Former Grand Wizard of the KKK David Duke recently made positive comments about Republican front-runner Donald Trump. He did not endorse Trump's candidacy. But it came close enough for Trump's critics -- within and without his party -- to hammer him for failing to issue an immediate and sufficiently full-throated denunciation of Duke.

"Voting for these people, voting against Donald Trump at this point, is really treason to your heritage," said Duke on his radio program a couple weeks ago. "I'm not saying I endorse everything about Trump. In fact, I haven't formally endorsed him. But I do support his candidacy, and I support voting for him as a strategic action. I hope he does everything we hope he will do."

CNN's Jake Tapper asked Trump to "unequivocally condemn" Duke. Trump replied: " Well, just so you understand, I don't know anything about David Duke. OK? I don't know anything about what you're even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. So, I don't know. I don't know, did he endorse me or what's going on, because, you know, I know nothing about David Duke. I know nothing about white supremacists. And so you're asking me a question that I'm supposed to be talking about people that I know nothing about."

Tapper reframed his question: "But I guess the question from the Anti-Defamation League is, even if you don't know about their endorsement, there are these groups and individuals endorsing you. Would you just say unequivocally you condemn them and you don't want their support?"

Never mind that Donald Trump, just days earlier, said about David Duke: "David Duke endorsed me? Ok. All right. I disavow." Or that in 2000 Trump said: "The Reform Party now includes a Klansman, Mr. Duke, a neo-Nazi, Mr. Buchanan, and a communist, Ms. Fulani. This is not company I wish to keep."

Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell chastised "one of our presidential candidates" of "seeming ambivalence about David Duke and the KKK." Paul Ryan, the Republican speaker of the House, also hit Trump for his insufficient rejection of Duke's supportive words. And, of course, Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, race card at the ready, weighed in, saying: "I was very disappointed that he did not disavow what appears to be support from David Duke and from the Ku Klux Klan."

Meanwhile, another well-known anti-Semite also expressed positive feelings towards Donald Trump. The Nation of Islam's Minister Louis Farrakhan said: "(Trump) is the only member who has stood in front of (the) Jewish community and said, 'I don't want your money.' Anytime a man can say to those who control the politics of America, 'I don't want your money,' that means you can't control me. And they cannot afford to give up control of the presidents of the United States. ... Not that I'm for Mr. Trump, but I like what I'm looking at."

Did the Democratic National Committee or Hillary Clinton, or even Messrs. McConnell and Ryan, call for a denunciation of Farrakhan? The Anti-Defamation League posts a laundry list of Farrakhan's anti-Semitic comments, including that "Judaism is nothing more than a 'deceptive lie' and a 'theological error' promoted by Jews to further their supposed control over America's government and economy." And about Judaism, Farrakhan once called it a "gutter religion," while praising Adolph Hitler.

A white anti-Semitic racist bigot must be denounced, but a black one enjoys a no-fly zone?

Speaking of double standards, both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton aggressively pursue the endorsement of the Rev. Al Sharpton. Sharpton once called Jews "diamond merchants" and helped fan the flames during the Crown Heights riots, which pitted blacks against Jews. Captured on tape, Sharpton bellowed, "If the Jews want to get it on, tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house." Sharpton also called whites who moved into Harlem "interlopers."

President Barack Obama, for his re-election campaign of 2012, received the endorsement of the Communist Party of the USA. One of their publications said: "Re-electing Obama is not sufficient to bring economic recovery or even relief to our people. Only a different class configuration in political power can do necessary minimum reforms to give us a chance. But re-electing Obama is absolutely essential."

Communism has more blood on its hands than the KKK: Estimates of the number of people killed under Joseph Stalin range from 6 million to 60 million; under Mao Zedong between 30 to 80 million; and under the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia 1.7 to 2.5 million. Obama did not seek the Communist Party's support, and reporters quite properly refrained from asking him to reject it. But Donald Trump did not seek the support of David Duke -- yet he was asked to denounce it.

The out-of-the-blue campaign success of Donald Trump serves once again as a laboratory that exposes left-wing hypocrisy. It's a long and winding road until November. Follow the flashing double standards.

COPYRIGHT 2016 LAURENCE A. ELDER

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