Whelp, it’s been a wild 48 hours for Donald Trump and Jewish people across the world. The President, beloved and supported by anti-Semites, white nationalists, and hate groups alike, has made a serious of disturbing and bizarre proclamations regarding Jews, Israelis, and his own imagined stature among the chosen people.
It all started with Trump’s ongoing feud with Democratic Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, who have both been critical of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. Trump is, of course, closely aligned with Israel’s conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and has been openly anti-Muslim throughout his political career.
Trump attacked the congresswomen, saying “Where has the Democratic Party gone? Where have they gone where they are defending these two people over the state of Israel? I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.”
Today Trump said that Jewish people who vote for Democrats are disloyal. Disloyal to whom? I’m Jewish. My aunts were killed in the Holocaust. In their memory, I am proudly disloyal to Trump and the racist hatred he incites and inspires. #DisloyalToTrump https://t.co/4Wem9Gqgwp
— Nancy Levine 🌊 (@nancylevine) August 20, 2019
I am a loyal to my republic. I recognize that this democracy has a cancer and Donald Trump and his Republican enablers are the pathogen. This has fuck all to do with my religion. To even link the two is a pure anti-Semitic impulse by an ignorant, unfit cretin. #DisloyalToTrump https://t.co/GooyIVR1Qz
— David Simon (@AoDespair) August 21, 2019
Many Jews quickly took to social media using the hashtag #DisloyalToTrump to call out Trump for his remarks, which are blatantly anti-Semitic and hearken back to offensive stereotypes of Jewish people that date back over a century. Halie Soifer, executive director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, released a statement saying, “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.”
Furthermore, Trump’s declaration is part of the common presumption that all Jews, and American Jews in particular, fully and completely support Israel’s policies on Palestine, which is notably false. This kind of “all or nothing” assumption has led to a rise in anti-Semitism not only from the right, but from the left as well.
It’s a frustrating position for American Jews to be in, considering that the majority of American Jews are Democratic (72% of Jewish voters supported Democratic House candidates in 2018). It would be like the rest of the world assuming that all Americans are Trump supporters (Oh God, is that what the world thinks? We are so screwed).
Trump then doubled down on his “Israeli savior” narrative after conservative radio host and conspiracy peddler Wayne Allyn Root called Trump “the greatest President for Jews” and claimed that the people of Israel “love him like he is the King of Israel, love him like he is the second coming of God.”
Trump is quoting someone who calls him “the King of Israel” on par with “the second coming of God.” Two things: 1) it’s weird & offensive to say, in effect, “Jews love him like he’s Jesus.” 2) Christians should see this as blasphemy but many, especially in USA, won’t. https://t.co/Q341T49yZ7
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) August 21, 2019
Getting away from the irony that Jews don’t believe in a second coming, the last thing our narcissist-in-chief needs is an even greater God complex than the one he already has. Trump later referred to himself saying “I am the chosen one,” regarding the U.S.’s trade relationship with China. Very normal, very grounded, very stable genius.
We learn in med school that if someone comes to the emergency room calling themselves the King of Israel and the second coming of God, that patient is either high on drugs or is having a psychotic break and needs to be promptly evaluated with a tox screen and psychiatric consult.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) August 21, 2019
As an American Jew, I am of course horrified by the insane anti-Semitic nonsense spewing from our increasingly unhinged president. But as a regular human person, I am deeply disturbed that someone as mentally unfit as Trump has access to the nuclear codes. At this point, what more do we need to see/hear from him to push for impeachment? That’s not a rhetorical question, I’m genuinely asking what it will take. In the meantime, Trump needs to keep the Jewish people’s name out of his damn mouth.
In the wake of this bizarre tangent, #KingofIsrael, #ChosenOne, #25thAmendmentNow, and #Antichrist are all trending. Along with Dancing With the Stars. What a time to be alive.
BOW BEFORE THE KING OF ISRAEL! pic.twitter.com/O6eOB7K6Xk
— The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) August 21, 2019
(via Washington Post, image: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
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