"Trump invokes KKK slogan 'love it or leave it' at North Carolina rally"
"If they don’t love it, tell them to leave it" - that was US President Donald Trump’s message about four Democratic congresswomen at a rally in North Carolina, where supporters called for one of four female politicians - who was born overseas - to be “sent back”.
“Let ’em leave,” Mr Trump said of the four women. “They’re always telling us how to run it, how to do this, how to do that. You know what? If they don’t love it, tell ’em to leave it.”
But the ‘love it or leave it’ line is an eerily familiar slogan of the Klu Klux Klan in North Carolina, according to Australian National University US politics expert Jennifer Hunt.
Dr Hunt, who grew up in North Carolina, said the “Love it or Leave it” slogan was used by the KKK years ago when it claimed to be fighting “communism and integration”.
“I remember seeing signs as a child, ‘Welcome to Klan country … love it or leave it,” she told SBS News.
“Many of those good people didn’t leave North Carolina, they worked to improve it. And the white nationalists who remained didn’t relinquish their degenerate slogans and ideas, just their decent place in society.
“But when they’re ushered back in, that threatens the safety of us all.”
Mr Trump’s rally cries came on the back of days of criticism after he told the four women to “go back” to their countries of origin, although three of them were born in America.
When Mr Trump made the “love it or leave it” remark, the crowd responded enthusiastically back shouting, “leave it!”
Dr Hunt said such language would undoubtedly embolden white nationalists.
“They’re being brought in from the cold after a whole generation of being cast out of polite society and now they’re’ feeling empowered," she said."
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/trump-in...carolina-rally