Ever since the election, there’s been a rising tide of antisemitism. Swastikas and Nazi language has cropped up in graffiti on Jewish sites and community centers. There’s been a rise in hate speech specifically targeting Jewish people. Throughout the campaign and beyond, Trump supporters have been explicitly and implicitly anti-Semitic online and on social media. Just in the past few weeks, suspected bombers have been captured before they launched attacks on Jewish community centers, and there’s been a rash of bomb threats to Jewish centers around the country. Over the weekend, a Jewish cemetery in St. Louis was vandalized and 100 headstones were destroyed.
And President Donald Trump has been utterly silent about all of it. Some would even say that Trump and his people have gone out of their way to avoid any mention of the threats made against Jewish Americans. After all, this is the same White House which didn’t feel it was necessary to explicitly mention the millions of Jews murdered by the Nazis on Holocaust Remembrance Day. When a Jewish reporter pressed Trump to answer direct questions about anti-Semitic terrorism last week during Trump’s unhinged press conference, Trump literally told the reporter to “sit down” and then Trump launched into a disturbing diatribe about how he’s the least racist and least anti-Semitic person ever and that the reporter was not nice for asking the question.
The White House did issue a vaguely-worded statement about the vandalization at the Jewish cemetery, but once again, there was no specific mention of anti-Semitism or specific threats to Jewish communities. So now people are like “why is it so f–king difficult for Donald Trump to just say some words about this?” It’s getting so bad that Ivanka Trump – who converted to Judaism to marry Jared Kushner – had to do some damage control on Twitter:
America is a nation built on the principle of religious tolerance. We must protect our houses of worship & religious centers. #JCC
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) February 20, 2017
That didn’t placate anyone, because Ivanka Trump is not the leader of the free world (ugh, I just made myself sick). And then this morning, Hillary Clinton decided to chime in:
JCC threats, cemetery desecration & online attacks are so troubling & they need to be stopped. Everyone must speak out, starting w/ @POTUS.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 21, 2017
Is this just Hillary poking at Baby Fists a little bit and trying to make him angry? I think it’s a little bit of that, but mostly she’s just saying “It shouldn’t be this difficult to speak out on hate crimes.” Of course, I doubt Emperor Baby Fists would ever go up to the podium and speak directly to all of the neo-Nazis and white supremacists who voted for him and tell them to cut that sh-t out.
Update: Trump just made a statement: “I will tell you anti-Semitism is horrible, and it’s going to stop and it has to stop. Of course, and I do it [denounce it], wherever I get a chance, I do it.”
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Because the white supremacists embraced him first and they are his base. Heck he dismantled the Taskforce against hate crimes. He’s got Bannon right by his side. And circumstancial evidence is that his Dad was a Klansman.
Exactly, he’d alienate a chunk of his bigoted supporters.
This, he isn’t going to bite the hand that feeds him.
Exactly. People call Trump “refreshingly honest”. Well it would be refreshingly honest if this clown just admitted that this is why he won’t denounce Anti-Semitism.
Yes, that’s exactly right.
Things we can do: Call our elected officials to ask them to denounce anti-Semitism (and all religious bigotry) and the current spate of anti-Semitic crimes (bomb threats, desecration). And support the courageous work of the Southern Poverty Law Center, tracking and opposing white supremacy and hate groups for more than half a century.
https://www.splcenter.org/
The Southern Poverty Law Center has a Hate Map of the U.S. that everyone should see. It maps hate groups in every state. It’s on their website. I’ve always admired their work, but just donated to them for the first time after the election.
Not only that but HE courted them first. Who else was he talking to with the “Mexicans are rapists” bullsh*t. He went after them like they’re an 18 year old pageant contestant.
Exactly, Luca. He has been throwing the white supremacists gifts his entire first month in office. It is amazing that it took so much pressure for him to do such a simple thing, like denounce anti-Semitism.
And then when he does do denounce, he phrases it so awkwardly!
“Of course, and I do it [denounce it], wherever I get a chance, I do it.”
WTF?
I just saw that Santorum is saying that Muslims are behind the rash of anti-Semitic acts. Always have to find a minority to blame, no matter what the facts show!
Santorum is the Republican party’s patsy. They always test out the worst messages on him to see how they will play and he isn’t smart enough to figure out their game.
Either Hillary’s tweet worked or something in the National Museum of African American History and Culture touched his frozen heart because he said words about this after his museum tour.
Plastic Barbie was right beside him and probably whispered, “Optics, optics.” We know nothing touches his heart. Except money.
Plastic Barbie should march him three blocks down the street for a tour of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Maybe then he will understand why anti-Semitism must be addressed.
He doesn’t explicitly condemn any kind of hate. Some think it’s because his base are haters. Some think it’s because the ones pulling his strings won’t allow it. I think it’s probably both. Trump is beholden to some very nasty characters, I’m convinced of that. Hopefully all will be revealed soon.
All will be revealed if we pressure our elected officials to investigate and reveal it.
The Senate Intelligence Committee is a good bet for now:
https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/
The Judiciary Committee also asked for information:
https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/
If members are from your home state, you can call and urge them to investigate and report in an urgent fashion. If your home state is not there, you can still call because this is a matter of national importance.
Oh, IDK, maybe because it would anger his KKK and deplorable followers? Or maybe because it doesn’t register on his personal scale of importance? Or maybe because he’s an ignorant piece of shit?
All of the above, I’d say.
He doesn’t care. It’s deliberate. And he doesn’t want to go against his base.
The Anne Frank Center made a good point:
“When President Trump responds to Anti-Semitism proactively and in real time, and without pleas and pressure, that’s when we’ll be able to say this President has turned a corner. This is not that moment.”
The FBI have opened an investigation. This is normal procedure. Hopefully, we won’t have anymore incidences like this again. I am also hoping that whoever has been involved with these threatening issues will be made known to the public.
Lose the very racist, facist, disgusting Neo-Nazi pathetic loving people who supported Donald Trump. That would be a tough sell for ignorant Jackass of a POUTUS to get rid of. No go for Donald Trump…. that is no go for him.
The question is the answer, really. He’s not doing it.
There is a very worrying rise of anti-“otherness” everywhere. Here in the UK universities are being investigated because a lot of little anti-semitic groups have been popping up here and there on campus.
You need to tackle these things right away and not normalise them. A President has to reassure his citizens and establish a level of decendy and respect for every human being.
Hillary was exactly right to speak out, and we know it will rankle him because he cannot let it go.
She expertly baited him, again.
I’m not over her losing the election. I’m trying but I’m still in the moment I woke up, turned on my phone and saw “president-elect trump”.
He hasnt tweeted anything today, which is highly unusual for him. Even forgetting that Hillary just called him out, when was his last weekday that didnt start with an early morning tweet fest?
I think he just did at the black history museum
Yep, he did. Not to move the goalposts, but it seems so hollow for him to say these things but still work with a neo-Nazi. Don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining.
True enough, can’t argue with that logic
Gosh, I love it when she trolls him.
If possible, I would like to add that Trump’s daughter, and daughter in law are Jewish. He has a close relationship with Jared. He has several Jewish friends. Just because you identify as Christian doesn’t mean you are prejudiced against Jewish people.
what?
@ original kay – my thoughts exactly. Just ignore.
Sure. Are you one of those racists who isn’t racist because you have that one black friend?
So he’s not anti-Semitic, he’s just a coward then? Well someday his Jewish grandchildren will come to realize what a disgusting coward he is. He’s a humiliation to his country and his family.
I was thinking about those grandchildren, who until recently lived in NYC, when the story circulated about swastikas defacing the NYC subway. Of course those kids probably never rode the subway. Nevertheless…
All the more reason and it should not take having relatives of a certain religion be the reason you tell your bigoted hate filled followers to cut the shit.
Huh? This has nothing to do with his Christianity (yeah right the only thing this dude worships is money) and I’d like to point out that just because one has Jewish friends, that does not preclude one from being Anti-Semitic.
Hi Kitten, sorry to hijack but I wanted to say thanks for recommending Pod Save America. I spent a good part of my day off listening,. I *love* those guys. My friend and I used to dish about our “author crushes” — Michael Lewis and Dave Eggers were a couple. But now I think “wonk crushes” are my new thing!
I’m so happy you like it, Esmom! As I said, it was a C/Ber who turned me on to it so I’m happy to pay it forward.
I love how angry those dudes get and Jon Favreau (no not THAT Jon Favreau) is such a cutie.
HI
I would also like to say thanks for recommending Pod Save America. Love it!
Trump worships at the Church of the Holy Dollar.
And just because you end up related by marriage to Jewish people, doesn’t mean you’re not still anti-Semitic. When my uncle married my aunt, his bigoted parents barely spoke to him for YEARS. They only tried to repair the relationship when their health was failing and he was the only responsible child they had who could and would take care of them. Their only grandchild – my cousin – barely knew them and barely shed any tears when they died. They didn’t even meet her until she was almost three, and that was by accident – they bumped into them in a mall.
The point is he hasn’t been criticising the attacks, regardless of his personal beliefs
Did you see the Anti-Semitic memes he forwarded about Hillary during the campaign? This is not about his “religion”, it is about his behavior.
And I put “religion” in quotes because he isn’t Christian. He just uses it when he wants to manipulate conservatives. See “Two Corinthians”.
To me I put this in the same camp as how so many men hold deeply sexist and misogynistic views but then will think/say things like “All women are *this* but not my daughter.” They always think they’re daughter is the exception or “has business sense like a man!” rather than examining their deeply held prejudices and the fact that maybe all other women aren’t some sort of inferior hive mind.
I bet he does think ‘less of’ Jewish people but just holds his daughter and her family as “exceptions” the same way sexist men think of their daughters as exceptions to their sexist views.
The I have Jewish/minority friends, family, acquaintences card is meaningless.
Employing neo-nazis DOES tend to identify oneself as a fellow neo-nazi.
Great point, cynic!
Is it wrong that I find Ivanka hypocritical in this? Yes, she spoke out, but on the other hand she supports everything her father stands for.
Ivanka thinks she can do damage control for him. She loves to post pictures of her kids whenever he does something horrifying. She is wrong and Twitter reached out and slapped her yesterday
She totally overestimated her appeal. America has put Baby in the corner.
Another thing she overestimated is her and her husband’s ability to drive the crazy train. I would guess, like her dad and her husband, she suffers from born-on-third-base-and-thinks-they-hit-a-triple syndrome. Quite mediocre.
Ivanka is just worried that Jewish people won’t buy her cheap products if she doesn’t “speak out”. If she truly cared and was appalled by her father being in bed with neo-Nazis, she wouldn’t have been supporting him publicly.
Yes, it’s hypocritical. Tolerance for her religion. But fear and be intolerant of that other one.
Although at least someone associated with the white house said something (worded clearly) against antisemitism. Because seriously it’s the bare minimum.
Her father, who she supports, just tried to institute a Muslim ban.
Her calling for religious tolerance now is the VERY DEFINITION of hypocrisy.
It’s not wrong, she’s a major hypocrite. And why the f$ck is she the one to denounce this? Ridiculous.
No, you’re not wrong.
1. Writing a tweet is hardly doing something effective, especially for people with as much power as Ivanka and her father.
2. She waited until the Jewish community suffered a month of terror to even make the meager step of writing the tweet.
No I don’t think you’re wrong. She will only speak up if it benefits her brand.
“America is a nation built on the principle of religious tolerance.” Oh Ivanka my dear… could you talk to your father about this. You know, the guy who attacks an entire religion?! Just follow the orange brick road and you will find him.
She is such a troll. If ever there was someone who needed to sit down and shut up, it’s Ivanka Trump.
Seriously.
So-called president Trump knows that his followers include deplorables and he doesn’t want to ruffle their feathers. He relies on their support. Trump also didn’t speak out against the man who murdered five innocent men and injured many others in a mosque in Canada. Hate is a two way street and it’s not just the immigrants Trump is afraid of that potentially can cause harm. Murderers, rapists and fanatics come from all walks of life, religions and races.
No one wants to be the word “police” and it’s too easy to let racist comments slide from friends, neighbours and leaders. Not just a president but all people must speak out against hate.
Pink Shirt Day, a project to end bullying, is upon us. We want to teach our children NOT to act the way Donald Trump acts every single day.
Speaking out because your family is threatened is not heroic, it is selfish since she never speaks out against the anti-Mexican and anti-Muslim rhetoric. I’m waiting to see if Trump does away with churches and houses of worship as “safe havens” for immigrants, because if he does what will Ivanka say then?
She’ll just post more pictures of her kids
You made me think of the people killed, including an eight year old girl, at the apparently hastily arranged ill-advised raid in Yemen that Trump signed off on recently. It was done “without sufficient intelligence” sources said. I can believe intelligence is taking a back seat in the WH in the era of Trump and Bannon.
robyn, intelligence is absolutely taking a back seat with Easy D. I was just reading yesterday that Trump wasn’t even in the situation room while the raid was occurring because he had to eat dinner. I can’t even keep up with his nonsense anymore, there’s just so much that’s appalling about him.
@Robyn, Ivanka responded to the news of that child’s death by posting a picture of her daughter celebrating Chinese New Year.
EsoMom, can you IMAGINE if Obama had been eating dinner instead of being in the situation room during any type of raid?! They’d have called for his god damned impeachment. Lord, this is just whacky and f*cked up and I want it to end.
babyfists’s success is all about divisiveness. He’s richer than you (appeal to people who think garish taste and display equals wealth), he’s had more women than you (appeal to sad men who can’t find a girlfriend), he went to a better school than you (he got into U of Penn as a transfer student thereby bypassing Penn’s rigorous entrance requirements), only he can save people (you are stupid and can’t figure it out like I have).
In his typically vicious mode of demogogic diatribes he targeted Muslims and others as the enemy to divide the American people. He is devoid of genuine feeling for anyone apart from himself. Condemning or disavowing any kind of hate crime is not part of his very small universe.
Amen, to your last two sentences especially. Remember the Orlando nightclub and his immediate response was basically “I told you so.” He doesn’t have a compassionate cell in his body.
Why do people still have such high expectations of the Dark Orange Lord? He hasn’t spoken out because it doesn’t stroke his ego or fit his narrative. End of
The fact that he won’t come out strongly against anti-Semitic violence despite having immediate family members who are Jewish makes him a coward and arrogant beyond belief.
The KKK is on the rise because of his rhetoric and the people he’s surrounded himself with.
The GOP is having problems controlling him, but he might end up having problems controlling his white supremacist fan base, especially if he doesn’t get out ahead of this ugliness sooner rather than later.
And still not a word about the many threats to mosques in his name
Exactly.
Also, thinking back to a (former) Jewish friend who professed not to see the anti-Semitism in Trump/Bannon’s culminating campaign ad – the one about the global banking conspiracy. How is that friend being willfully oblivious now? I may never know.
The statement he did make was weak as heck. We know he doesn’t care. DT is beyond ridiculous.
His followers are just so happy he’s sticking it to those evil brown folks and the “lying MSM” that hurts DT by reporting what he says and does.
Just going to leave this story from Forward (Jewish news site) here. It explains a lot:
http://forward.com/opinion/363545/the-disturbing-alliance-between-zionists-and-anti-semites/
At this point any expectation of reasonable behavior for this administration or his actions need to be set aside. Trying to assign rationality to an issue where reality is denied is literally pissing up a flag pole. There was a recent NPR interview (yesterday, To The Point Maybe?) with an expert in the field of aging, mental cognitive signs, and expectation of behavior, etc. Other than the usual discussion of “is trump a narcissistic sociopath” this was more toward the idea that, given his age, all the clear traits of negative behaviors are now being amplified by degeneration of the brain.
Basically, the interviewee (and Dr) said other than the glaringly obvious reasons he is unfit to serve as president (lack of knowledge, inability to reason, russia etc) he may also already be the 90 yr old drunk uncle who calls every one racial slurs and doesn’t shower for weeks.
When is he going to start to”make America great again” ?
When he resigns, gets impeached, or implodes.
Ha! It’s just so simple…when he and his whole rotten team go away. Fall into a sinkhole or something.
He is going to make America great again when he dies or gets impeached or hopefully for our sakes just resigns when he realizes everyone hates him.
Donnie boy is not about to offend all the racist, biggoted, anti-semitic supported who voted for him is he? He knows why he won. He knows he will need their hatred-filled, putrid votes in 2020 again. He is so horrible.
Because he doesn’t actually care. He only cares about chanting crowds.
Please contact ALL SENATORS and demand that Jeff Sessions recuse himself.
https://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/chuck-schumer-jeff-sessions-must-recuse-himself-from-the-flynn-investigation/2017/02/21/ddecef5c-f556-11e6-8d72-263470bf0401_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-e%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
Is there a template or script available? I want to get my wording right esp the legal statue that calls for Sessions to recuse himself.
Click the link, it’s in the story in the Washington Post.
Seriously where are his speech writers? I read this as:
Of course, and I do it [denounce it], wherever I get a chance, I do it.”
“I do it wherever I get a chance. I do it.” Like it’s pro anti semitism. Someone get him an English coach.
He needs a healthier brain. This is beyond coaching or speechwriting. As well, he doesn’t want to be clear about it. In a way, he’s telling the truth.
This, totally! I read what he said and thought, “this is a statement”?
“wherever I get a chance, I do it.” Bullshit. He’s POTUS (barf) and can’t keep off twitter, he literally has the world’s media waiting to report anything he says, and this is the first he’s ever denounced it, if that weak nonsense can be called denouncing it.
As everyone before me has said, he doesn’t want to offend his base of bigots.
He had the chance to do so in the press conference when the Jewish reporter asked him. He’s a piece of s**t, pure and simple.
+1trillion
And on Holocaust Remembrance Day. And every day.
Good points, Lucy2 and Floydy!
I wanted to ask this for some time now: why is he called ‘Baby Fists’?
His tiny hands, representing his tiny dick. Which he tries to compensate for with money, power, and bluster.
Thanks SusanneToo !
I’d add his brain and his heart are also small.
I think its because he has very small hands for a man, and he acts like a whinging baby most of the time.
Baby attitude is what came to my mind first. Thank you as well !
He is always angry like a baby when they are upset.
I think the biggest reason is, someone made fun of him for it, and instead of ignoring it, he made a big deal of it, which let everyone know that it actually bothered him, which of course made people make fun of them more, which made him even more defensive, which leads to more teasing…
Seriously, this is why people need to go to public elementary school! There’s valuable lessons there like “don’t let on that something bothers you or it just makes people tease you about it more!”
He never uses his twitter for good causes, its always used to get back at his enemy’s, the media and anybody who says anything indifferent about him, he is very immature among other things, that he cant give clear policies and thoughts on things. I agree that he wants to make sure not to upset his main base, so he tries not to condemn racist things that are happening, because he knows most of his base are these type of people.
He couldn’t even acknowledge Presidents’s Day without smearing his MAGA sleaze all over it, an insult to every president before him.
I love this sign re Presidents’ Day.
http://twitter.com/marchriska/status/833799961938685952
He’s a bigot period.
I just wanted to thank you, Kaiser, for publishing this piece. I’m pretty terrified about all of this and how quickly all of these overtly anti-Semitic acts have taken place since EBF has been in office. My son goes to a Jewish preschool and we have a baby on the way and I can’t help but think we’re bringing them into a world that’s scarier for Jews than it’s been in 50 years.
For many years, even through the birther thing, I thought Tru*mp was being outrageous for show, just to get attention. Through the 80s and 90s he said in interviews that he was supportive and voted for liberals. Now I see that the whole liberal-leaning thing was a sham, and he’s been a die-hard racist his whole life.
One of those racists was himself Jewish–Roy Cohn. He defended Tr*mp and his father in the 1970s when they were sued for not renting their apartments to African-Americans. For those who aren’t familiar with him, Cohn was Joseph McCarthy’s chief counsel in the McCarthy Hearings. He also helped convict the Rosenberg’s and pushed for their execution. He and Tr*mp became inseparable friends (interesting kind of, since Cohn was gay, but I won’t speculate further on that…) This piece explains more about their history:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/21/us/politics/donald-trump-roy-cohn.html?_r=0
Who wants to bet Trump attends Shabbat dinner with Ivanka and Jared this Friday to,show he is not Anti-Semitic.
My husband told me that some of the Jewish people in our neighborhood who voted for him are turning on him.
As a Jew, Ivanka’s statement and Trump’s statement leave a lot to be desired. You cannot adequately condemn antisemitism if you are remaining silent about the rise the same types of harassment & threats targeted at the Muslim community. Of course, Trump’s rhetoric is why so many people feel entitled to “Trump” all over minorities they don’t like