If you’ve noticed an uptick in Republican antisemitism lately, you’re not imagining it: there’s been a noticeable rise in antisemitism among Republicans since 2021.
Media Matters found more than 100 examples of Republican lawmakers and electoral candidates “embracing and promoting” people and organizations that engage in antisemitic tropes and hatred of Jews. The most high-profile example is Donald Trump’s recent meeting with Ye (formerly Kanye West), who recently said that he “likes Hitler” and threatened to go “death con 3” on Jews, and Nick Fuentes, a Holocaust denier who has said that Jews “should get the fuck out of America.”
Other Republicans who have engaged in antisemitism include Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, and Lauren Boebert, all of whom regularly post on the white nationalist social media platform Gab. Greene has also paid over $37,000 to Gab. Many Republican state senators and house members have been interviewed on the antisemitic outlet TruNews, whose owner, Rick Wiles, claims that a Jewish cabal controls America.
But it’s not just individuals who engage with antisemitism. Entire wings of the Republican party, like local Republican parties in Ohio, Georgia, and Wyoming, have performed outreach among antisemites and white nationalists.
Is Republican antisemitism new?
Although there’s been an uptick in the past two years, antisemitism on the right is nothing new. Take, for instance, right-wing support for the occupation of Palestine. Christian Zionists (that is, Evangelical Christians who identify as Zionists) push for military aid to Israel not because they love Jews or feel bad about the Holocaust. Instead, they believe that sending all Jews to Israel will bring about Armageddon. They see Jews as cannon fodder for their apocalyptic fantasy.
With that said, though, Republicans’ newfound confidence openly courting antisemites should set off alarm bells. Antisemitism is part of the backbone of fascism, and the American fascist movement—with all of its bigotry and violence—is quickly gaining steam.
(featured image: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
