http://www.weeklystandard.com/the-party-of-trump/article/2001337/The Party of Trump
Trump condemns anyone he dislikes - and goes soft on David Duke and the KKK.7:01 AM, MAR 01, 2016 | By STEPHEN F. HAYES
In the craziest weekend of a crazy campaign year, the 2016 Republican presidential race focused on a question that one might have expected in the 1920s or the 1950s. Does the Republican frontrunner want the support of David Duke, the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacists?
Welcome to the 2016 election and Republican party of Donald J. Trump.
It has been an eventful few days for Trump before the Super Tuesday contests on March 1.
*On Friday, Trump promised to impose severe restrictions on the free press if elected president. "Believe me, if I become president, oh, do they have problems," Trump said, speaking about the media. "They're going to have such problems."
Then, he got specific: "I'm going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money. ... So that when the New York Times writes a hit piece, which is a total disgrace — or when the Washington Post, which is there for other reasons — write a hit piece, we can sue them and win money instead of having no chance of winning because they're totally protected."
*On Saturday, Jay Nordlinger of National Review reported that Trump had praised the Chinese government for it's handling of The Tiananmen Square massacre. "When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it. Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength." As Time magazine reported, the government's action "left an unknown number dead, with some estimates in the thousands, and smothered a democratic movement."
*In a speech Saturday, Trump repeatedly noted the ethnicity of the judge in a case about Trump University and hinted he wasn't impartial because he is Hispanic. "The judge should have thrown the case out on summary judgment. But because it was me and because there's a hostility toward me by the judge, tremendous hostility, beyond belief––I believe he happens to be Spanish, which is fine, he's Hispanic, which is fine, and we haven't asked for a recusal, which we may do, but we have a judge who's very hostile."
*On Sunday, Trump retweeted a quotation from Benito Mussolini, originally tweeted by a fake pro-Mussolini Twitter account set up by Gawker. The quotation, attributed to Trump himself, read: "It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep." Trump defended his retweet: "It's okay to know it's Mussolini…It's a very good quote. It's a very interesting quote. I saw it – I know who said it."
*On Monday, as a protestor was removed from his rally, Trump shouted from the podium: "Are you from Mexico? Are you from Mexico? Are you from Mexico?"
*And then there's David Duke and the KKK.
The controversy began Friday when a reporter asked Trump at a press conference about the support of David Duke, former Ku Klux Klan leader. Two days earlier, Duke had urged his supporters to volunteer for Trump, saying, "You're gonna meet people who are going to have the same kind of mind-set that you have." He said: "Voting for these people, voting against Donald Trump at this point, is really treason to your heritage."
At the press conference, a frustrated Trump told the reporter: "I didn't even know he endorsed me. David Duke endorsed me? Alright," Trump shrugged. "I disavow it, okay?"
CNN's Jake Tapper raised the endorsement on Sunday, asking Trump if he'd go further than his grudging disavowal. "Will you unequivocally condemn David Duke and say that you don't want his vote and that of other white supremacists in this election?"
There are many difficult questions a presidential candidate faces over the course of a campaign. This isn't one of them. Condemn the white supremacist groups and denounce their hate. Then do it again. And again. And one more time after that to make sure your unqualified rejection is clear.
In 1984, Ronald Reagan answered a question about the KKK this way: "Those of us in public life can only resent the use of our names by those who seek political recognition for the repugnant doctrines of hate they espouse. The politics of racial hatred and religious bigotry practiced by the Klan and others have no place in this country, and are destructive of the values for which America has always stood."
Trump didn't do this. Instead, he refused to condemn those groups – in any way – and in his answers on CNN repeatedly made claims that weren't true.
"Well, just so you understand, I don't know anything about David Duke," Trump said. "I don't even know anything about what you're talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. So, I don't know. I don't know – did he endorse me or what's going on? Because, you know, 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."
Of course, Trump had been told about the endorsement two days earlier and, presumably based on what he knew about David Duke, immediately disavowed it.
Tapper followed up. "I guess the question from the Anti-Defamation League is, even if you don't know about their endorsement, there are these groups and individuals endorsing you, would you just say, unequivocally, you condemn them and you don't want their support?"
"Well, I have to look at the group. I don't know what group you're talking about. You want me to condemn a group that I know nothing about. Look, if you would send me a list of the groups, I will do research on them and certainly I would disavow if I thought there was something wrong," said Trump.
"The Ku Klux Klan?"
"You may have groups in there that are totally fine and it would be very unfair, so give me a list of the groups and I'll let you know."
"Okay, I'm just talking about David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan here."
"Honestly, I don't know David Duke," Trump claimed to Tapper. "I don't know if I've ever met him – I'm pretty sure I didn't meet him. I don't know anything about him."
One word in partial defense of Trump's answer: It's true that left-wing organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center have such an expansive definition of "hate group" that the meaning is sometimes unclear. And there's no doubt that many in the mainstream media ask Republicans to disavow fringe groups and practices but refuse to do the same to Democrats.
Still, there's no ambiguity about groups described as "white supremacists" or "the Ku Klux Klan" or individuals like David Duke.
And that was the question.
Trump knows who David Duke is and he knows that Duke has offered his support.
But, on Sunday, Trump feigned ignorance: "I don't know anything about David Duke" and "I don't know – did he endorse me?"
Beyond that, Trump has rejected Duke's support in the past. In an interview in 2000 with Matt Lauer, Trump explained his reservations about joining the Reform party. "Well, you've got David Duke just joined – a bigot, a racist, a problem. I mean this is not exactly the people you want in your party."
Strong Trump defenders and supporters urged Trump to clean up his statement. MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said Trump's refusal to condemn the white supremacist groups was "disqualifying." Alabama senator Jeff Sessions, who endorsed Trump Sunday despite his CNN interview, said: "I hope he makes that clear."
In an interview Monday on the Today Show, Trump blamed his answer on a faulty earpiece and suggested he hadn't heard the questions. But read the transcript or watch the video.
He uses the language of the questions in his answers.
So what explains Trump's refusal to "unequivocally condemn" Duke and the KKK on Sunday after having done so on Friday? It's hard to say with certainty. Maybe Trump makes a distinction between disavowing them and unequivocally condemning them. But it is the case that Trump's odd refusal to condemn these groups is consistent with the kind of reaction one might expect from someone who'd gotten negative feedback after his initial, grudging words.
There is an odd disconnect between Trump's behavior here and his behavior, well, in virtually every other context. One of the defining elements of Trump's candidacy is his willingness – his eagerness, even – to offer condemnations of anyone he dislikes.
Erick Erickson is "a total low life." Arianna Huffington is a "liberal clown." Chuck Todd is "pathetic." Charles Krauthammer is a "loser" and a "clown." Bill Kristol is "a sad case." Bob Vander Plaats is a "phony and a con man." Stuart Stevens is "a dumb guy who fails #everything he touches." Jeb Bush is a "puppet." Ben Carson is "pathological" with a temper that's "incurable" – "you don't cure these people. You don't cure a child molester." Marco Rubio is a "lightweight." Ted Cruz is "the ultimate hypocrite." Nicole Wallace is "a disaster." Rick Wilson is "dumb as a rock." Jonathan Martin is "dishonest." And on it goes. (The New York Times has provided a catalogue of "The 199 People, Places and Things Donald Trump Has Insulted on Twitter: A Complete List." The list is not, in fact, close to complete.)
After a year of the Trump candidacy, the political world knows well what it looks like when Donald Trump wants to offer an unequivocal condemnation.
When it comes to David Duke and the KKK, we haven't seen one.
