Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) on Tuesday said that he still thinks that Donald Trump is preferable over a Democratic presidential candidate, even if Trump purposefully avoided disavowing former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, according to the Huffington Post.
The Huffington Post asked Rounds on Tuesday about Trump’s Sunday interview regarding Dukes endorsement of his campaign. The Huffington Post noted to Rounds that after Tapper told Trump that he was “just talking about David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan,” Trump said he didn’t know anything about Duke.
“I think it’s an unfortunate response — very unfortunate response,” Rounds told reporters, according to the Huffington Post.
Rounds then reasoned that Trump would do more to address the federal debt than Democrats.
“Even if you’re disappointed with the way he’s responding to things, even if you’re mad at him, you disagree with him, if he did it intentionally — I don’t think he did, I think he just made a mistake — even if he did, they’re still going to do a better job with him there than if you had Hillary or Bernie in his place,” Rounds said.
Earlier in the exchange, Rounds was asked about Trump’s campaign and his comments regarding the KKK.
“If he is the nominee, then will he bring more people out or won’t he? You can call it transactional, but it’s factual,” Rounds responded, according to the Huffington Post.
Rounds later said that he “can’t think of a single person who would be in favor of, or promote anything to do, or give any credibility to any movement that would suspect or promote additional activity on the part of white supremacists.”
“Down the line, Republican or Democrat, there is no room anyplace for supporters of the KKK or any other white supremacist group,” the Senator added.
