February 25, 2016

Former KKK Grand Wizard Urges Followers to Get Off Their “Rear End” and Support Trump

AP

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David Duke, a white supremacist and former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, added his name to Donald Trump’s ever-growing list of racist supporters when he urged listeners of his radio show on Wednesday to volunteer to help elect the real estate magnate to the White House.

“Voting against Donald Trump at this point is really treason to your heritage,” Duke said.

Duke sought to shame his listeners into mobilizing and getting off their “rear end that’s getting fatter and fatter for many of you every day on your chairs.”

He stopped short of an official endorsement. “But I do support his candidacy, and I support voting for him as a strategic action,” he said. “I hope he does everything we hope he will do.”

While Duke did not detail exactly which of Trump’s campaign promises he was referring to, it’s safe to assume they include the Republican front-runner’s pledges to ban Muslims from entering the United States and to build a wall along the Mexican border.

Duke’s call to arms on Wednesday fits squarely into a recent analysis of Trump’s base. According to that analysis, 20 percent of his supporters think freeing slaves after the Civil War was a wrong move for the country, and 70 percent would love to see the Confederate flag flying above state grounds again.

The audio clip from Duke’s show was first reported by BuzzFeed and can be heard below:

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

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