In yet another indictment of the consequences of the far right Trump administration, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has documented the highest ever number of active hate groups in the U.S., in its annual report the matter.

According to the watchdog organization, "the number of radical groups operating in the country reached a record of 1,020 in 2018," an increase for a fourth consecutive year - that is, since Donald Trump decided to himself in the country's politics.

"These are groups that have been especially spurred by Trump's speech," said Heidi Beirich, SPLC's Intelligence Project Director, during the presentation of her annual hate crimes report.

"Trump has unleashed the demons," she added.

According to the report, 2018 witnessed the highest ever number of extremist groups operating in the country. Over the last four years, such groups have increased by 30 percent; by contrast, during the Obama administration, "the number decreased during three consecutive years."

The increase in these figures and the "validation" granted by the president's rhetoric to these types of positions are directly related, Beirich explained.

"Trump makes people feel that this country is changing dangerously," said Beirich.

She also accused the Republican base and some right-wing media of amplifying his message. 

"They are feeding the beast," she noted.

In its analysis, the SPLC ties together Trump's rhetoric, his administration's policies, and far-right media, as mass disseminators of hatred and "hysteria over losing a white-majority nation to demographic change," NPR explained.

Under the definition of a hate group as "an organization that, based on its official statements or principles, the statements of its leaders, or its activities - has beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people typically for their race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity,” SLPC has identified 1,020 active organizations nationwide, ranging from" white supremacists to black nationalists; from neo-Nazis to neo-confederates," USA Today reported.

This article includes information from EFE.