In a video on his website Friday, former Klu Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate in Louisiana, saying he would fight the “ethnic cleansing” of white people. He praised Donald Trump for adopting his platform of “America First,” and cited The New York Times in saying that his policies have become the Republican mainstream.
“We must stop the massive immigration and ethnic cleansing of the people whose ancestors created America,” Duke declared. He argued that “thousands of special interest groups stand up for African Americans, Mexican Americans, Jewish Americans, et cetera et cetera,” but whites have no representation.
“The fact is that European Americans need one man in the United States Senate, one man in the Congress who will defend their rights and heritage,” Duke argued. He firmly denounced affirmative action, touting that he “passed the only bill in America” forbidding such programs, as they “racially discriminate.”
The former KKK leader hit on many Trump talking points, from “America first,” to fair trade, to opposition to campaign finance. “It’s time to end all political pac money and the control of politics by the oligarchs of finance and media,” he declared, blending the conspiracy fear-mongering of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump.
He even included a tribute to the New York style of Trump and Sanders, saying, “We must enforce anti-trust laws to break up the anti-American yuge media conglomerates [emphasis added].”
“I’m overjoyed to see Donald Trump and most Americans embraced most of the ideas that I have championed for years,” he concluded.
While Trump disavowed Duke in March of this year, his issues do mimic those of the former Klan leader.
Duke’s emergence in the Louisiana Senate race threatens to reinforce the narrative that The Donald has brought out racial hatred throughout his campaign. Many liberal outlets has been pushing the idea that the Republican Party is racist, and now they have their exhibit A, even stronger than Donald Trump.
In his Senate announcement speech, Duke referenced a New York Times article from December 2014, which argued that “much of” his 1991 campaign is now in the Louisiana mainstream.
The article quoted Jason Doré, the executive director of the Louisiana Republican Party, who said Mr. Duke forced the party to campaign for the Democrat in the 1991 gubernatorial race, Edwin Edwards. Duke served in Congress from 1989 to 1992, and lost the race to Edwards.
Doré insisted, as is historically correct, that the Republican Party and the conservative movement had supported limited government since long before Duke. “We already supported a safety net over an entitlement mentality. David Duke did not invent this. He probably co-opted it.”
Next Page: So is the Republican Party supporting Duke?
As in 1991, the Louisiana GOP is opposing Duke in the Senate race this year. Roger Villere, chairman of the Republican Party of Louisiana, made his position perfectly clear. “The Republican Party opposes, in the strongest possible terms, David Duke’s candidacy for any public office,” Villere said in a statement.
“The party of Lincoln and Reagan is one that recognizes the inherent value of every human life, regardless of age, religion or race. David Duke’s history of hate marks a dark stain on Louisiana’s past and has no place in our current conversation. The Republican Party of Louisiana will play an active role in opposing David Duke’s candidacy.”
Ward Baker, executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), a group which focuses on electing Republicans to the U.S. Senate, also opposed Duke.
We will not support David Duke. Several GOP candidates in LA will have a great impact on our country. He is not one of them. #LASEN
— Ward Baker (@WardBaker) July 22, 2016
Nevertheless, his emergence in this Senate race threatens to confirm the Democratic pipe-dream of identifying conservative positions with racism. This has been a threat in Donald Trump’s campaign, but is even worse with Duke in the race. Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission for the Southern Baptist Convention, expressed his horror at Duke’s emergence and he chillingly compared it with the rise of Donald Trump in the Republican Party. He warned about the moral relativism which promoted Duke in the past, hinting at a connection with the moral relativism which leads many Christian conservatives to support Trump. Pay attention to his reference to “pro-life jurists.”
1.) As an 18 year-old, I watched the rise of David Duke, with horror and disbelief. — Russell Moore (@drmoore) July 22, 2016
2.) I saw people I had previously respected degrade themselves with moral relativism in their support for him.
— Russell Moore (@drmoore) July 22, 2016
3.) “He’s not KKK anymore; he’s repentant,” they said. “At least he’s not Edwards.” “He’ll vote for/appoint pro-life jurists.” — Russell Moore (@drmoore) July 22, 2016
4.) “He’s not racist,” they said. “He’s just talking about law and order and welfare and borders.”
— Russell Moore (@drmoore) July 22, 2016
5.) These people never recovered their witness. — Russell Moore (@drmoore) July 22, 2016
6.) And now he’s back, once again, running for US Senate. God have mercy.
— Russell Moore (@drmoore) July 22, 2016
7.) The biggest problem, though, was not David Duke. It was the moral relativism of his supporters, and the silence of those afraid of them. — Russell Moore (@drmoore) July 22, 2016
8.) A conscience is a terrible thing to sear.
— Russell Moore (@drmoore) July 22, 2016
Duke does indeed represent a threat to the Republican Party, and Louisiana Republicans and their national counterparts are wise to reject him. While he may be right in opposing affirmative action, his disgusting declaration that “European Americans” face “ethnic cleansing” is beyond the pale and utterly reprehensible.
Rather than embracing “equal rights for all Americans,” his call for a separate European-American ethnic bloc is exactly the reverse of America’s melting pot tradition. It discourages assimilation and Martin Luther King Jr.’s noble idea of a society where people “will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
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