1/ I’m not one for ‘told ya so’s but in 1989 when David Duke won the state House seat in Louisiana, some of us said this was an inflection point in American politics. This wasn’t just the logical result of Reaganesque racial dog whistling. It was something different (a thread)...

2/ It wasn’t even George Wallace, strictly speaking, though it was closer to that than Reagan. It was the blatant introduction of racist appeals under the guise of mainstream conservatism, and w/a polish and media-savvy Wallace lacked, as had most previous white supremacists...

3/ Duke knew how to use media. He cut 30 minute infomercials in his Senate run in 1990 — unheard of at the time — to slowly lay out his politics of racial resentment, knowing it would find a home w/white folks angered by previous GOP scapegoating of welfare, etc..

4/ ...but wanting to do more with it than just win an election. He wanted to turn mainstream racially-resentful conservatism into full blown white nationalism. And he knew it would take a while. He was grooming the electorate for what was to come....

5/ And yes, he lost in 90. But he got 60% of the white vote. I want to reiterate that. Six in ten whites in Louisiana voted for someone they all knew was a white supremacist. Indeed, a Nazi. And at the time, folks outside of Louisiana told us, “ah, that’s just LA...”