Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, on Thursday disavowed anti-Semitic comments made by white supremacist leader David Duke, saying, ”Anti-Semitism has no place in our society.”
On Wednesday, Duke blamed Republican Jews for attempting to block Trump from becoming the nominee during his radio program. “I think these Jewish extremists have made a terribly crazy miscalculation because all they’re going to be doing by doing a ‘Never Trump’ movement is exposing their alien, their anti-American, anti-American majority position. … They’re going to push people more into an awareness that the neocons are the problem, that these Jewish supremacists who control our country are the real problem, and the reason why America is not great.”
Earlier Thursday, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) “>NY Times Thursday afternoon, Trump said he “totally disavows” Duke comments about “Jewish extremists.”
“Antisemitism has no place our society, which needs to be united, not divided,” said Trump.
The ADL welcomed Trump’s statement. “While no one should associate Mr. Trump’s own views with David Duke’s hatred, it is vital for political leaders to use their bully pulpit to speak out against bigotry,” ADL’s Greenblatt said in a follow-up statement. “We think it is important that Mr. Trump denounced the anti-Semitism of David Duke and has made clear that he disavows anti-Semitism.”
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