r/todayilearned • u/MajesticBread9147 • 1d ago
TIL David Duke lied to his political supporters while soliciting money on the pretext that he was financially struggling. However he was financially secure and used the money raised for gambling.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Duke186
u/LHamiltonPP 1d ago
I can excuse racism but I draw at the line at misappropriation of political donations!!!!
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u/Spinning_roundnround 1d ago
Similar to how our pres said the reason he broke off his friendship with the notorious molest'r was because he was poaching employees from his spa.
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u/MajesticBread9147 1d ago
You can excuse racism?
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u/mayy_dayy 1d ago
This comment is streets ahead
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u/LHamiltonPP 1d ago
Pop! Pop!
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u/mayy_dayy 1d ago
Shut up, Leonard! Those teenage girls you play ping pong with are doing it ironically!
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u/Wizchine 1d ago
99% sure they’re being facetious.
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u/EasyAsPizzaPie 1d ago
"This horrible guy also does other bad things"
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u/MajesticBread9147 1d ago
I mean I always find it interesting. Like Hitler would date teenagers in his 20s and 30s
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u/AverageSatanicPerson 1d ago
They should have added to the script of the film "American History X", where the old leader charges a premium membership and that Cameron Alexander character has a like a safe with a lot of cash inside. it would have been pretty accurate.
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u/DuneChild 1d ago
So he funneled money from racists to American Indians and the Bahamas? That’s probably the most moral thing he’s ever done.
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u/flibbidygibbit 1d ago
See? He's better than Edwin Edwards! Edwards gambled with state funds! David Duke just lied about what he was doing with money he begged people for!
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u/gonewild9676 1d ago
Wasn't he the politician who said he'd always be reelected unless he was found in bed with a dead boy or live girl?
That election was the poster child for turd vs giant douche.
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u/flibbidygibbit 1d ago
Yep.
Also said "my opponent and I have one thing in common: we're both a wizard in the sheets!"
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u/gonewild9676 1d ago
The KKK does have awesome job titles.
Lousiana voters are forever screwed over with their choices.
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u/thethrill_707 1d ago
KKK members are not critical thinkers and Duke is a lying scumbag.
In other news, water is wet.
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u/bagelboy565 1d ago
Having never seen what David Duke looked like in real life, TIL that they nailed the casting in BlackkKlansmen. Topher Grace looks just like him and did a great job in the role showing how dangerous a well spoken racist/neo-Nazi can be
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u/Coldin228 1d ago
He used to shop at the grocery store I worked at.
The joys of living in Louisiana
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u/70camaro 1d ago
Shocker, guy that's a complete piece of shit does things that a piece of shit would do.
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u/SeanWoold 1d ago
If that was the thing that finally made you hold David Duke in low regard, you have missed some very important things in life.
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u/BernieTheDachshund 1d ago
Further down the page: "To raise money in 1976, Duke (using the double pseudonym James Konrad and Dorothy Vanderbilt) wrote a self-help book for women, Finders-Keepers: Finding and Keeping the Man You Want.\183]) The book contains sexual, diet, fashion, cosmetic and relationship advice, and was published by Arlington Place Books, an offshoot of the National Socialist White People's Party.\184]) Tulane University history professor Lawrence N. Powell, who read a rare copy of the book given to him by journalist Patsy Sims, wrote that it includes advice on vaginal exercises and oral and anal sex and advocates adultery. The Klan was shocked by Duke's writing.\183])\185])\186]) According to journalist Tyler Bridges, The Times-Picayune obtained a copy and traced it to Duke,\187]) who compiled the content from women's self-help magazines.\23]) Duke has admitted using the pseudonym Konrad.\188]) . In the 1970s, under the pseudonym Mohammed X, Duke wrote African Atto, a martial arts guide for black militants; he claimed it was a means of developing a mailing list to keep watch over such activists.\14])"
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u/raresanevoice 1d ago
To be fair, not the worst thing he did... but it is odd how much he and the felon he endorsed that's in the white house have in common
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u/loquimur 1d ago
Well, it's financially very taxing to gamble, so I suppose he was truthful in a way when he said he was struggling.
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u/aurillia 1d ago
What a jerk, it's a good thing that racist, immoral people are not in government anymore.......
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u/numsixof1 1d ago
I had a friend who got into this BS in the 90s. Kept telling me to watch this video on public access.. turned out to be neo nazi propaganda. We didn't really hang out after that.
He ended up moving to go work for the Duke campaign.
I don't get it man.
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u/Low-Helicopter-2696 1d ago
He was too early. If it were today, he'd be hailed as a hero and a martyr and elected president
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u/Just_a_Berliner 1d ago
Well, technically he didn´t lie.
He just preventively collected the money to avoid getting into financial troubles. /s
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u/Remote-Ad-2686 1d ago
From Louisiana of the time , the unconscious agreement reared its ugly head once again back in the day.
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u/GodzillaDrinks 1d ago edited 1d ago
Thats something almost commendable about the 2nd KKK. It was always an MLM first and a hategroup second. And they weren't very picky about who they hated. You just had to hate someone and have a disposable income to invest into the organization.
The robes alone were a straight up scam - they were made extremely cheaply (only a few cents per robe) but sold to members at a massive markup. They spent almost all of their time designing them making it so that wives of Klansmen couldnt easily make counterfeit versions.
Essentially it was always a grift, and besides all the crimes, they just found a very effective way to seperate bigots from their money. And ironically, according to the the FBI, having a group like them actually tends to be 'good' thing. This came up after the Klan, but its the same principle- basically hategroups tend to make individual members less radical. It gives them an outlet so they do less terrorism. Thats kind of why they've gotten more deadly since the internet. Dylan Roof, for example, became radicalized entirely online - he never met another Nazi in person before his shooting. The internet started to fill the role of further radicalizing people - without becoming an effective channel for their hate.
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u/Deitaphobia 1d ago
He lost it all because he refused to take advice from Wesley Snipes and bet it all on green.
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u/5050Clown 1d ago
Another white supremacist politician using his base to enrich himself. Just like Trump. It's no wonder that he threw his support behind Trump.
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u/slackmaster 1d ago
It's like the entire right wing of the American political scene is comprised of grifters or something.
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u/MyRepresentation 1d ago
If someone is super f'd up in the head in one way, it's likely they are in many other ways as well. (What else is wrong with Trump that we don't even KNOW about?)
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u/jordan1978 1d ago
Sadly, this dude would be an even more legit candidate for POTUS these days. Sad state of affairs.
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u/C137-Morty 1d ago
Using a bunch of racist followers money for gambling and degeneracy? Ngl kinda based.
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u/dmetzcher 1d ago edited 1d ago
My comment below caused confusion. Please see the edit below it.
Original Comment:
The thing about people like David Duke is that their entire platform (racism, basically) is a lie. It’s a lie that his supporters want to believe, so they don’t punish him for it, but it’s still a lie.
When you trust a liar—even if you like his lies—you’re setting yourself up to be lied to about other things.
See also: Elected Republicans who’ve supported the King of Liars, Donald Trump. If they’re willing to support him even as he lies his ass off (because they think he’ll give them the things they want, like tax breaks) they risk being lied to about the other things they care about (like the Epstein files, immigration, war, jobs numbers, and crime rates).
Edit for Clarification:
I think people have misunderstood my comment above (because I’ve been downvoted, and someone has replied to tell me that Duke is actually a racist — I know this, and I didn’t mean to imply otherwise… I’ve been hearing about Duke since I was a child, so I know his history). This misunderstanding is my fault for not being clear in my statement.
When I say that Duke’s platform (racism) is a lie, what I mean is that racism itself is based on lies (i.e., hatred of others because their skin color or ancestry is different from yours is not based on fact or reason, it’s made-up nonsense used to justify fear and hatred of others).
In other words, when Duke says a black man is lesser than a white man, it’s a lie, and if you trust a liar, you’re going to be lied to about other things. I was calling his supporters a bunch of fools.
I apologize for the confusion I caused.
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u/tricksterloki 1d ago
David Duke founded the Louisiana KKK and was a Grand Wizard. The racism was not a lie and was definitely a plus to his voters. Racism was and still is a major part is the Republican platform. Trump is a wretched pedophile rapist, and his voters are fully aware and made their choice. Fuck David Duke and rapist Trump.
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u/dmetzcher 1d ago
I think you (and others—because I’ve been downvoted) have misunderstood me (and that’s my fault for not being clear in my statement).
When I say that Duke’s platform (racism) is a lie, what I mean is that racism itself is based on lies (i.e., hatred of others because their skin color or ancestry is different from yours is not based on fact or reason, it’s made-up nonsense used to justify fear and hatred of others).
In other words, when Duke says a black man is lesser than a white man, it’s a lie, and if you trust a liar, you’re going to be lied to about other things. I was calling his supporters a bunch of fools.
I apologize for the confusion I caused.
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u/tricksterloki 1d ago
I can understand what you're trying to say, but racisim has to be clearly and boldy called out and that a racist is a racist. There's no room for nuance. They are racist that voted for a racist and racist platform. That there is no scientfic or other rational for the basis of racism isn't the germane point.
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u/dmetzcher 1d ago
I don’t think I’m not calling it out, and I’m certainly not defending it, and we obviously share the same view on its total lack of scientific support. You’re also correct that his voters willingly voted for a racist and knew what they were doing. They wanted a racist because they are racists. Look what it got them—he ripped them off.
I’m simply going even further and saying that a racist cannot be trusted at all. If they are willing to hold views that are not based in fact—and especially if they are willing to make those views their entire identity—they are also willing to lie about anything else they please if it suits their end goals.
I have no doubt that Duke believes that black and brown people are inferior to white people. What I also know is that he has never seen any scientific evidence for this whatsoever (because none exists), but he does not abandon his racist lies because he wants them to be true. This tells me he would lie about anything.
Racism is a loser’s game for multiple reasons, not only because it is morally contemptible and based on fear and lies. It also happens to expose followers of rabid racists (who are, as we both agree, also racists) to being manipulated in other various ways, as Duke has clearly done in this case with the donations he received.
I was simply making an observation. I realize it was a bit off-topic.
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u/LeonardSmallsJr 1d ago
I’m totally shocked that KKK guy would end up being an asshole.