Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke hails Donald Trump's win: 'One of the most exciting nights of my life'

Trump one support among the KKK
William Thomas Cain/Getty
Francesca Gillett10 November 2016

The former leader of the Ku Klux Klan said Donald Trump’s election victory was “one of the most exciting nights of my life”.

White nationalist David Duke, who is an ex-‘Grand Wizard’ of the racist movement, had publicly backed the billionaire in the race to the White House.

In a series of tweets posted online, Holocaust denier Mr Duke suggested the support of the KKK had helped elect the businessman into power – as well as WikiLeaks.

Mr Duke said as the election results came in: “This is one of the most exciting nights of my life -> make no mistake about it, our people have played a HUGE role in electing Trump!”

In other messages sent out on the social media site, Mr Duke said the new President-elect now has the chance “to become one of the greatest Americans to have ever lived”.

'God bless Trump': Former KKK leader and Trump supporter David Duke.
AP

He also posted a photo of Mr Trump standing on top of a tank.

He also thanked Julian Assange, calling him a hero, in helping to elect Republican candidate Mr Trump.

His tweet read: “GOD BLESS WIKILEAKS - Julian Assange is a hero -> America owes this man one thing -> FREEDOM!!! Thank you, sir - THANK YOU!"

Mr Duke, who is running for a seat in the Senate, is also the author of books called “Jewish Supremacism” and “My Awakening: A Path to Racial Understanding”.

In 2000 he famously met with the British National Party’s then-leader Nick Griffin.

The official newspaper of the KKK, the Crusader, had previously embraced Mr Trump’s fierce campaign and used his slogan, “make America great again”.

Donald Trump was voted in as president in a dramatic upset after clinching several of America’s key swing states.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in