Apparently, der Drumpfenfuhrer had his fingers crossed
Donald Trump and the True Meaning of "I Disavow"
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/03/donald-trump-and-true-meaning-i-disavow
Here's what happened. A reporter asked Trump once again to comment on the David Duke/KKK endorsement, and Trump whined that he had already written a Facebook post and a tweet and, really, just how many times was he supposed to disavow the guy? But as Weisenthal points out, Trump repeatedly said "I disavow, I disavow, I disavow," without ever mentioning who he was disavowing. And since the reporters weren't given mics, you really couldn't hear what the question was about. You'd only know if you've been following this controversy.
I don't think this was a mistake. Trump has done it too many times. On Facebook, on Twitter, on Good Morning America, and then again last night. His ritualistic phrase is "I disavow" without providing a clear, simple soundbite about who or what he's disavowing. Nor does he ever say anything more in the way of condemnation. His Twitter and Facebook posts, for example, had merely this terse comment: "As I stated at the press conference on Friday regarding David Duke- I disavow."
It's pretty clear what's going on here. Technically, Trump is in the clear. He has disavowed David Duke. But there is no soundbite or video snippet that shows him clearly criticizing either Duke or the KKK or white supremacist groups in general. And as Trump knows better than anyone, it's audio and video excerpts that really matter. That's what people see, not brief Twitter or Facebook posts.
Trump now has the best of all worlds. He can truthfully say that he's repeatedly denounced David Duke. He can mock the media for unfairly making a big deal out of it. But for his less savory supporters, there's no video of him clearly and unequivocally condemning the Duke or the KKK—and they understand perfectly well what this means. They're old hands at the wink and the nod.
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