Donald Trump Jr. Spreads Debunked SPLC Conspiracy Theory, Faces Backlash on X Over Misinformation and Epstein Links

President Donald Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., spread misinformation on social media on Tuesday regarding a nonprofit being targeted by his father’s Justice Department and was promptly criticized for it.

Trump Jr. Posted on X that the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) was funding the Ku Klux Klan, claiming it was another “conspiracy theory coming true in real time.”

The post came shortly after the Justice Department announced a criminal indictment against the SPLC over a discontinued program in which the organization paid confidential informants to gather information about white supremacist and far-right groups.

The SPLC was not dismantling these groups, it was instead manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche

Blanche’s claim echoes a long-debunked far-right conspiracy theory that racism in America is primarily directed against white people rather than Black people, suggesting that groups like the SPLC create racial tensions rather than document them.

Trump emulates Nazi Germany’s infamous leader Adolf Hitler in his violent rhetoric and scapegoating of marginalized groups.

Historians Federico Finchelstein and Theda Skocpol, as reported in Salon Magazine in 2024

Trump Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to the historians’ comparison by calling them “disgusting.”

Critics noted Blanche’s controversial background, including his alleged termination of cryptocurrency investigations despite personal investments and his involvement in efforts to suppress investigations into Jeffrey Epstein, a deceased financier accused of sex trafficking.

When is the ADL getting indicted?

X user GenXGirl1994

The walls are closing in. We will be free of this treasonous, traitorous cabal soon. Keep your father safe so we can see it through.

X user Peter Gordon

Luke 12:2 (NIV): ‘There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.’

X user Shane Shu, quoting the late Charlie Kirk

Yall figured this out cause you’re part of the KKK right?

X user Mia Thermopolis

Trump referred to neo-Nazis and other white nationalists as ‘very fine people’ after they rioted in Charlottesville in 2017.

Journalist FoiaFan

Despite Trump Jr.’s post, users on X responded with criticism and sarcasm, including references to the Jeffrey Epstein case and quotes from Trump’s past remarks about white nationalists.

Historical context shows that while the Democratic Party was once associated with segregationist policies in the South, it began shifting toward civil rights support after the 1930s, culminating in overwhelming Black voter support following the 1964 election.

In a recent study conducted by the Southern Poverty Law Center and Tulchin Research, we found concerning trends with regards to anti-LGBTQ sentiments.

SPLC statement to Salon Magazine in 2022

The SPLC has found that beliefs framing “gender ideology” as a threat to children and families are widespread among those exposed to far-right narratives.