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Last November, a week after Donald Trump was elected President, I spoke on the phone with a fifty-five-year-old divorced college graduatehe declined to specify his alma materwho had been working as a construction manager in Sacramento, California. The man, who identified himself as James Zarth, said that he was Grand Klaliff, or second in command, of the California realm of the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, a subgroup of the notorious white-supremacist group, which, according to a recent estimate from the Southern Poverty Law Center , has five or six thousand members in the United States. Previously a member of the White Aryan Resistance and various skinhead groups, Zarth said that he joined the K.K.K. when Barack Obama first became President. I did a lot of soul-searching, Zarth told me in November. At first, I thought it was a hate group. Id been a skinhead for a long time, but I figured out that a lot of them are just into drugs and violencetheyre not helping their own race. The K.K.K. is one of the only white-nationalist organizations thats family-oriented and looking out for white rights.

Zarth crudely articulated the many things that he and the K.K.K. hoped and expected that Trump would do for white nationalists. I had been put in touch with him by James Spears, a Great Titan of the Loyal White Knights, whod responded to a message that I sent to a general-inquiry address listed on the groups Web site. (The site has since been removed.) I sent the e-mail after learning about a Trump victory parade that the Knights were planning to hold the following monththe first parade theyd had cause to hold in eight years, Zarth saidat a then undisclosed location in Pelham, North Carolina. The planned parade had been widely reported in the media, and I aimed to write about what went down. But the night before it was set to take place, at a pre-rally gathering, the leader of the California chapter stabbed another member of the group ; he and another Loyal White Knight were arrested. The parade the next day amounted to chants of white power yelled from a few dozen cars. Even the simple task of carrying out a highly publicized parade to celebrate President-elect Trumps victory turned into a farce , the S.P.L.C. wrote. It had been evident for a while that many white supremacists liked TrumpEvan Osnos had reported on this for The New Yorker in the summer of 2015 and the failed rally didnt seem to merit the attention that the K.K.K. obviously craved. My editor suggested that the reporting Id done could come in handy down the road. We shelved the piece for the time being.

Ive been thinking about that conversation with Zarth all week, ever since white supremacists descended on Charlottesville, Virginia , and one of them allegedly killed a counter-protester, Heather Heyer, with his car, injuring nearly twenty others. After Trumps press conference on Tuesday , in which the President of the United States equated the mostly peaceful counter-protest with the Nazi-themed violence and Klan-style rhetoric of the other side, I pulled out my audio recorder and listened to Zarths words again.

I noticed something was going wrong in America decades ago, Zarth told me. He mentioned the TV shows Father Knows Best, Andy Griffith, The Brady Bunch, and Little House on the Prairie. Usually, those shows had a Christian moral, he said. But now that the Jews own the majority of the media stations, theyre showing things that are against Gods law, like race-mixing and homosexuality. He pointed to Americas diverse population as its primary source of violence and conflict. We advocate for living separately within America. We are a benevolent, fraternal, Christian, white-civil-rights organization, he claimed. We are for family and for God. We see our race and our heritage going away and being harmed by intermixing with these mongrel races. It has to stop.

He added, I think we now have a President with some of the same ideals. He insisted that the Loyal White Knights had been growing since Trumps victory. When I asked him for specifics, he replied, I cant give out exact numbersthats why were called the invisible empire. But I can tell you this: since Trump has been elected, people have been calling us left and right wanting to join, from all walks of life. The claim was difficult to fact-check. In February, the S.P.L.C. published a report asserting that the number of operating U.S. hate groups rose from eight hundred and ninety-two, in 2015, to nine hundred and seventeen, in 2016. The radical right was energized by the candidacy of Donald Trump, the report read.

Zarth, not surprisingly, listed illegal immigration, welfare reform, and the loss of manufacturing jobs as issues that Trump was getting right, and he said that he liked Trumps politically incorrect talk. He doesnt have a filter between his brain and mouth, Zarth said. Its hurt him a couple times. But I believe everything hes saidincluding being a Christianis true. Hes not a politician. People voted him in because they are tired of the same old establishment. We want a person we can relate to. When I asked how, exactly, he related to a self-proclaimed billionaire from New York, Zarth responded, Hes a white Christian man. Zarth seemed unfamiliar with Steve BannonI think hell make a good senior adviser was all he could muster about himand he had no idea who Reince Priebus was. Some of his positions were surprising; he expressed a concern for the environment, for instance, and professed a belief in global warming. But slowing the destruction of the earth was not, for Zarth or the K.K.K., an urgent issue.

He told me how Will Quigg, the leader of the Loyal White Knights, had made headlines in March, 2016, when he said that he was endorsing Hillary Clinton. Quigg tweeted after Trumps victory that hed been using reverse psychology . When you have a group with the stigma of the K.K.K. endorsing a candidate, Zarth said, of course the candidate is going to disavow, because its going to make people think hes a racist. Thats why we stopped endorsing Trump. If these other white-nationalist organizations and people were thinking straight, they would have never endorsed Trump, either. They should have kept it to themselves.

Zarth claimed to disapprove of hate crimes, including those that had already occurred after Trumps election. He spoke at length about the supposed underreporting of black-on-white crime. When I asked him if there were any recent instances of white-on-black violence that he condemned, he thought for a moment, then mentioned Dylann Roof , the young white killer of nine black parishioners at a Charleston, South Carolina church, in June, 2015. When he went and shot and killed those people in church, I did not agree with that, Zarth said. If he had that in his mind, that he wanted to go out and kill some negroeswe do not want people to go out and do that, Zarth said. He added, But if he would have went down to a drug neighborhood and shot a whole bunch of drug dealers and criminals, felons, I would not have felt as bad. But he should not have went to a church and killed those people while they were praying to their God, whatever God that may be.

Just then, Zarth received a call on another phone, and his ringtone, a few notes from Lynyrd Skynyrds Sweet Home Alabama, played. I asked him if he and the K.K.K. really had complete confidence in Trump. He could fall back and not do any of his campaign promises now that hes in there, Zarth said. Hes already softened up his stance on Muslims. But I dont think theres a chance of him softening all the way.

This week, I talked to Adam Domby, a professor of Southern history at the College of Charleston, about what he thought had changed for white supremacists since Trumps election. We need to acknowledge that these beliefs have always been here and are not on the fringe, he said. Now people are just being open about it. They have taken off their hoods and are lighting their faces up for all to see with tiki torches. Thats a feeling of empowerment beyond measurement. No longer are they embarrassed or fearful of repercussions. In part, they see their views as validated by the election.

I called Zarth back, too, a day after the rally in Charlottesville. I wanted to know if this is what Zarth had hoped for, if this violence was a kind of fulfillment for him and the Klan. A woman who would not identify herself answered the phone. At first, she claimed that she didnt know who Zarth was. Then she said that she simply didnt know where he was. When I pressed her about his feelings about the state of things, referring to the violence in Charlottesville specifically and the matter of race relations more generally, she said, Hes happy.

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What a White Supremacist Told Me After Donald Trump Was Elected - The New Yorker

Hicks, who came into Trump's orbit via work she did for his daughter, Ivanka, has been with him since the first day of his presidential campaign. She, along with then-campaign-manager Corey Lewandowski and social media guru Dan Scavino -- as well as the Trump family -- have always been on the innermost branches of the Trump trust tree.

To understand fully what Hicks' elevation to communications director -- even on an interim basis -- signals about Trump's mentality, consider who she follows in the job. (And remember: Outside -- maybe -- of his chief of staff, Trump views the communications director as the most important staff job in his White House. He is uniquely focused on the media and how they portray him.)

"With the appointment, which a White House official confirmed Friday, President Trump is reaching outside his circle of trusted campaign aides to try to bolster his messaging operation....

As word of Dubke's hiring trickled out, however, some Trump loyalists chafed at the idea of recruiting an establishment Republican operative with ties to strategist Karl Rove and other forces they see as having been hostile to Trump's candidacy."

The job then sat open until late last month, when Trump brought on Anthony Scaramucci, a friend and fellow New York City guy to run the press shop. The hiring of Scaramucci was regarded as a sign that Trump was throwing over the guidance of his DC advisers -- Priebus and Spicer were both vehemently opposed to the Mooch's hiring; Spicer quit as a result -- in favor of the New York-based team that he had always trusted more.

Scaramucci had to be fired -- and Trump acquiesced to new chief of staff John Kelly's request to do so.

But the promotion of Hicks is an indication that Trump has zero interest in reconsidering his decision to seed many of the top positions in his White House with unquestioning loyalists.

If anything, Hicks is even more of a Trump devotee than Scaramucci; while he would occasionally acknowledge that the president, who he routinely said he "loved," might have done something less than perfectly, Hicks is not willing to do even that. She is for Trump: First, last and always.

That's who Trump wants around him. He wants to shoot the bull with his aides. But, at the end of the day, he wants them to say "Yes, boss, you're right." That's the way you stay in Trump's good graces. And Hicks has never been out of those good graces.

Hicks has a very light public profile for a communications director. She rarely does interviews, much less on-camera. That makes it hard to know just how influential she is on Trump's thinking. Or whether she is willing to confront him when she disagrees.

What Hicks' promotion also signals is a recognition of something anyone paying attention has known for a while now: Donald Trump is the real -- and only -- communications director. If past is prologue, Hicks will carry out Trump's wishes without complaint or contradiction. He will dictate the how, whether and whys of White House messaging without any resistance now.

Which is what Trump has always wanted. Now he has it. But, getting what you want is almost always less satisfying than you thought it would be.

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Donald Trump is the White House communications director now - CNN

Photo President Trump speaking to reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower in Manhattan on Tuesday. Talking about the removal of Confederate monuments, he said, I wonder, is it George Washington next week? Early this morning, the city of Baltimore took down several Confederate monuments. Credit Al Drago for The New York Times

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Heres what you need to know:

White supremacists rejoice.

Thank you President Trump for your honesty & courage to tell the truth, David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan leader, said on Twitter on Tuesday.

Trumps statement was fair and down to earth, tweeted another white nationalist leader who participated in last weekends demonstrations in Charlottesville, Va.

Their remarks came after a wild shouting match of a news conference during which the president again blamed both sides for the deadly violence, equating activists protesting racism with neo-Nazis and white supremacists. (Read and watch Mr. Trumps comments here.)

What about the alt-left? he asked. Heres an answer.

After adopting a unifying tone on Monday, saying that racism is evil, the president reverted to a more familiar Trump approach on Tuesday, our White House correspondents write.

Costs of letting the health law fail.

President Trump has threatened to end some subsidies to insurance companies as part of a strategy to let Obamacare implode. We looked at what would happen if he did.

Premiums for the most popular insurance plans would shoot up 20 percent next year, and the federal budget deficit would increase $194 billion in the coming decade, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said on Tuesday.

G.O.P. runoff in Alabama primary.

Roy Moore, a former chief justice of the State Supreme Court, will face Senator Luther Strange, who was appointed to fill the seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and who is backed by President Trump.

The Republican runoff is Sept. 26.

A city turned to mud.

Rain in Freetown, Sierra Leone, caused mudslides that killed hundreds and left many more missing or homeless.

The Daily, your audio news report.

On todays show, we discuss President Trumps tense news conference on Tuesday.

Listen on a computer, an iOS device or an Android device.

A ceiling-fan manufacturer in Lexington, Ky., offers proof that obituaries for American manufacturing are premature.

But as the Trump administration begins renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, company executives worry about potential new impediments to trade.

Airlines have a dress code, of sorts. Dressing up could increase your chances of an upgrade.

U.S. stocks were mixed on Tuesday. Heres a snapshot of global markets.

Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life.

Maybe you dont need iodized salt.

Recipe of the day: If you have a pressure cooker, put it to work with this excellent black bean soup.

Can algorithms fly a plane?

In todays 360 video, take to the skies with a glider, built by Microsoft, that is guided by artificial intelligence.

Microsoft is building an autonomous glider guided by artificial intelligence, part of an effort to help machines make decisions when faced with uncertainty.

Bhutan holds its breath.

China and India the worlds two most populous nations have taken their battle for regional dominance to the remote kingdom of Bhutan, evoking memories of their bloody conflict in 1962.

There are fears that ambition and nationalism could lead them to war again, but with more firepower at their disposal.

A whiskey crusade.

When Jack Daniels backed away from a pledge to recognize the Tennessee slave who had taught its founder to distill, a writer came to town and took up the cause.

Roaming horses versus modernity.

Since medieval times, the people of Galicia, in northwestern Spain, have ritually rounded up the horses that roam in the wild.

But like many traditions, the roundup is colliding with modern rules and sensibilities. Animal rights activists say the ritual mistreats horses.

Modern society is losing a way of life that has kept us and animals in harmony, one rancher told our correspondent.

Have you seen this?

Eight little cultural touchstones including a TV scene, a building, a pizza and a painting worth your time.

Best of late-night TV.

Looking to England, Jimmy Kimmel suggested a new title for President Trump: king.

Quotation of the day.

After all, its not what the president thinks or says America is bigger than that, greater than that.

Hani Ali, 35, an accountant from Sudan who was sworn in as an American citizen on Tuesday in Manhattan.

On this day in 1930, a dancing frog set a new standard in animation.

Fiddlesticks, featuring Flip the Frog, was a stand-alone cartoon with synchronized sound. (Watch it here.)

Music was already widely used to accompany animations; some of the more laborious animations were even in color. And there had been steps toward combining the two features.

In Germany, Lotte Reinigers character silhouettes of the 1920s used changing background colors to create atmospheric scenes. In the U.S., King of Jazz in 1930 featured a short color animation with synchronized sound.

In Fiddlesticks, Flip the Frog tap-dances his way through a world of merry animals, but then is moved to tears as he plays the piano alongside a violin-playing rodent that resembles Mickey Mouse.

The animation was released by Ub Iwerks, who had helped produce Mickey Mouse, shortly after he left Walt Disneys growing enterprise. The Flip franchise ended in 1933, and Mr. Iwerks returned to work at Disney.

But he never stopped innovating.

His obituary noted that he invented a panoramic camera arrangement. Imagine his excitement if he could see todays 360-degree cartoons.

Patrick Boehler contributed reporting.

_____

Photographs may appear out of order for some readers. Viewing this version of the briefing should help.

Your Morning Briefing is published weekdays at 6 a.m. Eastern and updated on the web all morning. You can browse through past briefings here.

What would you like to see here? Contact us at briefing@nytimes.com.

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Donald Trump, Luther Strange, Sierra Leone: Your Wednesday Briefing - New York Times

Under the proposal, Britain would quit the actual customs union, but seek to temporarily join an almost identical accord. That would allow the country to sign but not put into effect trade deals with other partners. (Heres the full text.)

The British government hopes the proposal will bring two years of stability for businesses post-Brexit, but theres concern about additional red tape. Today, the government is set to unveil a plan for the delicate subject of the Irish border.

_____

Our Cairo bureau chief delves into the strange twists, betrayals and secrets in the case of Giulio Regeni, an Italian graduate student who was tortured and murdered in Egypt last year.

Former U.S. officials said that the U.S. had informed the Italian government of incontrovertible evidence that an Egyptian security agency, which they did not name, was behind Mr. Regenis murder and that the leadership in Cairo was fully aware of the circumstances around his death.

This morning, several Italian newspapers carried Italian government denials that evidence had been passed on to Rome.

_____

Hundreds of people remain missing after deadly flooding and mudslides in Sierra Leone. At a morgue in Freetown, the capital, a resident said he was given a mask and led past hundreds of bodies to look for his 10 missing relatives. He could not find them.

Separately, suicide bombers killed at least 20 people in Nigeria, some at a camp for people displaced by the fight against the Boko Haram militant group.

Meanwhile, mayhem among armed militias is spreading in the Central African Republic. Aid groups warned that they may be forced to leave amid attacks on civilians.

_____

Finally, our correspondent in Spain talked to ranchers in Galicia, who since medieval times have ritually rounded up their horses in the summer, letting them roam wild in the green forests and hills of northwestern Spain for the rest of the year.

But tougher regulations and higher costs have forced some to abandon keeping horses in the wild. Animal rights activists say the roundups cause unnecessary stress to the wild animals, and should end.

Modern society is losing a way of life that has kept us and animals in harmony, one rancher said.

As talks begin on the renegotiatiation of Nafta, heres a look at how the agreement changed trade between the U.S., Mexico and Canada. (For one, the cross-border supply chain made U.S. carmakers competitive with European manufacturers.) And heres a look at Canadas negotiating strategy.

The German government provided Air Berlin with a transitional loan to keep the carrier, the countrys second-largest, running after it had filed for insolvency. Ryanair, the budget airline, claimed that Air Berlin was being set up for a takeover by Lufthansa.

Heres a snapshot of global markets.

At least 13 people were killed in Madeira, Portugal, when a tree fell on a crowd that had gathered for a religious festival. [The New York Times]

Irans president, Hassan Rouhani, warned that the countrys nuclear program could be restarted in a matter of hours, if the U.S. government imposes further sanctions on Tehran. [The New York Times]

Italys government seeks tougher punishments for the promotion of fascism amid a resurgence of nativist sentiment. [Politico]

The British government said that its inquiry into the deadly Grenfell Tower in June would also look into the conduct of the local authorities in London. Yesterday, our correspondent explored the disconnect between the citys elite and its poor residents, which the tragedy highlighted. [The New York Times]

Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life.

Recipe of the day: Put your pressure cooker to work with this excellent black bean soup recipe.

Maybe dont buy that iodized salt.

How much should you invest in stocks?

Sam Sifton, our food editor, considers it a nearly sacred process: the slow, deliberative steps in the making of a pizza. And whether you call it a kaiser or a Vienna, heres an ode to the buttered bread roll, a distinctly New York City phenomenon with Central European roots.

Soccer: Zinedine Zidane, Real Madrids coach, was hopeful that Cristiano Ronaldos five-game ban would be overturned before a match against Barcelona today.

Maria Sharapova has been granted a wild-card entry into the U.S. Open, her first Grand Slam appearance since serving a 15-month suspension for doping.

In memoriam: Dr. Ruth Pfau, a German-born medical missionary who was hailed as the Mother Teresa of Pakistan, died at 87.

Children who sleep less may be at increased risk for Type 2 diabetes, researchers say.

Today in 1930, a dancing frog set a new standard in animation.

Fiddlesticks, featuring Flip the Frog, above, was a stand-alone cartoon with synchronized sound. (Watch it here.)

By that year, music had been widely used to accompany animations. Some of the more laborious animations were even in color. Then around 1930, those two features were combined.

In Germany, Lotte Reinigers character silhouettes of the 1920s used changing background colors to create atmospheric scenes. In the U.S., King of Jazz in 1930 featured a short color animation with synchronized sound.

In Fiddlesticks, Flip the Frog tap-dances his way through a world of merry animals, but then is moved to tears as he plays the piano alongside a violin-playing rodent that resembles Mickey Mouse.

The animation was released by Ub Iwerks, who had helped produce Mickey Mouse, shortly after he left Walt Disneys growing enterprise. The Flip franchise ended in 1933, and Mr. Iwerks returned to work at Disney.

But he never stopped innovating.

His obituary noted that he invented a panoramic camera arrangement. Imagine his excitement if he could see todays 360-degree cartoons.

_____

This briefing was prepared for the European morning. You can browse through past briefings here.

We also have briefings timed for the Australian, Asian and American mornings. You can sign up for these and other Times newsletters here.

Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings and updated online.

What would you like to see here? Contact us at europebriefing@nytimes.com.

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Donald Trump, 'Brexit,' Madeira: Your Wednesday Briefing - New York Times

Along with getting good grades and listening to their parents, LeBron James has encouraged kids in his foundation's educational program to stand up for their beliefs.

On Tuesday night, the superstar gave a lesson in how it's done.

Concluding a day of fun and games at an amusement park, James turned serious when speaking about the recent violence and tragedy in Charlottesville. James also took a pointed swipe at President Donald Trump, calling him the "so-called president."

While holding his young daughter, Zhuri, James stood on stage before an excited crowd of students, parents and others connected to the LeBron James Family Foundation and delivered his emotional message.

"I know there's a lot of tragic things happening in Charlottesville," James said to cap the annual event at Cedar Point amusement park. "I have this platform and I'm somebody that has a voice of command, and the only way for us to get better as a society and for us to get better as people is love. And that's the only way we're going to be able to conquer something as one."

Then, James, who endorsed Hillary Clinton last year and introduced her at a rally in Cleveland just two days before the election, went at Trump, whom he has criticized in the past.

"It's not about the guy that's the so-called president of the United States, or whatever the case. It's not about a teacher that you don't feel like cares about what's going on with you every day. It's not about people that you just don't feel like want to give the best energy and effort to you. It's about us. It's about us looking in the mirror. Kids all the way up to the adults. All of us looking in the mirror and saying, 'What can we do better to help change?' And if we can all do that and give 110 percent, then that's all you can ask for.

"So, shout-out to the innocent people in Charlottesville and shout-out to everybody across the world that just want to be great and just want to love. Thank you, and I love you all."

James' remarks ended a star-studded show that included pop stars Jordin Sparks and Usher as well as his Cavaliers' teammate J.R. Smith. They stood alongside him for his message along with his sons, Bronny and Bryce.

There had been a celebratory vibe all day, as James hosted nearly 7,000 of his foundation's students and their families, who strolled around the immense park best known for its roller-coasters wearing light blue T-shirts with "We Are Family" across the fronts.

It was as if James' hometown of Akron had all gone out together for the day, and that was exactly the point of the event to celebrate the successes of kids committed to making more of their lives.

Now in its sixth year, James' foundation has brought hope to children who might not have any otherwise. If the students meet certain criteria, stay in the program and graduate, they can receive full tuition to the University of Akron.

"That means everything," Latasha McCullough said as she sat with her husband, Arthur, and children Arlissa and Arsea while waiting for James to appear on stage.

The McCulloughs have been directly impacted by James and his work, and they're forever grateful.

"He doesn't have to do anything," Latasha said. "All he is responsible for are his kids, his family, go to work and provide for his, but he does it for his city. He does it for everybody, everybody's kids. All the things he didn't have growing up, he's giving it to our kids with no problem and he's not being selfish. It's constant and consistent, you earn what you get."

James has grown his foundation beyond its initial goals of tackling the city's drop-out rate. Next year, the charity will open the I Promise School, designed to help students who have already fallen behind and need extra attention.

Michelle Campbell, executive director of the LeBron James Family Foundation, is awed by what the group has accomplished.

James has led the way.

"It's never enough with him," she said. "He is always pushing, just like on the basketball court, pushing and pushing. I could have never imagined what we have done and are doing, but with his belief and what he wants to do and his drive and his ability to put all these partners around us. We can't fail.

"It started out with working with kids and changing a child, then OK, we got the family involved and we learned that some didn't have their high school diplomas, so we broke down those barriers. Now he's changing a whole community. He's uplifting this whole community, on his back."

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LeBron James calls Donald Trump the 'so-called president' - Chicago Tribune