Why Didn’t Trump Unambiguously Disavow David Duke and the KKK?

Let’s review the theories—some condemnations, some apologies—that have been offered in explanation:

• The “dog whistle” theory: Trump was subliminally telegraphing thanks to David Duke, etc., for endorsing him as the white man’s last best hope and tacitly campaigning for redneck votes in Southern SEC primaries. This theory would be more convincing if Trump began speaking in a Southern drawl, as Hillary Clinton sometimes does when she is in Dixie.

• The Hitler speeches theory: Trump’s first wife revealed that he kept a bedside collection of the Fuhrer’s speeches. Trump admits it, claiming it was given him by a Hollywood executive whom he identifies as Jewish—but isn’t. Perhaps he prized it as a first edition.

• The earpiece theory: Trump says his earpiece was askew. Apparently, he thought Jake Tapper was asking him whether he liked Daisy Duke (of “Dukes of Hazard” television fame) not David.

• The Jewish Federation theory: this is a new one in which Trump claims that he couldn’t condemn the KKK because he might somehow be also condemning Jewish philanthropies by implication. Apparently, he suspects the Klan is an eleemosynary institution. After all, it provides white sheets and hoods at a discount.

• The contrarian theory: this claims that Trump just couldn’t consistently condemn Duke and the Klan because to do so would have been PC and against his brand or grain or “the art of the deal.” Of course, the deal may have been with bigots, in which case we are back to the “dog whistle” explanation.

I myself favor the biblical (Christian testament) explanation. As Jesus predicted, his apostle Peter—filled with fear—disowned him three times before the cock crowed. In Trump’s case, he couldn’t issue a consistent denunciation because there was a menacing Klansman behind the draperies pointing an Uzi at him.