WI: David Duke never joins the KKK

Note: I am not a supporter of David Duke, Neo Nazis, KKK, or Stormfront. I just thought that this would be an interesting scenario.

What if David Duke had never joined the Klan or any white nationalist group, but still endorsed his OTL views( Opposition to Affirmative Action, Welfare, Zionism, etc.) How far can he make it in politics?
 
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Duke was in the porn business at one point...he's all about David Duke and will do whatever he needs to do to get attention
 
Even without the white supremacy, he is still rather partial to conspiracy theories. Maybe he could have been a two-bit player in Louisiana politics, but I don't ever see him having a national appeal.

I personally would have been interested to see his coup in Dominica succeed, for a few hours. A dozen Klansman in control of a black Caribbean island... what could go wrong?
 
Hmm....problem is its unclear whether he was indoctrinated into KKK style active white supremecy later in life, or whether he was brought up as just another southerner in a racist culture.

Assuming the former, lets make the POD him not meeting neo nazi types (especially William Luther Pierce) in his teen and collage years. As noted before in the thread he is a chronic attention whore who would both make grandiose claims of his own prowess and achievements, and go out of his way to piss people off (i.e. wearing nazi uniforms in collage and throwing parties on hitlers birthday) and impress those on his side.

Given this, I can almost see him latching onto one of the "edgier" far left parties/causes (communist party, SDS maybe) during collage and pulling the same routine as he did OTL in the white nationalist sphere, all while trying to grab as much money, power, and attention as he could for himself, and probably eventually trying to portray himself as a "moderate" when public opinion turns sharply on the far left.

Whether he gets into any public office depends on whether he would have better luck playing the "moderate reformer" of the far left as he did playing "moderate reformer" of the racist far right.

Honestly though I just want to avoid any TL where he becomes a porn star.

SJW David Duke is far more palatable than Sex God David Duke.

EDIT: That being said, There is an astonishing lack of alternate porn history timelines on this forum, so maybe Porn Star David Duke could be the start of a new trend.
 
I would think that the KKK and the white supremacist movement would probably be in much worse shape.

Duke is the closest thing that the movement has had to a charismatic leading figure in the last thirty or forty years.

Without him, I'd expect the movement to be even more fractured, incoherent, with a squabbling volley of appallingly repulsive personalities vying for leadership.

You might see them driven even further underground, but perhaps more widespread.

Would the coded appeals to racism that the Republicans have traded in since Nixon and Reagan have worked as well, have worked better? Would the appallingingly commonplace systemic and subtle racism we have today be more or less pervasive?
 
Duke's reputation, from what I know about him, is based on the fact that he was in the KKK.

Without that,he just becomes some other perennial candidate who sought and failed to reach political office on a Federal level.

However,he could potentially be considered less of a joke if he isn't as racist,I kind of doubt it since again,thats what got him any notability whatsoever.
 
David Duke was born in*Tulsa,*Oklahoma, on July 1st 1950, to David Duke Sr. and Alice Maxine Crick. As the son of an engineer for*Shell Oil Company, Duke frequently moved with his family around the world. They lived a short time in the*Netherlands, before settling in Maine*[1]. In the late 1960s, Duke met Margaret Chase Smith, who would remain a lifelong influence on him.
In 1967, Duke joined the Young Republicans [3]


[1] I'm hoping Maine would be a better environment for a young influential David rather than the southern state of Louisiana.
[2] Instead of Duke meeting*William Luther Pierce, the leader of the white nationalist.
[3] Duke joined the*KKK*in OTL
 
Wait, really? :confused:

I think I'm scarred for life.

there were some articles published about his pre-Klan activities...forget what paper they were in, I think the NOLA Times-Picayune or the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate

the best way I can describe him is a GI slang term I picked up as a 2LT in Korea many years ago..."slicky boy"
 
I would think that the KKK and the white supremacist movement would probably be in much worse shape.

Duke is the closest thing that the movement has had to a charismatic leading figure in the last thirty or forty years.

Without him, I'd expect the movement to be even more fractured, incoherent, with a squabbling volley of appallingly repulsive personalities vying for leadership.

You might see them driven even further underground, but perhaps more widespread.

Would the coded appeals to racism that the Republicans have traded in since Nixon and Reagan have worked as well, have worked better? Would the appallingingly commonplace systemic and subtle racism we have today be more or less pervasive?

How much worse shape could the KKK be in? IIRC there are only around 5,000 members or so.
 
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