Former Ku Klux Klan leader and Louisiana Senate candidate David Duke railed against Jews and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton during a Wednesday night debate at a historically black college.
Asked by the moderator to explain a blog post he wrote about “CNN Jews,” Duke replied, “There is a problem in America with a very strong, powerful tribal group that dominates our media, dominates our international banking. I’m not opposed to all Jews.”
Duke said that a similar “cabal in this government” “controls our foreign policy.”
“It was just admitted by Clinton that our government’s been supporting Saudi Arabia which she admits was supporting ISIS,” he asserted. “The lady should be getting the electric chair, being charged with treason.”
Duke, who is campaigning on his racist and anti-Semitic views, is trailing far behind the five other leading candidates for the open Louisiana Senate seat, but just cleared the five percent threshold needed to participate in the debate at Dillard University.
The Hill reported that university officials insisted they didn’t know which candidates would be on stage when they agreed to host the event. Sponsor Raycom Media announced that there would be no audience, though they did not say Duke’s presence prompted this decision.
Students furious that one of the best-known white supremacists in the country was invited to their school protested outside the debate hall.
NPR reporter Debbie Elliott says they chanted, “No Duke, no KKK, no fascist USA!”
Protesters object to former KKK wiz David Duke at Louisiana senate debate on campus of #HBCU Dillard Univ. pic.twitter.com/dGFXaiRks7
— Debbie Elliott (@NPRDebElliott) November 3, 2016
Duke sniped at the university students from the debate stage, calling them “radicals.”
“There was a demo out here, by the Black Lives Matter radicals,” he said. “Why is that? Because I stand up for you. The Black Lives Matter movement calls for the murder of police officers and death to police. I defend you and our country from these radicals who are destroying America.”
“This is the tipping point,” he added. “We are getting outnumbered and outvoted.”
Duke is an avid supporter of Donald Trump and he released a robocall campaign and fundraising letter urging Louisianans to support a Trump-Duke ticket.
Trump belatedly disavowed Duke’s support in February after saying he didn’t know who he was.
