Rahm Calls Out Trump For Playing With 'Dark Forces' During Early Voting
By aaroncynic in News on Feb 29, 2016 5:46PM
(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Mayor Rahm Emanuel took a verbal swing at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump Monday morning for not denouncing the support the candidate-cum-carnival barker received from white supremacist and former grand dragon of the Klu Klux Klan David Duke.
After casting his early voting ballot, Emanuel told reporters that Trump was playing with “dark forces.”
According to the Tribune, Emanuel said:
“Over the weekend, whether it was dealing with Mussolini or David Duke, his statements or the lack of clarity around his statements, you know, you sleep in the bed you make. And I think that playing with dark forces come back to haunt you. And this is not a joke."
Trump’s latest terrible gaffe came on CNN’s State Of The Union, after he was asked if he would disavow support from Duke, who said that voting against Trump would be “treason to your heritage.” “I don't know. I don't know—did he endorse me, or what's going on? Because I know nothing about David Duke; I know nothing about white supremacists,” said Trump after being pressed on the issue.
The billionaire real estate mogul has since tried to blame his comments on a faulty earpiece, CNN reports, and Tweeted a video of himself at a press conference saying “David Duke endorsed me? OK, all right. I disavow, OK?"
Emanuel, who has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, also said that assumptions of Trump not being electable were misguided.
“some people make the assumption it's easier to run against Donald Trump," he told the Tribune. "All those assumptions you kind of know the last six months haven't come true in the sense of his viability of his candidacy."
While indeed, Trump has aligned himself with plenty of dark forces, (be it not immediately publicly disavowing support from a racist, white-nationalist klansman, retweeting racist, factually incorrect things from other white supremacists, calling for the deportation of all Muslims, or accidentally quoting Italian fascist Benito Mussolini) he’s also spread plenty of money around Illinois. Rahm himself took $50,000 in donations from Trump during his first bid for mayor in 2010. Additionally, records from the Illinois State Board of Elections pulled by the Sun-Times in September show the Cook County Democratic Party took more than $12,000 from Trump, Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) netted $1,000, and former governors Rod Blagojevich and George Ryan received money as well.