One of the takes on Donald Trump that has become part of his campaign persona is that if he is not an actual racist he is certainly an unregenerate bigot who actively seeks the approval of actual racists.

Now we have conclusive evidence that this is not true

Via Politico

There will be no greater ally for a President Donald Trump in the United States Senate than ex-KKK Grand Wizard David Duke, the Republican Louisiana Senate candidate declared, remarking that the Republican nominee “is not a racist.”

“As a United States senator, nobody will be more supportive of his legislative agenda, his Supreme Court agenda than I will,” Duke said in an interview with NPR’s Steve Inskeep aired Friday on “Morning Edition.”
…
Republicans who have spoken out against Trump, Duke added, are “betraying the principles of the Republican Party and certainly conservatism.”

“These are just nothing more than epithets and vicious attacks. Donald Trump is not a racist. And the truth is, in this country, if you simply defend the heritage of European American people, then you’re automatically a racist,” Duke said. “There’s massive racial discrimination against European Americans, and that’s the reality.”

Inskeep responded, “You know that white people in this country still have the overwhelming preponderance of wealth and power, right?”

“Well they don’t really have the overwhelming—European American history—no, they don’t. I mean, Hollywood is not controlled by traditional European American heritage.”

Asked whether he was referring to Jews, Duke remarked, “Or they’re from the Middle East, that’s not European. That’s not European. That’s Middle Eastern and they have a particular orientation for their positions and their programs.”

I really had to stop blockquoting because there was so much awesome in that interview I didn’t want to stop.

There you have it, folks. Now you have conclusive evidence that Donald Trump is not a racist because who would better know a racist than David Duke?

I don’t know what is in Trump’s heart, and I don’t much care. What I do know is that he is appealing, and deliberately so, to the worst sorts of bigots and racists. He basks in their adulation. He retweets their tweets. In all seriousness, Donald Trump is going to leave a stench on the GOP that rivals that of a corpse’s armpit and even when he loses in November it will take decades for us to remove the shame of his candidacy.