David Duke, former KKK Grand Wizard, made headlines earlier this year when he endorsed Donald Trump by saying that voting against Trump would be “treason to your heritage.” Now he’s making headlines again because he is riding on Trump’s wave of inciting racism and hatred and announced that he is running for Senate.

David Duke announces his candidacy for the Untied States Senate! https://t.co/SDMdrYNVA4 https://t.co/H87ErOPahY — David Duke (@DrDavidDuke) July 22, 2016

His announcement, which occurred last week, was done via web video and he used the opportunity to highlight what his term in Senate would look like:

“Thousands of special interest groups stand up for African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Jewish-Americans, etc. etc. The fact is that European-Americans need at least one man in the United States Senate, one man in the Congress, who will represent their rights and heritage.”

He failed to mention that the reason there are so many interest groups for people of color and such is because they are attempting to remedy the hundreds of years of racism and discrimination that has plagued this nation since the Europeans first arrived. He did, however, mention Republican nominee Donald Trump for supporting the same ideas as himself:

“I’m overjoyed to see Donald Trump and most Americans embrace most of the issues I’ve championed for years.”

As Brian Beutler, a senior editor for New Republic, put it,

“Donald Trump has made people like David Duke feel as if they’re no longer on the fringes.”

In an extension of this theory, Devin Burghart, vice president of the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights, told Alternet,

“David Duke, the neo-Nazi… is the consummate white nationalist opportunist. With racist ideas Duke helped incubate now getting a primetime slot on a national ticket, Duke has an opportunity to again seize headlines.”

Just as the Ku Klux Klan was never good for America, neither is David Duke, or Donald Trump for that matter. The duo have constantly been linked to Nazi ideals and fascism, which are two things no one in the Western world should be proud to be compared to.

Listen to David Duke’s endorsment of Donald Trump (Begins at the 25 min mark):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nvHhqTYIOE

Typically, Duke would have no chance of winning the seat in Senate, and his track record is evidence of this; Duke has previously unsuccessfully sought a seat in Senate and also ran for president in 1992. After all these decades of attempting to make a name for himself in politics, the difference now is that Trump has inspired millions of Americans to “make America great again,” which apparently means returning to a time when discrimination was legal and equal opportunity and compassion were not invented yet.

That’s what makes Duke’s new run for Senate so worrying: he might actually have a chance at winning now. With Donald Trump surging in the polls, bigotry is at an all-time high, and voters need to “vote your conscious” if America is to have a fighting chance at defeating Trump and Duke in their respective campaigns.

Watch David Duke Announces for US Senate:

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