RADFORD, Va. — Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump came under fire over the weekend for refusing to disavow the endorsement of former Klu Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke. But to many of the billionaire’s loyal supporters, the former Klan member’s endorsement carries no impact.
“I don’t tend to worry too much about who’s endorsing who because that’s not me and they may have the same reasons, different reasons whatever to endorse him,” Robert Morley, a resident of Salem, told the Washington Examiner Monday, minutes before Trump took the stage at Radford University.
Morley conceded that though he wonders “why” someone like Duke would endorse Trump, it didn’t seem to bother the undecided Republican voter. “You do wonder, but then it’s like, I don’t care if you endorse him because there’s so many candidates. You’re going to endorse somebody.”
“But is there something majorly different that Trump would do for David Duke that the other candidates wouldn’t do? I don’t know,” he said, pausing to ponder the endorsement.
Joan Quarels, a Trump supporter from Nashville, Tenn., was far more concrete. Quarels called Duke’s endorsement “meaningless” and blamed the media for “blowing it out of proportion.”
“That has nothing to do with my decision to support him and I wouldn’t think that has anything to do with anybody’s decision to support him,” said Larry Rush of Christiansburg. “I mean, if I say my name is David Duke and I come on the media and I say I support Donald Trump, it shouldn’t hurt everybody that votes for Donald Trump.
“That doesn’t say Donald Trump’s in line with his views,” Rush charged.
Trump was slammed by his opponents and members of the media over the weekend for claiming, during an interview with CNN, he didn’t “know anything about David Duke.” However, the billionaire spoke at length about Duke during an interview with The New York Times in 2000, leading some to suggest Trump fears alienating a subset of his supporters who might sympathize with the KKK. During a press conference Saturday, Trump half-heartedly condemned Duke’s endorsement, telling an inquiring reporter, “I disavow him, OK?”
One Trump supporter from Virginia who hadn’t heard much about the controversial endorsement said she could “certainly” change her vote in the next 24 hours if she hears more and isn’t pleased.
“Between now and tomorrow, when it comes down to vote, if something happens that I don’t agree with, then I’ll change my vote,” she told the Examiner, declining to give her full name. “For me, I certainly don’t agree with racism or that kind of behavior. I haven’t heard a lot about that yet, but like I said — my vote can change.”
Trump on Monday morning said his refusal to disavow Duke and white supremacists during the CNN interview was because he had “a very bad ear piece” and “could hardly hear what [CNN’S Jake Tapper] was saying.” The New York businessman is set to address supporters in Valdosta, Ga., Monday evening following his rally in Virginia.
