Over the weekend, so-called white nationalists met in Washington, D.C., to discuss how they can “start influencing policy and culture.” Normally, it would be reasonable to greet this news with derision, to laugh it off. Grotesque hatred has always existed in the United States, but in recent years it has been relegated to the fringe, universally rejected by mainstream conservatives and liberals alike.

Today, however, it is different. This collection of haters has a champion of its own in the innermost circle of the Trump administration. Steve Bannon proudly declared that he transformed Breitbart News into the “platform” for groups he euphemistically describes as “alt-right.” As I have explained, alt-right is a misleading and sanitized way to describe white nationalism and white supremacism. It is a term that should not be used without a clear explanation of what it really means.

“ Trump’s campaign did not unite Americans; it emboldened white nationalists and white supremacists. ”

Richard Spencer, who helped popularize the deceptive “alt-right” label, spoke to the white-nationalist gathering over the weekend. He said his movement would be an “intellectual vanguard” for the Trump administration. He told his white audience that “America was until this past generation a white country designed for ourselves and our posterity. It is our creation, it is our inheritance, and it belongs to us.” He quoted Nazi propaganda in the original German. In closing remarks captured on video, Spencer exclaimed: “Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!” The video shows some audience members responding to Spencer’s remarks with their right arms extended in a Nazi salute.

Some observers dismiss Spencer and his acolytes as non-entities. Conservative New York Times columnist Ross Douthat observed that “200-odd people saying “heil (sorry “hail”) Trump is not a movement that’s about to usher in a new era of fascism.” Douthat is not arguing that this is irrelevant, but he suggests it’s a mistake to give Spencer’s ugly rhetoric and the Nazi salutes he inspired too much attention. In ordinary times, I’d agree. But Trump’s decision to name Bannon as a top adviser in the White House has emboldened Spencer and his followers to imagine that their abhorrent views can have an influence on public policy.

Some defend Trump by arguing it is absurd to connect him with anti-Semitism — after all, his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is Jewish, and his daughter converted to Judaism before she married Kushner. I am sure Trump wishes no ill upon his family members. But it is beyond dispute that Trump’s campaign activated and thrilled white nationalists, white supremacists and anti-Semites who flocked to his cause.

Neo-Nazi writer Andrew Anglin said before the election that “virtually every alt-right Nazi I know is volunteering for the Trump campaign.” This was no coincidence; it was a predictable response to Trump’s own racist and xenophobic statements about Mexican-Americans, Latinos, African-Americans and Muslims. Trump retweeted dozens of messages from white supremacist social media accounts, including an anti-Semitic image. He “dog-whistl[ed] to his anti-Semitic fan base” by making thinly veiled references that drew on anti-Semitic themes.

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The Anti-Defamation League issued a report last month on the anti-Semitic targeting of journalists during the presidential campaign. The report found that Jewish reporters, and reporters perceived to be Jewish, were “targeted relentlessly on social media” with “virulently anti-Semitic” messages, including references to the Holocaust and concentration camps. The ADL found evidence that Trump created “an environment in which journalists were targeted,” and that “a considerable number of the anti-Semitic tweets targeting journalists originate with people identifying themselves as Trump supporters, ‘conservatives’ or extreme right-wing elements.”

Whether or not Trump meant to do so, this is what he has unleashed: an awakening of white nationalists, white supremacists and anti-Semites who worked to elect him and now celebrate his victory. Trump has a golden opportunity to reject and denounce these supporters, to make clear that they will have no friends in his administration.

Instead, his transition team issued only a tepid statement after the Spencer event last weekend, saying “President-elect Trump has continued to denounce racism of any kind, and he was elected because he will be a leader for every American. To think otherwise is a complete misrepresentation of the movement that united Americans from all backgrounds.”

Trump’s campaign did not unite Americans; it emboldened white nationalists and white supremacists. He ought to endorse the reaction of the Holocaust Museum, which issued a statement saying it is “deeply alarmed at the hateful rhetoric at a conference of white nationalists [the Spencer event] held on November 19 at the Ronald Reagan Building just blocks from the Museum.”

The museum’s statement noted that some of Spencer’s comments “closely echoe[d] Adolf Hitler’s view of Jews and that history is a racial struggle for survival.” The statement concluded by observing: “The Holocaust did not begin with killing; it began with words. The Museum calls on all American citizens, our religious and civic leaders, and the leadership of all branches of the government to confront racist thinking and divisive hateful speech.”

This is not a partisan matter, or at least it shouldn’t be. It is a question of speaking out against those who see Nazi rhetoric and salutes as something to be emulated. It is a matter of telling American Jews and other minority groups that they are not alone, that elected officials and other leaders stand beside them and share their outrage.

Some conservatives, to their immense credit, recognize this. Presidential candidate Evan McMullin tweeted this: “To my fellow conservatives: let us not leave it to the left alone to condemn these white supremacist Trump allies.” McMullin has struck precisely the right tone, and made exactly the right point.

The question now is: Who is with him? Will elected Republicans speak up? Will Trump himself make clear that Spencer and his supporters crossed a line and must be specifically denounced by responsible leaders? So far, the prevailing response has been silence. One hopes that will change.

Chris Edelson is an assistant professor of government in American University’s School of Public Affairs. His latest book, “Power Without Constraint: The Post 9/11 Presidency and National Security,” was published in May 2016 by the University of Wisconsin Press.