Analysis demolishes Trump’s 'ugly and false' claim Harris is 'against the Jewish people'

31 July 2024

One of Donald Trump's lines of attack against presumptive 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is that she is antisemitic.

During a recent campaign speech, Trump claimed that the vice president is "totally against the Jewish people." And during an interview with radio host Sid Rosenberg, Trump claimed "everybody knows" that Harris "doesn't like Jewish people" and "doesn't like Israel."

But MSNBC's Steve Benen, in a July 31 column, points out that Trump has offered nothing to back up his "ugly" and "false" claim — noting that Harris' husband, First Gentleman Doug Emhoff, is Jewish.

"At this point," Benen argues, "we could spend a few paragraphs talking about how wrong the Republican's attack is. We could also highlight the fact that Trump hasn't even tried to substantiate his absurdities with evidence. But as important as those points are, I'm struck by a larger point: Trump apparently believes he has credibility when it comes to antisemitism, but he really doesn't."

Benen goes on to note that Trump, who dined with white nationalist Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago, has claimed that Jews who vote Democrat "don't love Israel enough." And he points to an Axios article from March 18 in which some prominent Jewish lawmakers — including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland), called Trump out.

Raskin told Axios, "Luckily, I don't know any Jews who look to Donald Trump for advice on how to be Jewish. After all, this is the guy who saw 'very fine people on both sides' of an antisemitic riot and entertained the neo-Nazi Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes over at his house at Mar-a-Lago for dinner."

Benen observes that trying to browbeat Jewish voters into supporting him hasn't worked for Trump.

"In his earlier campaigns," Benen writes, "Trump has struggled badly with Jewish voters. If he thinks lying about Harris will change that, the Republican probably ought to lower his expectations."

Steve Benen's full MSNBC column is available at this link.

From Your Site Articles