A very sobering article that should stop people in their tracks. I’ve mentioned this many times in this debate. This election is not about loyalty to the party, it is about deciding what type of nation we want to be and what type of ideas are socially acceptable. This article drives that point home.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-n...nap-story.html
The robes are gone and the rhetoric is softer than during his grand wizard days. But Duke has not shed his relentless proselytizing for the white race, even though voters have repeatedly rejected the former Ku Klux Klan leader’s attempts to regain public office.
Duke is undeterred. As he sees it, this is the moment. After last running for election in 1999, he’s back with a long-shot bid for Louisiana’s open U.S. Senate seat.
And his reason for optimism is clear: Donald Trump.
“I love it,” said Duke, 66, tearing into a chicken garlic pizza at a nearby restaurant later. “The fact that Donald Trump’s doing so well, it proves that I’m winning. I am winning.”
Race plays a huge part in this campaign. It is very hard to believe that there is anyone left who does not believe this. Trump’s stump is very heavily weighted in dog whistle language. He says things that activate the deep seeded hate that has been driven beneath the surface over decades of cultural evolution. It is intentional and it is effective.
Trump resonates with this segment of the population. His message validates their hate, and in turn provide legitimacy to their cause. These groups deserve credit for packaging their message in a way that is less offensive, but the main issue is that Trump acts as a recruiting tool for the extreme in society.
Inside the older tract home, his living room and dining room are crammed with desks and bookshelves spilling over with his life’s work. An ink jet printer spits out thousands of campaign fliers Duke will be mailing to voters, seeking $50 contributions for a blue hat with the logo, “I’m for Duke & Trump!”
But he bristles at the suggestion that he’s jumping on the Trump train.
“Trump happened because of us,” Duke said, “not the other way around.”
You see the support he gets online and the better angels in you try to believe that it is just average every day Americans making comments. What you fail to acknowledge is these groups have a legion of cyber warriors who do nothing but invade news sites, chat sites, blogs, message boards, and so on, to further their agenda and continue to drag the center point on issues further and further to the right. This is a strategy. These are trained individuals who know their craft and view this as war. Trump is opening up fronts for them at every turn.