David Duke, the former KKK grand wizard, is unambiguous about what Saturday’s alt-right and neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, means to him: It’s the fulfillment of President Donald Trump’s vision for America.
"Why we voted for Donald Trump": David Duke explains the white supremacist Charlottesville protests
Libby Nelson is Vox’s policy editor, leading coverage of how government action and inaction shape American life. Libby has more than a decade of policy journalism experience, including at Inside Higher Ed and Politico. She joined Vox in 2014.
“We are determined to take our country back,” Duke said from the rally, calling it a “turning point.” “We are going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump. That’s what we believed in. That’s why we voted for Donald Trump, because he said he’s going to take our country back.”
The Charlottesville rally is nominally about the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee rather than anything in the Trump administration. But Duke was an enthusiastic supporter of Trump as far back as the Republican primary in 2016, and Trump’s reluctance to disavow that support was, briefly, a big issue.
Duke has remained a faithful Trump supporter since then, insisting that the president-elect’s policies line up with the former KKK leader’s vision for America.
He was less happy with Trump’s vague tweet condemning the violence later Saturday afternoon:
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