Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence was urged by a GOP senator Tuesday to use the word “deplorable” to describe white supremacist David Duke and to “denounce the alt-right movement.”
Pence, the governor of Indiana, made the rounds in the U.S. Senate with an eye on smoothing over frayed relations between Donald Trump and some conservative lawmakers. He met with Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who has refused to endorse Trump and who said the campaign must take a tougher stance against Duke and the alt-right movement that some have described as racist.
“Lee emphasized that Republicans must identify David Duke’s racism as deplorable, acknowledging that he ordinarily uses terms like ‘deplorable’ to describe messages, ideas, actions and organizations, but not people,” a GOP aide said.
“This, Lee explained, is consistent with his belief as a Christian that even people who do bad things are redeemable. Lee also encouraged the Trump campaign to be explicit in its denunciation of the alt right movement.”
Earlier today, Pence called Duke a “bad man,” but told reporters he has not labeled Duke “deplorable” because he does not typically resort to name-calling.
Pence’s label for Duke is an issue because Hillary Clinton said half of all Donald Trump supporters are in a “basket of deplorables.”
Pence also met with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who was Trump’s chief primary opponent and who refused to endorse the nominee at the Republican National Convention in July.
