Donald Trump Continues His Long History of Pushing Antisemitic Tropes

Over the weekend, Donald Trump delved into his newest antisemitic rant, this time warning American Jews to “get their act together and appreciate what they have in Israel — Before it is too late!” This isn’t the first time that the leader of the Republican Party has used antisemitic tropes or surrounded himself with extremists and antisemites like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Steve Bannon.

After Neo-Nazis marched in Charlottesville yelling antisemitic chants, Trump said there were “very fine people on both sides.”

Vox: “President Donald Trump is still defending his infamous remarks in the wake of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, when he said, ‘You also had some very fine people on both sides.’”

Trump has called American Jews “disloyal” for supporting Democrats.

The Washington Post: “President Trump said Wednesday that Jewish Americans who vote for Democratic candidates are ‘very disloyal to Israel,’ expanding on his remarks from the previous day and dismissing criticism that his remarks were anti-Semitic. ‘I think if you vote for a Democrat, you are very, very disloyal to Israel and to the Jewish people,’ Trump said in an exchange with reporters outside the White House before departing for an event in Kentucky.”

He called the audience at a Israeli American Council speech “brutal killers. Not nice people at all.”

The Washington Post: “During a 2019 speech to the Israeli American Council, Trump told those assembled: ‘A lot of you are in the real estate business because I know you very well. You’re brutal killers. Not nice people at all. But you have to vote for me; you have no choice.’ He summarized his point by saying these people would have to support him out of financial self-interest.”

Trump has repeatedly pushed the dual loyalty stereotype, speaking to American Jews as if Israel is their country.

Times of Israel: “‘I want to thank Vice President Mike Pence,’ Trump said Thursday at one of two White House Hanukkah parties. ‘A tremendous supporter — a tremendous supporter of yours. And Karen. And they go there and they love your country. They love your country.’”

USA Today: “Jewish American groups criticized President Donald Trump for calling Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu ‘your prime minister’ during an address Saturday to the Republican Jewish Coalition. ‘I stood with your prime minister at the White House to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights,’ he told the audience at the RJC’s Annual Leadership conference in Las Vegas.”

Trump has also pushed antisemitic tropes about Jews having power over American politics. 

The Washington Post: “Later in the campaign, Trump tweeted an image of Hillary Clinton surrounded by money with the words ‘Most Corrupt Candidate Ever!’ inside a six-pointed star, the shape of the Star of David. Trump also ran an ad featuring several prominent Jews — George Soros, Janet L. Yellen and Lloyd Blankfein — while warning of ‘global special interests.’

And in the December 2021 interview, Trump offered perhaps his most suggestive comments on this front. ‘It used to be that Israel had absolute power over Congress, and today I think it’s the exact opposite,’ he said.”

Trump believes that more Jews should be voting for him simply because his daughter and son-in-law are Jewish.

The Washington Post: “He added in 2019: ‘I saw a poll that in the last election, I got 25 percent of the Jewish vote, and I said here I have a son-in-law and a daughter who are Jewish, I have beautiful grandchildren that are Jewish, I have all of these incredible achievements. I’m amazed that it seems to be almost automatically a Democrat vote.’”

The Washington Post: “In 2020, The Washington Post’s Greg Miller reported that Trump has said after speaking to Jewish leaders on the phone that they ‘are only in it for themselves’ and ‘stick together’ in ethnic allegiance. And he’s often suggested that ethnic allegiance should extend to him, because of Jewish members of his family.”