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Trump’s David Duke Denials
David Suderman, Senior Editor at Reason Magazine, is wondering why Trump pretends to not to have any knowledge of supporter David Duke, when in 2000 Trump specifically pointed Duke out as the reason why Trump wouldn’t ever run on a ‘Reform Party’ ticket.
Trump supporters: What say you?
Donald Trump Repeatedly Refuses to Disavow Support From Former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke
Trump claims he doesn’t know who Duke is. He did in 2000.
Over the course of his campaign, Donald Trump has managed to attracted openly racist supporters, including, most recently, David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan (KKK) grand wizard who declared last week that voting against Trump would be “treason to your heritage.”
So how does Trump feel about Duke’s endorsement? Asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper this morning whether he would disavow Duke’s endorsement and the KKK, the GOP [frontrunner – FIFY Suderman] repeatedly declined to do, saying, instead, that he just didn’t know much about David Duke.
Here’s what Trump said:
I don’t know anything about David Duke, OK? I don’t know anything about what you’re even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. So I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know — did he endorse me or what’s going on? Because I know nothing about David Duke. I know nothing about white supremacists. And so you’re asking me a question that I’m supposed to be talking about people that I know nothing about.
When Tapper followed up, clearly noting Duke’s connection to white supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan, Trump again responded that he would “have to look at the group” before weighing in further.
But Trump certainly knew who David Duke was in 2000. As The New York Times reported at the time, Trump declined to be a presidential candidate on the Reform Party ticket explicitly because of Duke’s Klan connections:
Published in GeneralMr. Trump painted a fairly dark picture of the Reform Party in his statement, noting the role of Mr. Buchanan, along with the roles of David Duke, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, and Lenora Fulani, the former standard-bearer of the New Alliance Party and an advocate of Marxist-Leninist politics.
“The Reform Party now includes a Klansman, Mr. Duke, a neo-Nazi, Mr. Buchanan, and a communist, Ms. Fulani,” he said in his statement. “This is not company I wish to keep.” [via Justin Green]
Indeed, Trump seemed to know who David Duke was last Friday, when he gave a flip disavowal of the former Klansman’s support: “David Duke endorsed me? OK, alright. I disavow, OK?”
Since then, Trump appears to have decided to play dumb about Duke and the Klan, and to pretend that he knows nothing about them at all. That’s a lie, and it’s a lie that tells you plenty about the kind of campaign that Trump is running.
If Maria from West Side Story can feel pretty, the Donald can feel rich.
It is a shame that DocJay is no longer with us. His observations were quite insightful and preferable to the anti-Trump cicadas that predominate presently.
By anti-Trump cicadas I presume you mean “conservatives”
No.
What’s the matter with you? A J.D. from ND is a big deal and you know it.
I don’t question the frivolity of some of the Donald’s suits. I’m your worst enemy because I approve of any individual’s right to protect themselves and I’m hoping this individual (if elected) chooses to take umbrage at the endless slights made against my country.
Liz- My point was not that Donald Trump is frivolously litigious, though he is. It was Donald Trump was unable, in a suit he chose voluntarily to initiate, to provide any evidence that he is worth more than a few hundred million dollars. For a man whose claim to competence is based almost exclusively on having built a multi-billion dollar fortune this alone should be disqualifying. If Trump isn’t a fabulously successful businessman, by his own reasoning, he’s not much of anything.
I’m not saying you need to be a great businessman to be a great president, but that’s the rationale behind Trump’s whole candidacy. If Trump isn’t the great success he claims (and he hasn’t been able to provide any evidence that he is) he’s nothing more than a loudmouth jerk with too much spray tan and a bad combover.
I just checked a couple of P&Ls and I can’t find a line for Capitalized Wishes or Feelings Equity. I really think I’m missing out on an opportunity to raise my company’s valuation with feelings.