‘I totally disavow the Ku Klux Klan. ... Look at my Twitter account.’

Within the first 10 minutes of Thursday night’s debate, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump was asked to address one of his latest controversies: his sometime refusal to disavow the Ku Klux Klan.

“You’re probably about the 18th person that’s asked me the question,” Trump told Fox News debate moderator Chris Wallace when asked again for his thoughts on the KKK Thursday night.

“I totally disavow the Ku Klux Klan, I totally disavow David Duke,” Trump insisted, telling Wallace and anyone else who still wondered about his position on the matter, “Look at my Twitter account.”

On Feb. 28, Trump tweeted, “As I stated at the press conference on Friday regarding David Duke- I disavow.” But that was not enough to kill the conversation for good.

“When I do something on Twitter, everybody picks it up, it goes all over the place,” Trump said. “But when I did this one, nobody ever picks it up.”

Last week David Duke, a former KKK grand wizard and prominent white nationalist, told listeners on his radio program that “voting against Donald Trump at this point is really treason to your heritage.”

The endorsement attracted plenty of criticism for Trump, whose presidential campaign has been characterized by inflammatory comments. But even more controversial was the billionaire businessman’s apparent refusal to take an easy opportunity to denounce Duke’s backing.

When CNN’s Jake Tapper gave him the opportunity to do so, Trump simply played dumb.

“I don’t know anything about what you’re even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists,” Trump told Tapper on last Sunday’s “State of the Union,” insisting, “You wouldn’t want me to condemn a group that I know nothing about.”

Even after Tapper clarified that he was talking specifically about David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan, Trump declined to reject the endorsement.

“Honestly, I don’t know David Duke,” he said. “I don’t believe I’ve ever met him. I’m pretty sure I didn’t meet him. And I just don’t know anything about him.”

At the press conference days prior to the CNN interview, however, Trump seemed to be keenly aware of Duke after reporters asked him about his recent endorsement. Trump said, “I didn’t even know he endorsed me. David Duke endorsed me? OK. I disavow, OK?”

On NBC’s “Today” show Monday, Trump blamed his questionable response to Tapper’s question on a faulty earpiece. “I could hardly hear what he was saying,” Trump said.

(Cover tile photo: Jim Young/Reuters)