Trump is Being Antisemitic Again
It is not the first time that Trump has demonstrated a weird view of Jewish people and Israel
The quadruple indicted former President is at again, demonstrating that he still can’t help attacking Jewish people despite his appeals to Israel. In a deranged and overtly antisemitic post on his site Truth Social, the former President released a flyer that blamed “liberal Jews” for allowing Democrats to destroy America and Israel.
The post, which mockingly accuses liberal Jewish people of believing “false narratives,” lists various accomplishments that Trump seemingly believes entitle him to the Jewish vote. Among the accomplishments Trump listed was his administration's decision to recognize Israel’s capital as Jerusalem instead of its internationally recognized capital, Tel Aviv, childishly saying “no other president had the balls to do it.” He also notes his recognition of Israeli control over the Golan Heights despite serious international controversy and backlash from Syria.
But perhaps what is more fascinating and insulting about Trump’s post is that he mocks objections by Jewish people and advocates against antisemitism by writing, “clearly, one of the greatest antisemites of our time!” As if working to help Israel makes it impossible to hold antisemitic beliefs.
The comments play on age-old stereotypes towards Jewish people, suggesting that Jewish people are inherently tied to a dual loyalty to Israel and the United States. As Talking Points Memo’s Emine Yücel notes, Trump has received immense backlash from activists and academics alike, saying:
The Sunday night post got quick pushback from former government officials to academics.
Columbia Journalism Professor Bill Grueskin described the post as “Trump’s casual anti-semitism,” adding “it’s utterly absurd to think that most ‘liberal Jews’ cared whether the US embassy was in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. Or that they supported Israeli sovereignty over settlements in Judea and Samaria.”
“Even by Trumpian antisemitic standards, this is pretty disgusting,” CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs Amy Spitalnick tweeted. “And on Rosh Hashanah. We have normalized a very old school, very familiar type of antisemitic fascism in this country. It’s scary stuff.”
And Eric Columbus — a President Barack Obama appointee at the Department of Justice and a former special litigation counsel for the House of Representatives — let the post speak for itself by posting it alongside President Joe Biden’s Rosh Hashanah message.
These protests will likely do little to dissuade Trump despite repeated failures to appeal to Jewish voters in 2016 and 2020, something that is sure to frustrate the former President.
In 2016, the former President only got 23 percent of Jewish voters to support him compared to Hillary’s 71 percent. In 2020, it was even worse for the Republicans. Biden secured 77 percent of the Jewish vote. Whether or not Republicans like it, Trump has never been good at appealing to Jewish people.
And while I am not Jewish and can’t speak for Jewish people at large, I can’t help but notice a horrific attitude in Trump’s words.
What Trump’s actions demonstrate, maybe even scream, is an intense entitlement to Jewish support and respect that he has not earned. No demographic deserves to have political figures demand their unconditional support, Democrat or Republican. But it is especially galling for a former President to demand support for a group of people he has repeatedly tied to a foreign country that many of them have never seen.