Watching Donald Trump say insane things either on his social media account or in real life has become something of a national pastime, a game we all play, and each with our various skills: Republicans are masters of ignoring the most awful and incendiary of Trump’s statements, his followers are the true believers who hang on his every word, the cable news pundits excel at treating his outbursts as something we should expect every day, and… well, I deliver them unto you, the faithful reader, with snark and style.
No need for my own take on his latest misstep, however — the people he inadvertently attacked in what turned out to be an extremely accurate comparison to Hitler (as overplayed as that trope is) went ahead and addressed his nonsense themselves. How was it Adolf-esque?
The Jews are not loyal to the State.”
“I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge, or great disloyalty.”
Now, which of those things was said by which man? Well, you know, of course, and so did Jewish leaders in America, who I’m fairly certain heard echoes of a führer in Trump’s words as well.
It’s unclear who @POTUS is claiming Jews would be “disloyal” to, but charges of disloyalty have long been used to attack Jews. As we’ve said before, it’s possible to engage in the democratic process w/o these claims. It’s long overdue to stop using Jews as a political football.
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) August 20, 2019
The fact that Trump unironically accuses Jews of disloyalty to America if they are not lockstep Republicans is even more troubling when one considers the massive swell in anti-Semitism on the right since his inauguration. It’s doublespeak for Republicans to attack “The Squad” — who have consistently and repeatedly denoted “the Netanyahu government” in their criticisms, not “Israel” or “Jews” — when white nationalists are Trump’s primary supporters, and those who cite Trump as an influence are shooting up synagogues.
Yet another example of @realDonaldTrump continuing to weaponize and politicize anti-Semitism. At a time when anti-Semitic incidents have increased – due to the president’s emboldening of white nationalism – Trump is repeating an anti-Semitic trope. https://t.co/3kqDcsObdA
— Halie Soifer (@HalieSoifer) August 20, 2019
If this is about Israel, then Trump is repeating a dual loyalty claim, which is a form of anti-Semitism. If this is about Jews being “loyal” to him, then Trump needs a reality check – we live in a democracy and Jewish support for the @GOP has been halved in the past four years. pic.twitter.com/MhnCUETWIt
— Halie Soifer (@HalieSoifer) August 20, 2019
That’s the official statement of the Executive Director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America. She’s in a position to know — the numbers are in front of her.
Perhaps Trump thinks those numbers should be tattooed on Jews’ wrists.
Featured image via screen capture
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