White-power groups banding together, but for how long?

Associated Press

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.

White extremists, almost by nature, are seldom good at working together.

Creating consensus among white nationalists, neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klansmen and the like is akin to herding rattlesnakes, given the caustic personalities often involved. Members typically get mad at each other and split, sometimes within days, resulting in the near-constant creation of new groups and a churning of both leaders and followers.

That’s why it’s something of a surprise that an alliance of white-power groups born in a KKK bar in Georgia is marking its first birthday. Comprised of multiple extremist groups, the Nationalist Front had its anniversary April 22.

Similarly, six Klan organizations from around the country announced a consolidation last month.

The common goal, as these alliances see it, is protecting the white race at a time when the Census Bureau projects whites will be a minority within three decades.

Watchdog groups that track hate organizations aren’t impressed. They say the Nationalist Front now lists 11 member groups, about half the number it had when it was formed.

“These things never last,” said Heidi Beirich, director of the hate-monitoring Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Beirich said that while white supremacists have been emboldened by President Donald Trump’s election, such groups have been trying on and off for decades to merge, generally to appear larger than they really are.

But leaders say there’s a difference this time: A spokesman for the Nationalist Front, Matthew Heimbach, said U.S. nationalists are trying to follow the example of far-right European groups that have learned to work together rather than bicker over ideology, theology and organizational structure.

U.S. nationalist groups have cooperated on projects such as video presentations and propaganda strategies over the past year, Heimbach said, and they worked together to support white nationalist Richard Spencer when he spoke at Auburn University earlier this month.

Originally called the Aryan National Alliance, the Nationalist Front renamed itself and dropped its use of the swastika in an attempt to broaden its appeal.

Some robe-wearing KKK members who were initially part of the Nationalist Front dropped out, and some Klan groups are now consolidating to build membership and power.

The American Alliance of Klans formed during a meeting in rural Florida in March. More Klan groups have joined since, leaders say.