Donald Trump’s Long Rant Thrilled David Duke, But Alienated Many Others

Updated | 12:28 p.m.

As Donald Trump shouted for 76 minutes on Thursday night about how horrible everything is in the dystopian fiction he’s confused for America, a former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan found himself nodding along in agreement.

So the white supremacist David Duke, who was nearly elected governor of Louisiana in 1991 by channeling white resentment, posted a rave review of the address on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/DrDavidDuke/status/756334475223638016

A few hours later, as Duke announced that he was joining the race for an open Senate seat in Louisiana, he added: “I’m overjoyed to see Donald Trump, and most Americans, embrace most of the issues I’ve championed for years. My slogan remains, ‘America First.’”

Trump’s fearmongering speech — which featured a chilling distillation of his calls for a ban on Muslims entering the United States in the line, “We don’t want them in our country!” — was also praised by Geert Wilders, a Dutch nationalist politician who was in the hall.

Great speech @realDonaldTrump !#RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/BTuYEg7EaR

— Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) July 22, 2016

In an interview on Wednesday, Wilders pledged to “close the Dutch borders for immigrants from Islamic countries immediately” if he becomes prime minister of the Netherlands next year.

And former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who foreshadowed Trump’s tone in his own address Monday night, also had high praise.

Rudy Reacts to Trump: 'Best Acceptance Speech I've Ever Seen!' https://t.co/AKJMOtAo6O pic.twitter.com/z9qS9ozlUS

— FoxNewsInsider (@FoxNewsInsider) July 22, 2016

Trump’s long, error-riddled address — which began with the boast that he’d won 14 million votes (or 2.8 million less than Hillary Clinton) — went down less well with critics of the candidate, including members of his own party like Michael Gerson, a former speechwriter for George W. Bush, and Stuart Stevens, who ran Mitt Romney’s campaign in 2012.

He is summoning primal forces of anger/fear, displaying leadership without moral guardrails, religious principles or civic responsibility.

— Michael Gerson (@MJGerson) July 22, 2016

Give him credit for this: @realDonaldTrump is a dark, disturbed man & he sees in the country what he sees in the mirror.

— stuart stevens (@stuartpstevens) July 22, 2016

The speech, which in tone and content was reminiscent of the opening salvo of his campaign last year — when he hyped fears about Mexican immigrants being rapists and criminals — was also panned from the other side of the political spectrum, by Sen. Bernie Sanders, watching at home, and Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin, a protester who interrupted Trump’s speech by unfurling a banner that said “build bridges not walls” — and was dragged from the hall.

#RNCwithBernie pic.twitter.com/x5nuSI6AuN

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) July 22, 2016

Trump: “I alone can fix this.”
Is this guy running for president or dictator? #RNCwithBernie

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) July 22, 2016

Watch @codepink's @medeabenjamin interrupt @realdonaldtrump's remarks at #RNCinCLE (via @paulblu) pic.twitter.com/57O55EvppX

— HuffPost Politics (@HuffPostPol) July 22, 2016

Here is footage of the anti Trump protester being dragged out of the arena: pic.twitter.com/WLXMFL11ZY

— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) July 22, 2016

I just disrupted #Trump to say BUILD BRIDGES NOT WALLS!! https://t.co/OX5U5iqacy pic.twitter.com/1jQwGyw9iD

— Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) July 22, 2016

Those negative reviews were amplified by an array of Trump critics, including the rapper Chuck D, Russian dissident Garry Kasparov, and satirist Jon Stewart, who borrowed Stephen Colbert’s Late Show desk to deliver some analysis.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha Trump speech alienated 70% of USA the rest have stock in the confederacy & klan #ToldYall

— Chuck D (@MrChuckD) July 22, 2016

I’ve heard this sort of speech a lot in the last 15 years and trust me, it doesn’t sound any better in Russian.

— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) July 22, 2016

If Leni Riefenstahl were alive, Trump would hire her to film this speech. Then not pay her.

— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) July 22, 2016

This from Andrew Sullivan captures Trump's prepared remarks quite well https://t.co/wwaDBMBWJF pic.twitter.com/0uA2aRqtxy

— Shadi Hamid (@shadihamid) July 22, 2016

This speech sounds like Mexican state elections where throwing the incumbent governor in prison is a popular campaign promise. #RNCinCLE

— David Agren (@el_reportero) July 22, 2016

The reassuring thing about Trump's speech is no-one will fall for such a deceitful mix of xenophobia, made-up "facts" and lies. Oh. #Brexit

— David Schneider (@davidschneider) July 22, 2016

–@realDonaldTrump is crazier and more nassacistic than Gaddafi was #RNCinCLE

— josh stacher (@jstacher) July 22, 2016

The question isn't how the speech sounded in the hall, but to Americans locked in their panic rooms and bomb shelters.

— Conor Friedersdorf (@conor64) July 22, 2016

A system in which a charismatic figure says only he can fix things, restore order and expel unwanted groups. There should be a name for that

— Doug Saunders (@DougSaunders) July 22, 2016

Keep thinking of this… pic.twitter.com/RPS2Ir29hM

— Lisa Tozzi (@lisatozzi) July 22, 2016

https://twitter.com/beardedstoner/status/756331913783107584

https://twitter.com/alexismadrigal/status/756359804654936064

Here is Jon Stewart’s @colbertlateshow monologue from tonight. Well worth your time. https://t.co/itI3oLvsc0

— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) July 22, 2016

All was not lost for the candidate, however, since the night did win him at least one well-known supporter: the former chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals, Martin Shkreli, who was charged with securities fraud last year.

https://twitter.com/MartinShkreli/status/756311253056909312