April McCullum

Free Press Staff Writer

A white nationalist super PAC claims to have called every consumer landline phone in Vermont in support of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Several residents reported the calls to the Burlington Free Press on Wednesday evening.

The robo-call features William Daniel Johnson, chairman of the white nationalist American Freedom Party. The American National Super PAC paid for the message.

Johnson warned in the message of “gradual genocide against the white race."

“Donald Trump is not a racist, but Donald Trump is not afraid. Don’t vote for a Cuban," Johnson said, in reference to Republican presidential candidates Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. "Vote for Donald Trump.”

The call is unaffiliated with the Trump campaign.

Trump, the frontrunner in the Republican presidential primary, told CNN in January that he would “disavow” similar white nationalist messages sent to Iowa voters, but understood anger about illegal immigration.

Trump has embraced racially charged language on the campaign trail by claiming that Mexico is sending rapists and criminals across the border and calling for a stop to Muslim immigration.

Johnson said in an interview that he sent the one-minute calls to every consumer landline in Vermont, regardless of political affiliation. The ad cost about $5,000, he said.

The white nationalist group planned to send a similar message to Minnesota residents Thursday.

Johnson said the response from Vermonters has been overwhelmingly negative.

“Iowa was more receptive to our message, compared to Vermont,” Johnson said. “I thought Vermont probably would not be receptive to the message, so I thought I would try that just to get a feeling.”

A recent Vermont Public Radio/Castleton Polling Institute poll showed Trump leading the Republican presidential field in Vermont, where primary elections will be held March 1.

Listen to the white nationalist robo-call here:

Contact April Burbank at 802-660-1863 or aburbank@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AprilBurbank.