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Donald Trump: Comparing my campaign pledge to a Nazi salute is 'ridiculous'

The GOP front-runner claimed the crowds simply were "having a good time" and even demanded he lead them in the pledge.
/ Source: TODAY

Donald Trump called it “ridiculous” for critics to compare the pledge he’s asking his supporters to take at his rallies, with their right hands raised, with World War II images of Nazi rallies.

"Honestly, until this phone call, I didn't realize it was a problem," the Republican front-runner said Tuesday in a live interview on TODAY.

Trump claimed the crowds simply were "having a good time" and even demanded he lead them in the pledge.

"If it’s offensive, if there’s anything wrong with it, I wouldn’t do it," he said.

Over the weekend, Trump urged supporters at a rally in Orlando to raise their right hand and repeat a pledge to vote for him. Despite critics comparing the scene to one of Nazi rallies, Trump repeated the effort at two more rallies days later.

The move comes just a week after the billionaire hesitated in distancing himself from the support of white supremacist David Duke, the former leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

Trump, who has been criticized for comments he has made singling out Mexicans and Muslims, called it “a big, big stretch” for people to compare images of his rallies with those of Jews being scapegoated during Nazi-occupied Germany.

But he said he will look into the claims and may reconsider the pledge at future events.

“I’ll certainly look into it because I don’t want to offend anybody. It’s been amazingly received, very well received," he said.

Trump heads into the next set of presidential contests with strong poll numbers. In Michigan, which will hold its election Tuesday, along with Mississippi, Idaho, and Hawaii, he holds a comfortable lead over Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, his closest rival. Trump currently holds an 87-delegate lead over Cruz.

Follow TODAY.com writer Eun Kyung Kim on Twitter.