Article
Donald Trump’s Long Record on Antisemitism
October 6, 2025
JDCA condemns all antisemitism from all sources. We recognize the wisdom of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’s dictum that “Antisemitism, or any hate, becomes dangerous in any society when three things happen: when it moves from the fringes of politics to a mainstream party and its leadership; when the party sees that its popularity with the general public is not harmed thereby; and when those who stand up and protest are vilified and abused for doing so.”
This is exactly what is happening in the Trump administration. The following examples illustrate instances of antisemitism espoused by Donald Trump and in the Trump White House:
- The Trump administration has cut vital funding for combating antisemitism, including:
- Freezing the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which helps keep synagogues, day schools, Jewish community centers, and other places of worship safe from attacks.
- Canceling funding for efforts to avert hate crimes against Arab, Jewish, and Asian Americans.
- Cutting funding to agencies that work to prevent antisemitism, including the Department of Education, which enforces Title VI complaints about antisemitism on campus.
- Ending DHS programs designed to thwart lone-wolf terrorist attacks like those carried out at the Capitol Jewish Museum and in Boulder, Colorado.
- Under the Trump administration, the Coast Guard downgraded the swastika – and nooses – from a hate symbol to “potentially divisive.” They reversed this decision only after receiving pressure from Jewish Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen and the broader Jewish community.
- Trump’s allies at the Heritage Foundation defended Tucker Carlson – another Trump ally – for platforming Nick Fuentes, who is widely known for Holocaust denial, white supremacy, and other antisemitic and anti-Israel views, including referring tothe Hamas attack on October 7 as “staged.”
- Trump’s nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel, Paul Ingrassia, said he has a “Nazi streak” and espoused racist and antisemitic rhetoric. When these facts came to light, making his nomination no longer viable, the Trump administration allowed Ingrassia to remain in his current White House role.
- Members of the Republican Party have increasingly made antisemitic statements or invoked Nazi imagery while the president and many top Republican officials have said nothing. Recent incidents include Young Republicans who joked about gas chambers and claimed “I love Hitler,” and a swastika seen in a Republican congressional office.
- Under the Trump Administration, recruitment materials for ICE have included a number of antisemitic and white supremacist dog whistles and references to antisemitic works.
- Trump openly used a centuries-old antisemitic slur to describe bankers at a rally in July 2024.
- The Trump White House is implementing the Heritage Foundation’s “Project Esther,” which uses antisemitism as a pretext for deporting foreigners and systematically attacking higher education.
- The Trump administration named Michael Anton, who has shared antisemitic conspiracy theories about George Soros, to lead technical talks with Iran.
- The Trump Administration plans to eliminate the role of Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, an ambassador-level position dedicated to combating worldwide threats to the Jewish community. The position was created with bipartisan support and is the most senior administration official focused on the threat of antisemitism.
- During a press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump claimed that Nazis treated Jewish prisoners with “love.”
- Trump’s first nominee to be one of the most powerful prosecutors in the country, Ed Martin, gave an award to white supremacist and Nazi sympathizer Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, who said that “Hitler should have finished the job.” Martin praised Hale-Cusanelli as an “extraordinary man” and “extraordinary leader.” Martin compared Joe Biden to Adolf Hitler and questioned Jews’ commitment to their religion if they vote for Democrats.
- Trump’s attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion have led to the U.S. Naval Academy removing a display case highlighting female Jewish graduates and Albert Einstein.
- On Friday, March 14, 2025, the head of the Trump Department of Justice’s antisemitism task force approvingly retweeted a post about Judaism by an infamous white nationalist.
- Michael Wolff, Trump’s biographer, said in an interview published in March 2025 that Trump “doesn’t care about Israel. He doesn’t care about anything but himself” and that Trump is antisemitic.
- Trump has appointed people with histories of antisemitism, white supremacy, and Christian nationalism to key positions:
- Elon Musk has a history of making disturbing comments about Nazis and Jews.
- FBI Director Kash Patel has ties to controversial figures known for promoting racism, antisemitism, and conspiracy theories.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth supports a new Christian crusade, and under his authority, the Department of Defense signed a $200 million contract with Elon Musk’s AI company to begin using Grok, an AI chatbot that recently praised Hitler and spewed antisemitic rhetoric.
- Joe Kent, who was confirmed by the Senate as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, has ties to neo-Nazis and white nationalists.
- Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Darren Beattie was fired in 2018 after CNN revealed he spoke at a conference attended by white nationalists and said that “competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work.”
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth supports a new Christian crusade.
- Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. peddled baseless conspiracy theories that undermined public health, including that Jews engineered COVID-19.
- Kingsley Wilson, a prolific purveyor of antisemitic conspiracy theories, was promoted to press secretary at the Department of Defense in May 2025 despite widespread condemnation from the Jewish community. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth continues to praise Wilson even as more evidence of her antisemitism emerges.
- A top Justice Department attorney praised ‘Mein Kampf.’ The same attorney is responsible for lawsuits dealing with antisemitic incidents.
- A Trump nominee for a key State Department position repeatedly shared the “Great Replacement” theory online.
- A May 14, 2025, report found that multiple Trump White House officials have ties to antisemitic extremists.
- On March 12, 2025, Trump said that Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer – the highest-ranking Jewish American elected official – “is a Palestinian as far as I’m concerned. You know, he’s become a Palestinian. He used to be Jewish. He’s not Jewish anymore,” again suggesting that Jews who are “disloyal” to him are not sufficiently Jewish. His use of the term “Palestinian” as a pejorative racial slur is antisemitic, racist, Islamophobic, and bigoted.
- Elon Musk and Steve Bannon have made what appear to be Nazi salutes and have not apologized or clarified their intentions. White supremacists interpret this as a sign they have support within the Trump administration.
- On his first day in office, Donald Trump pardoned, commuted the sentences of, and released from jail more than 1,500 individuals involved in the January 6 insurrection, including the heads of extremist militias convicted of sedition.
- Trump has repeatedly invoked Hitler and the Nazis, including reportedly expressing a wish for “Hitler’s generals.” His campaign released a video calling for the “creation of a unified reich.”
- Trump dined with Kanye West and white nationalist/Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes in 2022 at Mar-a-Lago.
- Trump said that there were “very fine people on both sides” of the 2017 Charlottesville march that featured white supremacists chanting “Jews will not replace us.”
- On August 27, 2025, Trump threatened to prosecute George Soros, a 95-year-old Holocaust survivor, invoking age-old antisemitic dogwhistles that wealthy Jews are controlling the world.
- Trump has a long record of antisemitism, including accusing Jews of disloyalty and other antisemitic tropes.
Click here to read a shortened version Trump’s record on antisemitism.