the Interior Secretary was lying. He was lying about his commitment to free speech. 

We know the Trump administration. They're not supporters of free speech when it comes to Gaza. They're not supporters of free speech when it comes to anti-ICE protests or BLM. We know that. We've seen it. We see it in the courts as well. 

He's also lying because he says he finds 'certain things reprehensible.' 

And we need to call - we need to call the lies what they are. Well what - what's the substantive difference between the position of the Patriot Front and the policies of Stephen Miller and Donald Trump? The Patriot Front makes it very clear that immigration, multiculturalism, and diversity constitute existential threats to the - to America. They claim that they want a white ethnostate. Fascinating. When the asylum program was hit, how many South Afrikaners have been admitted compared to the rest of the world in this country?

Who are these folk from the Nordic countries as opposed to those people who are from the S-hole country? Why are they attacking Haitians in Springfield and across the country, 350,000 will be affected because of the Court's decision on TPS. 

When we look at the assault on diversity, when we look at the assault on federal contracts across the board, affirmative action, across the board, what's the substantive difference between the Trump administration's policies and the position of the Patriot - of the Patriot Front? 

And I think we need to call these people for who they are. The Trump administration seems to be in alignment with this white nationalist organization.

SANDERS-TOWNSEND: It's a very good question. The White House should answer some questions about this, yet they have yet to get around to answering MS NOW's questions. We're going to continue to ask them because the American people - black, white, Latino, Native American, Asian American, Pacific Islander, and otherwise - I think deserve answers. 

Can I get your feedback on this new White House report? It actually describes the Smithsonian Museums' leadership as “radical activists who can't be trusted,” suggesting that Trump may seek to replace them with his own. 

I think that that is a direct attack on the secretary of the Smithsonian, Mr. Lonnie Bunch, who has served admirably, I would argue. 

This instinct to try to rewrite history, I think, is not just about the past. I think it's about the future. What say you?

GLAUDE: I agree. I want to say this very clearly; Trump and his followers, they want to be white without judgment. They want to be white without the judgment of history. They want to believe that the country has in so many ways, its salvation was secured in its founding. 

And so what we find ourselves in is a kind of second Lost Cause, an assault on the very stories we tell. An assault on the very histories we tell on how we see and what we come to know. Right? 

And so this epistemic violence that is - that this assault on the very ways in which we acquire knowledge is absolutely critical to releasing them from judgment. Right?

So I think it's really important for us to understand the first Lost Cause had a history that retold the story of Reconstruction, that allowed for the justification - that allowed a justification for the subordination of black folk. 

And here we are in a moment where you have an assault on history. To what? Allow for a justification for the kind of world that these folk want to create. And that is a world, again, that's in alignment with the Patriot Front.

SANDERS-TOWNSEND: Eddie Glaude, Princeton University professor and MS NOW analyst. And my friend, thank you very, very much.

Donor Privacy Policy