David Duke Running for Congress The sad thing is that I think he's slightly less embarrassing for the state than David Vitter...
This is not the first time he's run for office. I don't think he ever did very well. But these days, who knows?
I'm more interested in Steve Scalise, a current U.S. congressman, calling himself David Duke without the baggage. He also gave a speech in front of a white supremacist group in 2002, but claimed he didn't know it was a racist organization.
Yeah, sounds an awful like Trump when he didn't denounce Duke right off the bat, if at all. These guys. I am glad they are showing themselves for who they are, and what they represent. As I have said before, the inclusion of Trump and Sanders in this election has been pivotal. This is a very unique election cycle, and I believe some good things are going to come out of it. I am actually pretty excited this time around. :smile: Viva USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He served one term in the Louisiana House of Representatives. He was succeeded by David Vitter. He ran for other stuff too and lost. But, on a completely "pro-white" platform and with his fame stemming from the leadership of the KKK, this guy ran for a seat in the state legislature and won. Granted, he did it in '89. So he was probably able to draw upon a voting constituency that included at least a handful of old-timers who were around to see the original Klan in its "glory" days. so now, nearly 30 years on, many of those original supporters are probably dead. But if he wins then I think I may need to seriously consider moving out of country. I don't mean to be dramatic, mind you. But if we start putting admitted racists into Congress, not just the closet ones, then we are heading down a path I'd rather observe from afar.
I would like to say he has no chance of winning, and he probably doesn't, but you never know with the growing white nationalist movement.
Energized white supremacists cheer Trump convention message Geez! https://www.yahoo.com/news/energized-white-supremacists-cheer-trump-convention-message-183705548--election.html "We'll help them go somewhere else. I'm not a maniac," Spencer said of the minorities he wants to eject from the country. "I know in order to achieve what I want to achieve, you have to deal with people rationally." Yeah, he's not a maniac after all!
Here's a story on Duke as a political candidate, including his fake PhD https://thehayride.com/2016/07/david-duke-is-not-a-conservative/
Duke's degree, if it is indeed a government-endorsed Kandydat degree, would technically be GAAP. MAUP is like Ukrainian University of Phoenix that also peddle hate on the side. Unfortunately.
Like any degree the official recognition tends to matter a lot less than how it is received by your intended audience. If you have a tenured professorship at a bible college with an LBU PhD then the criticisms by your detractors dont really matter so much. David Duke has made his living as a hate peddler for decades. He could have a degree from anywhere or nowhere and his followers will call him whatever he likes. He is unfortunately going to have plenty of speaking engagements and people to buy his books for the rest of his life.
Perversely, he chose the school well. It has a vibrant B&M operation and has strong claim to be "legitimate" (although not exactly selective). Also, it has a number of faculty and admins who (in)famously share Duke's, um, "research interests". It is a great match, really. My wife had a coworker who was a MAUP graduate. It is not a challenging school, and fits a profile of a predatory for-profit. However, it does provide accredited ("state-form") diplomas, so there is utility. The school is of the same general kind as IUBL that came up on this forum once or twice. MAUP is bigger and has more publicity, good or bad. Just like with University of Phoenix, the publicity is more of a bad thing, on balance. It's unclear whether and why was MAUP even allowed to award a History PhD. According to their website, they do run a traditional "aspirantura" and have right to hold defenses in 3 specialties: commercial law, administrative law, and "economics of enterprise management" (a popular applied business discipline). This year's dissertations are available on their site. It also runs something called "Aspirantura PhD". This operation has a dozen majors, including History; however, it awards their own diploma as opposed to the official "Kandydat Nauk" (recently renamed "Doctor of Philosophy") and "Doktor Nauk". Status of these awards would be a bit shaky, imho. Several sources specifically list Duke's degree as "Kandydat", implying that it is an official one. It is possible they had a History dissertation council but lost it at some point; these things happen. Or maybe these sources are wrong. Ultimately, you're right. This guy got away with awarding himself a "grand wizard" title. People who take THAT seriously would accept anything.
Senator Robert Byrd was an enthusiastic member of the KKK, rising to grand kleegle, or whatever they call the top post, so nothing is out of the question.
The difference between Byrd and Duke is that Duke still holds his racists views and is running on them. Regardless of your opinion on whether or not Byrd changed, Byrd's actions in Congress were contrary to the interests of the KKK. Duke makes it clear that he is running to promote the interests of European Americans. Plus, Byrd was first elected to Congress in 1952. One would hope that an active and unapologetic white supremacist wouldn't be elected in 2016.
