During an interview with Sean Hannity, Donald Trump claimed he was unaware of Kanye West’s anti-Semitic remarks before the two shared a meal at Mar-a-Lago in November. White nationalist Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes also joined them at Trump’s Florida residence.
Hannity inquired about Trump’s thoughts on Kanye, who legally changed his name to Ye in 2018, in light of his controversial statements.
“When I was with him, he didn’t say that,” Trump said. “And when he asked me to have dinner because he needed some help, I didn’t say, ‘Well, what the problem?’ So, I didn’t know anything about his attitude toward—I’m not reading about Kanye, I’m reading about President Xi and I’m reading about Putin and Kim Jong-un. I’m not reading exactly about Kanye West. But when he came here, I think he—and I will say this, he didn’t say anything about anti-Semitism or anything else. And if he would’ve done that, I would have not been a happy camper.”
You might believe him – if you live under a rock. Trump has made eerily similar claims about other disgusting figures with whom he associated with, which turned out to be evident lies.
As a presidential candidate, Trump was asked if he would publicly reject the support of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, Trump said, “I just don’t know anything about him.”
Later in the campaign, Trump held a press conference to announce the endorsement of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. With Christie at his side, Trump was asked how he felt about receiving Duke’s support. “I didn’t even know he endorsed me,” Trump said, clearly irritated by the question. “David Duke endorsed me? OK. Alright. I disavow. OK?”
Trump was again asked about Duke in a Feb. 28 interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” by anchor Jake Tapper.
“I want to ask you about the Anti-Defamation League, which this week called on you to publicly condemn unequivocally the racism of former KKK grand wizard David Duke, who recently said that voting against you at this point would be treason to your heritage. Will you unequivocally condemn David Duke and say that you don’t want his vote or that of other white supremacists in this election?” Tapper asked.
“Well, just so you understand, I don’t know anything about David Duke, okay?” Trump replied. “I don’t know anything about what you’re even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. So, I don’t know.”
Trump went on to say that he did not want to condemn any groups until he knew something about them. He told Tapper to “give me a list of the groups” and he would review them. But Tapper returned to Duke.
“OK. I mean, I’m just talking about David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan here, but…”
“I don’t know any — honestly, I don’t know David Duke,” Trump insisted. “I don’t believe I have ever met him. I’m pretty sure I didn’t meet him. And I just don’t know anything about him.”
Trump also put out a statement that day, according to the New York Times, which referred to Duke as “a Klansman.”
However, Trump certainly knew who David Duke is.
Trump published a statement in the New York Times on Feb. 14, 2000, which read: “Mr. Trump painted a fairly dark picture of the Reform Party in his statement, noting the role of Mr. Buchanan, along with the roles of David Duke, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, and Lenora Fulani, the former standard-bearer of the New Alliance Party and an advocate of Marxist-Leninist politics.
“The Reform Party now includes a Klansman, Mr. Duke, a neo-Nazi, Mr. Buchanan, and a communist, Ms. Fulani,” Trump said in his statement. “This is not company I wish to keep.”
Time and again, Trump “never heard of” or has “no idea” about people when it’s inconvenient to him. And we’re seeing it again with his awful, indefensible dinner with two unapologetic anti-Semites.
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7 Responses
It’s more than likely that Trump did not even look over that statement before it went out to the NYT. And certainly he did not write it up himself. So it is possible that he wasn’t familiar with Duke.
And it’s also most likely that his meeting with Kanye was just stupidity on his part.
As stupid and unknowledgable as he is, a person in this country pretty much had to be in a coma not to have heard about West’s comments. If you didn’t know who David Duke was, you’re unfit to be elected to any office.
Its not even a joke anymore. This guy sits by the TV 15 hrs/day and doesn’t miss a thing. Obviously he knew about Duke, Kanye West, the Proud Boys etc. but he will deny knowing anything or blame it on someone else but NEVER take responsibility. He posted a picture of himself with a baseball bat this week on his Truth Social website along with a photo of the NY DA and then took it down when even Republicans were disgusted but 24hrs later blamed it all on some rogue unknown staffer who posted on his account w/o his approval.
Trump will accept support from ANYONE who expresses adulation of him regardless of their affiliations/associations. He will run over his own family with the bus and then back up several times if he thought for a moment it would help his standing with the MAGA crazies.
Why is ywn always trying to bash Trump.?!
What about all the vile antisemitism in the current administration??
Trump may not be perfect but who is?
The important thing is to get the democrats out.
“Trump may not be perfect but who is?….”
Unfortunately, there are limits on posting the names of those who satisfy your question. There are lamud vov politicial tzadikim even split between the two parties, any one of which would be better than 45 and the incumbent.
So the President that treated Israel the best and the religious community exceptionally well and whose son-in-law happens to be Jewish is really actually an antisemite who should never be elected because of said antisemitism.
Trump has made eerily similar claims about other disgusting figures with whom he associated with, which turned out to be evident lies.
Evident to whom? This is an evident lie by YWN. There is absolutely no reason to believe that Trump was not telling the truth when he said that he did not know who Duke was. The fact that he had made a statement about him 16 years earlier proves nothing at all. Do YOU remember every statement you made 16 years ago?! In 2000 he was told that this Klansman person was involved in the Reform Party. That is likely the first and last time he ever heard of Duke until 2016, and there is no reason to suppose the name would have stuck in his mind.
I have more difficulty believing that when West asked to see him because he was having problems, he didn’t ask what the problems were, and he didn’t bother finding out before the meeting. I think he must surely have had some idea, but maybe all he heard was that West had been accused, and hadn’t seen his actual statements.
I certainly believe he’d never heard of Fuentes before he showed up, because nobody who is not well read about politics has ever heard of the guy. And Trump is not a reader. He gets his news from TV, which has never given Fuentes much attention because he doesn’t deserve any.