Washington Free Beacon editor Matthew Continetti addressed the charges of racism being traded between presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Friday night on The Kelly File.
Continetti said Trump's outreach to minorities was an effort to bring back disaffected white voters who are listening to Clinton's message that Trump is racially biased.
"Both candidates are trying to solidify their bases, and Donald Trump's minority outreach is actually about trying to maintain hold of the Republican Party, which is made up a lot of white voters," he said. "What we're seeing in the polls right now is voters with college degrees are really running away from Donald Trump, precisely because of this issue of race and prejudice."
The so-called "alt-right" fringe movement that has lined up behind Trump has given Clinton a effective wedge to drive between Trump and the college-educated white voters Republicans need to win national victories, Continetti argued.
He pointed to Trump's decision to make Breitbart chairman Stephen Bannon the "CEO" of the campaign.
"I think he's definitely getting the support of a lot of these online critics that are called the alt-right," Continetti said. "They see this as their moment ... It's given Hillary Clinton a great way to drive a wedge between Trump and those college-eduated white voters that he needs to bring back into the Republican coalition if he has any hope of winning this election."