The Southern Poverty Law Center has produced an exclusive report for the Washington Post detailing the rise of hate groups in 2015.
The number of hate groups in America spiked after President Obama was elected but stabilized in the following years. The number of hate groups surged again in 2015 for reasons that are probably obvious.
All 32 flavors of hate groups saw their ranks surge last year, but the KKK saw more recruitment than any of them.
The number of such groups spiked 14 percent in 2015, a year characterized by levels of polarization and anger perhaps unmatched since the political turmoil of 1968, the center said in the report on hate and extremism released exclusively to The Washington Post on Wednesday. [...]
The number of KKK chapters in America more than doubled from 2014 to 2015, rising from 72 to 190, according to the report. That growth was “invigorated” by several hundred pro-Confederate flag rallies, which largely channeled white anger over the group’s declining demographic and economic position, the group said.
The number of so-called "patriot" groups also increased by 14 percent in 2015 which the Southern Poverty Law Center says can largely be attributed to freeloading rancher Cliven Bundy and his militiamen.
Hate crimes against Muslims also increased last year. The Center apparently didn't speculate, but I will speculate that Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump is responsible for at least some portion of that.
If the record of extremist violence carried out under the previous Clinton administration is any indication, it's possible the situation will only continue to deteriorate if Hillary Clinton is elected as the next president. Something about the Clintons makes people's heads rotate 360 degrees just before they spit out pea soup, and not just on the Right.