Salon: Exclusive: Head of Jewish Democratic Council of America denounces Trump speech as anti-Semitic

By Matthew Rozsa

The executive director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America told Salon on Sunday that President Donald Trump’s recent comments about Jewish voters continue “what has been a very negative stereotype of Jews and money and power.”

“He has said in the past that he wants Jews to be the ones counting his money,” Halie Soifer told Salon. “He has repeatedly made references to what has been a very negative stereotype of Jews and money and power.” After saying that “I think that he must believe it, and that is why he continues to repeat it,” Soifer noted that Trump was repeating claims that he has made when “typically speaking extemporaneously, and clearly he’s speaking from his heart. It’s clear that there’s quite a bit of hatred in it.” Soifer also criticized Trump for having “views of Jews as driven largely by money, which is why he said at this events that Jews have no choice but to support him, referring to tax cuts.”

She added that Trump said “those who don’t support Israel, they should — and this is not a direct quote — but essentially, they should leave. And then we saw hateful figures like Ann Coulter retweet that video and suggest that Jews are unpatriotic, that they don’t love America either. That is a good example of how the president’s hatred is amplified by others in the media to continue to spread these anti-Semitic tropes. And this is exactly why anti-Semitism and white nationalism have grown during his presidency.”