Pence refuses to call former KKK leader ‘deplorable’

Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence said Donald Trump’s campaign does not want the support of David Duke, but he stopped short of calling the white nationalist “deplorable.”

Pence was asked Monday in a CNN interview whether he would say Duke is deplorable, an adjective used by Democrat Hillary Clinton to describe half of Trump supporters.

Duke is a white nationalist and former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan who has endorsed Trump.

Pence says, “I’m not really sure why the media keeps dropping David Duke’s name. Donald Trump has denounced David Duke repeatedly. We don’t want his support and we don’t want the support of people who think that way,” Pence replied.

But when asked if Duke is deplorable, Pence said, “I’m not in the name-calling business.”

Clinton’s campaign quickly hit back, tweeting “If you won’t say the KKK is deplorable, you have no business running the country.”

If you won’t say the KKK is deplorable, you have no business running the country. https://t.co/mFut8Qrz9A

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 12, 2016

Last month Duke, who is running for US Senate in Louisiana, urged voters in a robocall to vote for him for Senate and Donald Trump in the presidential election.

“Unless massive immigration is stopped now, we’ll be outnumbered and out-voted in our own nation. It’s happening,” Duke said in the automated call, a recording of which was posted online by Buzzfeed on August 29.

“We’re taxed to death. We’re losing our jobs and business to unfair trade. We’re losing our country,” he added.

“It’s time to stand up and vote for Donald Trump for president and vote for me, David Duke, for the US Senate.”

At a rally on August 25 Clinton strongly criticized Trump for using his campaign to promote prejudice.

“From the start, Donald Trump has built his campaign on prejudice and paranoia. He’s taking hate groups mainstream and helping a radical fringe take over one of America’s two major political parties,” she said.

“Now, some people will say that his bluster and bigotry is just over-heated campaign rhetoric – an outrageous person saying outrageous things for attention. But look at the policies Trump has proposed. They would put prejudice into practice.”

Clinton’s scathing criticism of Trump — who she called “a man with a long history of racial discrimination” — is seen as a response to her opponent calling her a “bigot” the previous night at a rally in Mississippi, where he also described her as someone “who sees people of color only as votes, not as human beings worthy of a better future.”