Whoever decided to try to ruin House Majority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise by revealing his ties to David Duke, ended up lionizing Duke instead.

In an interview with Fusion.net explaining his connection to current House Majority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), Duke said that he is exceptionally well-connected within the U.S. political class and that charges of racism against him are a product of the media’s “zionist” and “tribalist” mentality.

Incoming Majority Whip Scalise has come under fire over a speaking engagement with Duke’s pro-white EURO (European-American Unity and Rights Organization) foundation in 2002.

According to Duke, the rush to repudiate Scalise and his possible white-nationalist sympathies is “all bullshit.”

“I’ve grown up” since his days as a Grand Wizard of the Klan, Duke told Fusion’s Brett Logiurato via phone. “And I know who the real racists are.”

Then, in a classic case of role reversal, David Duke threatens to use his own tarnished reputation as a racist to ruin the reputation of any politician who attacks Scalise by revealing the attacker’s ties to Duke! Ha!:

“Why is Scalise being singled out? I don’t know,” he said. “He was just going [to the EURO conference], obviously, to tell voters about some of his initiatives on some tax matters. That’s what it’s all about. And I think it’s insane, this whole process.”

He issued a warning to Democrats and Republicans who might try to ruin his friend’s career.

“If Scalise is going to be crucified — if Republicans want to throw Steve Scalise to the woods, then a lot of them better be looking over their shoulders,” Duke warned, intimating that he would reveal his ties to any politicians who attack Scalise.

Let that be a lesson to character assassins everywhere. Careful who you try to ruin through guilt by association. He who tries to smear today, may well find himself smeared tomorrow.