Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump is drawing criticism for refusing to denounce an implicit endorsement from former Ku Kluz Klan leader David Duke.
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Trump was asked during CNN’s “State of the Union” whether he publicly condemns “the racism of former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke”, who recently endorsed Trump. “But what I heard was ‘various groups, ‘ and I don’t mind disavowing anybody, and I disavowed David Duke and I disavowed him a day before at a major news conference”, Trump said.
Donald Trump blamed a faulty television earpiece on Monday for his failure to disavow support from a white supremacist, swatting aside the latest controversy to shadow his unorthodox march toward the Republican presidential nomination. “So give me a list of the groups, and I’ll let you know”, he told Tapper.
On Monday, the Trump said he was unable to hear the question due to a bad earpiece. He wrote of an “underside” and “fringe element” of the party, concluding, “I leave the Reform Party to David Duke, Pat Buchanan and Lenora Fulani”.
“I don’t know what’s in his head”, the OH governor told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota on “New Day”. Trump also said he had clearly made separation with Duke over the weekend in posts on Twitter and Facebook.
Tapper later clarified, “I’m just talking about David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan here”.
Trump’s initial response claimed CNN’s Jake Tapper talked about “other groups”.
Cruz deplored the “really sad” comments. I have a lousy ear piece that is provided by them.
When pressed, Donald Trump has mostly disavowed his support from the racist fringe of the American electorate. “It’s breathtaking”, the morning show host said on Monday.
“I think that in today’s society it’s important to disavow things that are so disliked and people that are so disliked by the general public”.
Cruz soon responded on Twitter, telling Trump: “You’re better than this”. In a video recorded by BuzzFeed’s McCay Coppins, ralliers can be heard yelling “Light the motherfucker on fire!” and “Shoot him!”
Trump was asked about his comments to Tapper.
The first question is why would Trump pretend to be so ignorant of American history that he refused to pass judgment on the Ku Klux Klan before receiving additional information? Last year, Boing Boing uncovered a 1927 New York Times article that reported the arrest of one Fred C. Trump during a “battle” in which “1,000 Klansmen and 100 policemen staged a free-for-all” in Queens, New York. “Trump will have plenty of time for that after he’s in the White House – if, in fact, that is something he cares about”. In Iowa, voters received robocalls in support of Trump voiced by an avowed white nationalist, though Trump’s campaign was not involved in those calls.
Haley, who is of Indian descent, mentioned the 2015 Charleston church shootings, in which a white man killed nine people in a historically black church.
“Trump’s rhetoric is a lot more hardcore on immigration and especially on Moslems [sic], though this is basically a stylistic issue rather than an ideological one”, Anglin said in an email. “You said there’s some potential there”.
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“I didn’t even know he endorsed me”, Trump said when he was asked about Duke’s public support.
