Rush Limbaugh Offers Theory on Why Trump Didn't Disavow David Duke, KKK in Sunday Interview

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh suggested on his program Monday that Republican front-runner Donald Trump did not disavow David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan during a Sunday interview because he may have been pandering for votes.

"Everybody's busting their head trying to figure out why wouldn't he denounce," Limbaugh said, according to an online transcript on his website. "Oh, no, no. Had a bad earpiece, wasn't sure what he was being asked, because when the Jake Tapper — this is key — when the Jake Tapper show ended, then Trump went out there started denouncing. He denounced on Twitter. He denounced everywhere else."

AP Photo/Ron Edmonds<

Limbaugh then offered a reason he thought might explain Trump's behavior.

"Let me throw a theory out there to you," he said. "The Sunday shows have, amazingly still, their own separate and distinct stature. What is said on a Sunday show is treated differently and may be different in terms of its weight than what is said in a little sound bite that's part of the nightly news, for example, or part of a guest appearance on a cable news show during the evening. A Sunday show, that's stature, by reputation. A Sunday show is serious, no fooling aroundIt's like 'for the record,' what you say on the Sunday show."

"And it could well be that Trump thinks of it that way and just didn't want the quote, did not want any sound bite from the Sunday show one way or the other because maybe Trump's nervous," he continued. "Maybe he's nervous after that debate. Maybe he's worried. The polls don't indicate it.

Limbaugh then suggested Trump may have been pandering for votes.

"Maybe he's worried that Cruz and Rubio are gaining on him, and he doesn't want to tick off anybody that might vote for him," Limbaugh said.

"Hey, my speculation's as good as anybody else's, because I can think of no reason that he would purposely dodge, when he's not dodged it before," he said. "I think about it being on a Sunday show, and that having more weight, more stature, something about it being these Sunday shows are TV shows of record, as opposed to your average cable news show, which happens every day or every night."

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