Trump Blames ‘Very Bad Earpiece’ For KKK Comments

Marco Rubio is picking up Monday where he left off, dogging Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump for not disavowing Sunday a white supremacist and the Ku Klux Klan.

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has declined to disavow support for his candidacy from a former Ku Klux Klan leader.

Trump told a reporter who asked about Duke, “I didn’t even know he endorsed me”.

A CNN contributor who doesn’t seem to understand how politics have evolved since the Civil War repeatedly insisted the Ku Klux Klan was a liberal organization. “Is he really so ignorant of southern voters that he thinks this is the way to their heart?”

But if Hall was expecting more evidence that Trump’s campaign is built upon white supremacy, she was in for a nasty surprise.

Trump claimed he believed CNN anchor Jake Tapper was asking him about “various groups” and not just the KKK during a Sunday interview.

Trump also said he has no plans to release his tax returns, despite pressure from Cruz and Rubio, because IRS audits are ongoing.

Huckabee himself said he will not endorse any candidate during the primary.

Ben Sasse (R-NE) to formally oppose Trump, the first sitting Republican senator to do so. Many have been telephone interviews.

To Noel, the crowds coming out to support Trump feel like their own opportunities are going away, and they’re sick of politicians who allow it to happen.

As Yoni Appelbaum wrote in The Atlantic, the Klan was three types of organizations: It was a terrorist group, and was also active in the civil rights era, which led to David Duke and present-day manifestations of the Klan.

It was some offhand comments that embarrassed “Morning Joe”.

“I know who he is, but I never met David Duke”, Trump said Monday. “I have some of the strongest support from the Jewish community in my hometown of Chicago and in this campaign”, he added, calling himself a “stalwart” on support for Israel. “You said there’s some potential there”.

I’ll put the transcript of the full exchange below so you can decide for yourself whether Trump was being cautious, ignorant or issuing a dog whistle to racists.

“If they violate the pledge, I will do something that will make them very unhappy”, Trump said.

“I have to look at the group”.

Trump: You may have groups in there that are totally fine and it would be very unfair. “Me, I get nothing”.

Even the Friday before, Trump acknowledged – and repudiated – the Duke endorsement.

“Um, clearly, let me just be clear”, Hall said. “But that’ll be up to the American people to decide”.

Scarborough has fought back against any characterizations that he’s been too friendly to Trump, and noted in the Washington Post that he hung up on the candidate after a December on-air discussion about Trump wanting to block Muslims from entering the country grew too heated.

As multiple reports indicated over the weekend, Trump has previously made clear he was familiar with Duke’s stances, lumping him in with the “underside” and “fringe element” of the Reform Party in a New York Times op-ed in 2000.