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Slow Burn

Season 4 Trailer: David Duke

Slow Burn

Slate Podcasts

News, Society & Culture, History, Documentary, Politics

4.625.1K Ratings

🗓️ 8 June 2020

⏱️ 4 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a white supremacist became an American political phenomenon. David Duke’s rise to power and prominence—his election to the Louisiana legislature, and then his campaigns for the U.S. Senate and the governorship—was an existential crisis for the state and the nation. The fourth season of Slate’s Slow Burn will explore how a Nazi sympathizer and former Klansman fashioned himself into a mainstream figure, and why some voters came to embrace his message. It will also examine how activists, journalists, and ordinary citizens confronted Duke’s candidacy, and what it took to stop him. Slow Burn Season 4 is hosted by Josh Levin, Slate's national editor and a native Louisianian. The season begins on Wednesday, June 10. That day, Slate Plus members will get the first three episodes of Slow Burn, while non-members will get Episode 1. Subscribe to Slate Plus here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

This episode is brought to you by Slack. With Slack, you can bring all your people and

0:05.9

tools together in one place. It's your digital HQ where you can increase productivity,

0:11.1

enable flexibility and automate workflows. Plus, Slack is full of game-changing features

0:16.7

like huddles for quick check-ins or Slack Connect, which helps you connect with partners

0:20.9

inside and outside of your company. Slack, where the future works. Get started at

0:26.9

Slack.com slash DHQ. New Year, new me. Nah, I'm fine just the way I am. Doing the things

0:35.3

I love, like enjoying a latte on the bus with some music or on a walk with a friend. My

0:42.7

only resolution is to enjoy more of what I love, like switching up my usual with oat,

0:49.2

soy, almond or coconut. All delicious non-dairy alternatives available at Starbucks for no extra

0:56.3

charge, while stocks last subject to availability. In the 1970s, David Duke was America's best-known

1:07.0

white supremacist. The American white people are searching and are reaching out for a movement,

1:14.2

and the Ku Klux plan is that movement. In the 80s and 90s, Duke became a political

1:24.6

phenomenon. There's something very scary about the election of David Duke. The former imperial

1:32.3

wizard of the Ku Klux clan. Ex-clansman, David Duke. David, David, Duke. We had no big

1:38.3

clinical endorsements even the President of the United States came out against us. But we

1:43.5

won! I'm Josh Levine, Slates National Editor. I grew up in Louisiana, and as a kid, I

1:53.2

watched David Duke win elected office, and come close to taking control of the entire state.

1:59.5

Back then, I had no idea how the David Duke story was going to end. On the new season

2:04.8

of Slow Burn, I'm going to look back at the Duke movement, and how he nearly became Louisiana's

2:10.1

governor. He really believed that inside every white person was a racist trying to get

2:15.9

out. We could feel the fish hooks of his propaganda,

2:20.7

hooking in the part of our brains, and just reeling us off to the side.

...

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