Greenblatt: Trump helped racism raise its head

Donald Trump’s rhetoric on the campaign trail and his failure to outright condemn white supremacists and the KKK has mainstreamed their racist views into the political conversation, ADL’s Jonathan Greenblatt suggested on Sunday.

“We are already seeing racism raise its head, right now, through social media and other means. We have also seen white supremacists express some degree of delight and satisfaction that their recruiting is up during this campaign,” Greenblatt told Israel’s Channel 1 on Sunday.

“The fact of the matter is, his failure to reject and repudiate their racism, their anti-Semitism, and their hate, with the same clear terms that he has used in the presidential debates, that he has used in his rallies, or that he has used about the other candidates, that lack of symmetry in the way he talks about white supremacists and racists, has helped to mainstream them into this political conversation,” he explained. “And that’s what we find so problematic.”

Asked if he’s worried about a Trump presidency, Greenblatt said, “I have no idea what a Trump presidency would bring. But I certainly don’t like what a Trump candidacy is bringing out in terms of these white supremacists.”

Trump addressed the issue during a Sunday morning interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation” program. “How many times do I have to reject? I’ve rejected David Duke. I’ve rejected the KKK, the Ku Klux Klan from the time I’m five years old I rejected them,” he told host John Dickerson. ” I say to myself, how many times do I have to reject or disavow?”

“I don’t like any group of hate. Hate groups are not for me,” Trump added.