Anti-Semitism Under Trump
The following interactive timeline tracks the sharp rise of anti-Semitism and white nationalism in the United States under President Trump, starting with the election of 2016 through the present day. JDCA monitors these incidents in order to raise awareness of this growing and persistent threat facing the American Jewish community today. Please click on the images and icons throughout the timeline to learn more.
Washington Post: “On the Friday before the 2016 election, Trump released a campaign ad repeating anti-Semitic tropes about global conspiracies that the ADL had previously condemned. The ad was illustrated ‘with images of prominent Jews: financier George Soros (accompanying the words ‘those who control the levers of power’), Fed Chair Janet Yellen (with the words ‘global special interests’) and Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein (following the ‘global power structure’ quote). The ad shows Hillary Clinton and says she partners ‘with these people who don’t have your good in mind.'”
In February 2017, Donald Trump repeatedly dodged questions about anti-Semitism. On February 15, Trump he did so by answering a question about anti-Semitism by talking about his Electoral College victory.
The next day, Trump brushed off an Orthodox Jew’s question about anti-Semitism by cutting the reporter off and not letting them finish speaking. Finally, on February 21, Trump condemned anti-Semitism in a lackluster fashion. Steven Goldstein, executive director of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect, called the condemnation “a pathetic asterisk of condescension.”
Trump’s press secretary Sean Spicer said that Hitler did not use chemical weapons during World War II, completely ignoring the use of gas to murder Jews during the Holocaust.
When asked “what about the Holocaust,” Spicer said that he knew Hitler brought Jews to “Holocaust centers,’ but Assad used gas on his own people differently – on “innocent” people.
There was a 57% increase in anti-Semitic incidents, the largest single year increase on record, resulting in 1,986 total incidents.
Prior to the 2018 midterm elections, then-House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy tweeted that George Soros, Tom Steyer, and Michael Bloomberg, all Jewish, were trying to “BUY this election,” employing the anti-Semitic trope of Jews controlling elections.
The tweet came less than 48 hours after a pipe bomb was sent to the home of George Soros.
In the aftermath of the Pittsburgh shooting, Vice President Pence invited a Messianic preacher, who invoke Jesus, in the name of Jews, at a campaign rally. So-called “Messianic Jews” are not a part of the Jewish community and espouse views that are deeply offensive to Jews.
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) used an anti-Semitic trope and questioned the ‘Jewishness’ of George Soros, saying that Soros “is supposed to be Jewish, but you wouldn’t know from the damage he inflicted on Israel and that he turned on fellow Jews and helped take the property that they owned. It’s the same kind of thing.”
ADL’s 2018 audit found 1,879 anti-Semitic incidents in the United States, the third highest year on record.
There has been a clear spike in anti-Semitic incidents since Trump announced his campaign in 2015.
Donald Trump calls Democrats “anti-Israel” and “anti-Jewish,” despite the fact that over 70% of American Jews vote for Democratic candidates.
That same day, Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) read Mein Kampf from the House floor. He later attempted to compare the Democratic Party to the Nazi Party, and has yet to apologize for either.
Trump referred to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu as “your Prime Minister” at a Republican Jewish Coalition event in Las Vegas. Anti-Semites commonly accuse American Jews of dual loyalty, alleging that they are more loyal to Israel than to the United States.
New polling from the Jewish Electorate Institute found that, compared to two years ago, 73% of Jewish Americans feel “less secure.” The polling also found that 59% of Jewish Americans held President Trump at least somewhat responsible for the recent synagogue attacks in Pittsburgh and Poway.
Trump claimed that Jews who vote Democratic have “great disloyalty.” This assertion invokes dual loyalty claims that Jews cannot be loyal to their home country because of their religion and connection to Israel.
Far-right pastor and TruNews founder Rick Wiles posted a video calling the impeachment process a “Jew-coup” and using language similar to those of the Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue shooter. The pastor tells viewers, “get it through your head. They’re [Jews] coming for you. There will be a purge. That’s the next thing that happens when Jews take over a country – they kill millions of Christians.”
Wiles and TruNews regularly employ anti-Semitic tropes and dog whistles in their videos. The Trump White House has given TruNews press credentials, and Donald Trump Jr. gave them an exclusive interview at a Trump rally.
“That's the way the Jews work. They are deceivers. They plot, they lie, they do whatever they have to do to accomplish their political agenda. This impeach Trump movement is a Jew Coup!"
If anybody wondered why we’re being gunned down in synagogue. pic.twitter.com/uLMrbqChCK
— Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (@TheRaDR) December 2, 2019
During a Hanukkah celebration in Monsey, NY, an anti-Semitic attacker entered the home of a Hassidic Rabbi hosting a Hanukkah celebration. The attacker stabbed five of the Hassidic Jews attending the celebration.
The Trump White House granted press credentials to anti-Semite Rick Wiles, who recently declared the impeachment of President Trump to be a “Jew coup,” for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. This is at least the second times that Wiles outlet TruNews, which is widely known for spreading anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, has received press credentials from the Trump administration.
The White House Correspondents' Association (@WHCA), which does *NOT* make credentialing decisions, confirms to me that the White House credentialed the anti-Semitic TruNews.
WHCA says it is raising this issue with the WH. https://t.co/g6a09Rw8wG
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 22, 2020
Jews in the United States will continue to face increased anti-Semitism and violence as long as right-wing anti-Semitism is tolerated, legitimized, and espoused by the President.
