Mike Pence refuses to call David Duke 'deplorable'
Donald Trump's running mate Mike Pence may not want former KKK leader David Duke's support, but he doesn't want to be mean about it.
Pence declined to call Duke "deplorable" Monday during a discussion with CNN's Wolf Blitzer about Hillary Clinton's statement that half of Trump's supporters are part of a "basket ofdeplorables."
"There are some supporters of Donald Trump and Mike Pence, David Duke, for example, some other white nationalists, who would fit into that category of deplorables, right?" Blitzer asked.
Pence said Trump has denounced Duke repeatedly. "We don't want his support and we don't want the support of people who think like him," he said.
"So, you'd call him a deplorable?" Blitzer asked.
"I'm not in the name-calling business, Wolf. You know me better than that," Pence said.
Pence tried to keep the focus on Clinton's statement. He called her "basket of deplorables" comment shocking. "The millions of people who support Donald Trump around this country are not a basket of anything. They are Americans. And they deserve the respect of the Democrat nominee for president of the United States."
The Clinton campaign jumped all over Pence's refusal to insult the former KKK grand wizard, saying in a tweet that anyone who won't call out the KKK, "has no business running this country."
“It’s good to see an individual like Pence and others start to reject this absolute controlled media,” David Duke told BuzzFeed. He also came to Pence's defense on Twitter, calling Clinton a hypocrite for her support of former West Virginia senator, and KKK member, Robert Byrd.
Byrd was indeed a member of the KKK, and Duke has often attacked the media for a double standard in the way Bryd's KKK legacy is treated in contrast to his own. Byrd, however, apologized for his past. Duke has expressed no such contrition — in fact, he called Blizter "an agent" of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in a tweet Monday night.
Duke's support first caused trouble for the Trump campaign back in February when Trump refused to disavow the support of the former KKK leader — he later blamed the incident on a faulty ear piece.
Pence repeated his denouncement of Duke on Fox News later Monday, and dismissed the criticism for his refusal to call Duke deplorable. "I get it, they wanted me to start using terms that Hillary uses. You’ve known me a long time, I’m not a name caller, I don’t play that game. But we have denounced David Duke repeatedly, we’ll continue to do that again.”
And on Tuesday when speaking to reporters Pence echoed his comments from yesterday.
“For all the world I have no idea why this man keeps coming up. I mean Donald Trump and I have dencounced David Duke repeatedly," Pence said, but added he still wasn't going to call Duke any names. "I believe that civility is essential in a vibrant democracy”
On Tuesday on CNN's New Day Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said that maybe Pence should have called Duke deplorable. Her reasoning? To avoid the pile-on of headlines.
