The establishment media faces only two choices if it wants to be consistent concerning infamous neo-Nazi provocateur David Duke. The better option would be to make a pact never to mention this loathsome man in a news story ever again, based solely on Duke’s own shameless craving for attention. The next best option, and the one relevant today, is to force Democrats to abide by the same standards vis-a-vis Duke that the media long has insisted Republicans meet.

In this case, Duke issued a series of tweets today saying that freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar’s string of obviously anti-Semitic statements and actions make her “the most important member of the U.S. Congress.” Duke, whose 50-year history as a Nazi sympathizer and former KKK leader is well-documented, meant it as high praise.

Every time Duke speaks up in favor of a Republican, the media falls all over itself demanding that that Republican and all associated with him not only renounce Duke but also defend themselves for having done or said anything of which Duke approves. Sometimes, the demands are even semi-valid: Donald Trump, for example, had repeatedly retweeted posts from publicly self-identified white supremacists and praised marchers in a white supremacist mob that included Duke.

The media spent days fulminating about Trump’s Duke dodgeball, as if almost no other news story mattered.

By those standards, every single media outlet that had conniption fits about Duke and Trump should now insist on two things. First, Omar herself should be repeatedly questioned about whether she accepts Duke’s endorsement and about why her views and his dovetail so nicely. Second, every Democrat should be asked, in light of Duke’s embrace of Omar, why the Democratic caucus shouldn’t be seen as Duke-friendly because it refused to adopt a resolution specifically denouncing Omar’s anti-Semitism.

Goose, gander: Sauce for the Duke-excusing Trump should be sauce for the radical-Islamist-friendly Democrats. If it’s not, then, as usual, the establishment media’s hypocrisy is boundless.

This bears repeating: If the Duke-Omar embrace isn’t turned into a universal question for all Democratic House members, the media will have failed as an institution to act in a professional, even-handed manner.

Now, with all that said, let’s quickly return to the even better idea. If the media will not hold Democrats to the same standard, then it should forever ignore all of Duke’s efforts to thrust himself into the news merely by saying or tweeting something. Every. Single. One.

Duke, on his own, is a tired and toothless tiger. He’s a has-been. Convicted, jailed, discredited, and desperate, he leads no political movement, can prove no significant base of followership, and has proven electorally irrelevant for decades now.

The only time Duke should be in the news is if somebody else in serious public life embraces him — not vice-versa. Or if Duke himself is arrested for something other than an illegal demonstration, some crime that he wants to hide rather than gain attention from, it would be objectively newsworthy. Otherwise, treat this man as the non-entity he is. No public official should be required to answer for anything Duke says or does.

Louisianans made Duke crawl back under his rock 20 years ago. The media shouldn’t oblige him by shining a light into the crevice.