Trump’s campaign talking points echoed former KKK Imperial Wizard David Duke

His GOP convention speech bears a striking similarity to Duke’s statements from a 1992 presidential run

True colors: Trump copied Duke.

There’s a bizarre similarity between statements President Donald Trump made to voters on the campaign trail in 2016 and the talking points former KKK Imperial Wizard David Duke sounded during his own bid for the White House in the 1990s.

It’s almost like Trump couldn’t come up with his own spin, so he regurgitated the words of a former KKK leader.

As several journalists have pointed out, Trump and Duke followed remarkably similar paths as political candidates. When Duke was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1989, he’d been a registered Republican for just a few weeks, and his sudden victory caught mainstream Republicans off guard. Trump’s political ascent also left mainstream Republicans reeling.

As a politician, Duke was characterized as a “pioneer in the modern art of whitewashing white nationalism.”

Duke, reviled as a poisonous figure who epitomizes bigotry and racism in the United States, created a KKK faction in the 70s and endorsed the concept of a whites-only nation-state. He ran for office multiple times and was one of the first voices in conservative politics to promote the idea of securing the U.S.-Mexico border to halt illegal immigration.

The klansman’s biographer wrote in a recent article for Politico that he had noticed “many echoes of Duke in what Trump says and does, and in their similar appeal to disaffected white voters.” A Chicago Tribune reporter who’d covered Duke’s 1989 Louisiana campaign branded him a “pioneer in the modern art of whitewashing white nationalism.” She also noticed a pattern in the sentiments of supporters, who claimed that in Duke they had “finally found somebody who’s brave enough to say what everybody thinks but won’t say.” That Trump could be relied upon to dish up the unvarnished truth was also a common refrain among people donning “Make America Great Again” hats.

Below are 11 examples showing how similar Trump and Duke sounded as presidential candidates. Dig deeper, and there may be many more examples waiting to be unearthed. (The pattern is especially interesting in light of the brouhaha that erupted last summer when savvy observers figured out that First Lady Melania Trump plagiarized Michelle Obama in her own GOP convention speech.)

Duke’s quotes are taken from a speech he gave in Plymouth, Massachusetts in March of 1992 when he was running for president; Trump’s quotes are from his speech at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, OH in July 2016.

1. Both are adamant that they will put “America first.”

It bears mentioning that this exact phrase was used in the 1940s, when William H. Regnery, now a mentor to white nationalist Richard Spencer, formed the “America First Committee.” The committee’s purpose was to stop the U.S. from going to war with Nazi Germany, and it attracted Nazi sympathizers and anti-Semites.

DUKE: I don’t want a part of this New World Order where Americans lose their sovereignty and their rights, and that’s where we’re going. I say it’s fine to put America First in this world.

TRUMP: The most important difference between our plan and that of our opponents, is that our plan will put America First. Americanism, not globalism, will be our credo.

2. Both single out ‘illegal immigrants’ and seek to link them to drugs and violence, code for racist hate speech.

DUKE: We have massive numbers of Mexicans and Haitians in the country right now … They’re bringing in a lot of the dope that comes into this country.… One of the first places we should put our American troops is patrolling the Mexican-American border.

TRUMP: We are going to build a great border wall to stop illegal immigration, to stop the gangs and the violence, and to stop the drugs from pouring into our communities.

3. Both stress that they aren’t politically correct — and proud of it.

DUKE: Ladies and gentlemen, I am not a politically correct candidate.

TRUMP: I will present the facts plainly and honestly. We cannot afford to be so politically correct anymore.

4. Both play up the notion that society is threatened with lawlessness and crime. Duke pins the blame on what he calls the “welfare underclass,” code for racist hate speech.

DUKE: Most of the rising crime in this country is coming from the welfare underclass. And indeed our society is becoming brutal and lawless.

TRUMP: The first task for our new Administration will be to liberate our citizens from the crime and terrorism and lawlessness that threatens their communities.

5. Both spend some time talking about police officers’ needs and safety.

DUKE: Police officers are out there on the line for us, and not really getting what they need and deserve in this society. But the crime is coming from this welfare underclass.

TRUMP: I have a message to every last person threatening the peace on our streets and the safety of our police: When I take the oath of office next year, I will restore law and order in our country.

6. Both make it a point to mention that the first job of government is to defend citizens and keep them safe.

DUKE: The first task of any government is to make sure citizens are safe and secure. Protecting the innocent from the mighty and the brutal, having some sort of law and order — now our government’s not even accomplishing that task!

TRUMP: The most basic duty of government is to defend the lives of its own citizens. Any government that fails to do so is a government unworthy to lead.

7. Both promise to deliver the unvarnished truth, something they say sets them apart from other politicians.

DUKE: The problem that they find with David Duke is that I’ll say things nobody else will say in American politics, things that must be said.

TRUMP: If you want to hear the corporate spin, the carefully-crafted lies, and the media myths, the Democrats are holding their convention next week. But here, at our convention, there will be no lies. We will honor the American people with the truth, and nothing else.

8. Both present themselves as foils to a group of powerful, globally connected elites whom they describe as acting in their own self-interest.

DUKE: The only people who are really pushing for this ‘New World Order’ — Who are they, really? A few of the conglomerates, a few of the financial people. They have a worldwide network of money, and all they care about is their bottom line.

TRUMP: Big business, elite media and major donors are lining up behind the campaign of my opponent because they know she will keep our rigged system in place.

9. Both rail against free trade deals because of the harm they caused for factory workers.

DUKE: President Bush — a big part of his economic program has been free trade — he says he wants free trade with China and Mexico.… If their products are given free access to our markets here in America, what’s going to happen? It’s going to hurt American industry, American business, American jobs. Right now General Motors is closing down plants in our country and building them in Mexico.

TRUMP: I have visited the laid-off factory workers, and the communities crushed by our horrible and unfair trade deals. These are the forgotten men and women of our country. People who work hard but no longer have a voice.

10. Both bemoan the high cost of government.

DUKE: Government is out of control in America. … 25 percent of our gross national product is now wasted by the government.

TRUMP: Then we are going to deal with the issue of regulation, one of the greatest job-killers of them all. Excessive regulation is costing our country as much as $2 trillion a year, and we will end it.

11. Both say high taxes are impacting jobs.

DUKE: When people talk about jobs and economic well-being there’s no more important factor than taxes. … High taxes stifle investment. … and that results directly in unemployment and chronic stagnation. Big government stifles the economy in which we live.

TRUMP: America is one of the highest-taxed nations in the world. Reducing taxes will cause new companies and new jobs to come roaring back into our country.

Despite sounding like a brasher and more cartoonish version of Duke on the campaign trail, Trump has claimed on national television that he doesn’t know anything about Duke. Asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper if he’d disavow the former Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan in a Feb. 28, 2016 exchange on ‘State of the Union,’ Trump responded:

“I don’t know David Duke. I don’t believe I have ever met him. I’m pretty sure I didn’t meet him. And I just don’t know anything about him.”

Of course there are piles of evidence to suggest he wasn’t that clueless. For instance, Trump explored a presidential run in 2000 as a candidate for the Reform Party — which at the time had also attracted Duke as a member. When he decided against it, Trump publicly sought to distance himself from Duke in a comment to the New York Times. Describing Duke as a “neo-Nazi,” Trump said, “that is not company I wish to keep.”