In a relentlessly grim and gloomy post-RNC America, where racial distrust and paranoia abound, Trump-supporter, Holocaust-denier, and racist extraordinaire David Duke announced this morning that he’s running for the Senate.
The former Ku Klux Klan leader and one-term Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives said in a video announcing his candidacy Friday that he believes in “equal rights for all, and respect for all Americans.”
“However,” he added, “what makes me different is I also demand respect for the rights and the heritage of European Americans.”
Duke will seek an open seat vacated by Republican Sen. David Vitter, who announced last year that he would not be seeking re-election. More than a dozen other candidates have also signed up to replace the retiring senator.
Initially, Duke had said he was leaning toward mounting a challenge against Republican Rep. Steve Scalise, who once described himself as “David Duke without the baggage.” But apparently, Duke now feels there’s room for the both of them in Washington.
In his announcement video, Duke pledged to “stop the massive immigration and ethnic cleansing of the people whose forefathers created America.” He declared, “We cannot have free trade without fair trade.” And he said he was “overjoyed to see Donald Trump and most Americans embrace most of the issues that [he’s] championed for years.”
Duke founded a KKK chapter in 1974, and won a seat in the Louisiana legislature 15 years later. He ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 1990 and for Louisiana governor in 1991. Ex-convict Edwin Edwards, a Democrat, beat Duke in that gubernatorial election with the famous slogan, “Vote for the crook, it’s important.”
