Christian Picciolini used to be a skinhead, so he’s quite familiar with the rhetoric neo-Nazis use in order to recruit  young members into the extremist fold. And he says that same coded language and imagery is now being used by Donald Trump.

In an interview with the Times of Israel, Picciolini recalled how he was first recruited into Chicago Area SkinHeads when he was only 14: He was in an alley, smoking a joint, when he was approached by Clark Martell, leader of the group, who took the joint from his mouth and informed him smoking weed was what “communists and Jews want you to do to keep you docile.” Picciolini said Martell’s message had an appeal to an impressionable teen:

“At the time I was at my most vulnerable, I was breaking free from my parents’ influence. For me it was a sense of belonging, a sense of something noble.”

Picciolini was soon fed massive amounts of propaganda, and much of what he was told can be seen today in the language used by President-elect Donald Trump:

“I was told diversity is a code for white genocide. I was told Latinos were bringing drugs into neighborhoods. I was told Jewish people controlled the media and our banking systems.”

Those same ideas have been used by Trump to make hatred mainstream, Picciolini is convinced:

“I think people are being absolutely complacent,” Picciolini said. “People are hopeful, and I understand that, but I for one am not giving him the benefit of the doubt.”

Take a look at the people Trump has surrounded himself with, Picciolino told the Times of Israel. That alone tells you what Trump’s true intentions are:

“There is no track record of him or anyone surrounding him of understanding what makes this country great, and so we must be extremely vigilant. I know how they think. I was one of them.”

Here’s more with Christian Picciolini:

This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org