Displacement and Replacement: The Political History of David Duke, Patrick Buchanan, and Racial Resentment

Abstract

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, David Duke and Patrick Buchanan drew on long-running discourses about White replacement and displacement in their political campaigns. Duke, former leader of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, used White displacement fears to earn elected office in the Louisiana state legislature. He then ran for governor, senator, and president, but was thwarted in these campaigns partly thanks to Black voters. Duke’s presidential ambitions were also undercut by the journalist and television personality Patrick Buchanan, who coopted Duke’s message to seize his base. Despite trying several times, however, Buchanan was also unable to win the presidency. His main achievement was to push the Republican Party rightward, paving the way for the racialized populism of Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump.