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TRUMP SAYS JEWS TO BLAME IF HE LOSES  
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Jacob Kornbluh
September 19, 2024
Forward
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_ The speech was supposed to be about antisemitism but instead
trafficked in it, Trump’s critics said _

Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Sept. 19, 2024. , Chip
Somodevilla/Getty Images

 

In a speech Thursday billed as former President Donald Trump’s
answer to rising antisemitism, he said Jews would bear much of the
responsibility if he loses the presidential election. 

And in a second speech later in the evening, to the Israeli American
Council, Trump elaborated on his past assertions in recent weeks that
Israel would not survive if he doesn’t win in November, by painting
a doomsday scenario in which Iran launches nuclear weapons and
invoking the Holocaust.

“The Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss,” Trump said
during the first speech of the evening, an hour long address at an
event called “Fighting Antisemitism in America,” organized with
GOP megadonor Miriam Adelson, at the Hyatt Regency hotel on Capitol
Hill.

“You can’t let this happen,” he told his largely Jewish
audience. 

Trump in recent weeks has offended many Jews by questioning their
mental health for voting for Democrats — as most Jews do — and
predicting Israel’s demise should Harris win. But Thursday night’s
comments seem to represent an escalation in Trump’s rhetoric, in
that he singled out Jewish Americans — who represent only about 2%
of the electorate — as a significant reason he might lose the
election, one whose results he has never pledged to accept. 

Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, said
after the speech that Trump’s remarks endanger Jews.

“Treating Jews and Israel as political footballs makes Jews, Israel,
and all of us less safe,” she said in a statement. “Dividing Jews
into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ camps and engaging in dual loyalty
tropes further normalizes antisemitism.”

“Anyone who cares about Jewish safety should call it out,” she
added. “This is not partisan politics — it’s about the
fundamental safety of the Jewish community.”

HOW IT STARTED, HOW IT WENT

The Trump campaign had described his first speech of the evening as an
opportunity for the former president to speak to a group of “Jewish
leaders from all walks of life” about rising antisemitism. 

Trump outlined his plan to protect Jewish students by cutting funds to
universities that fail to protect them. He said he would take tough
measures to seal the border, and ban immigration from countries that
foment terrorism.

“I’m here today to tell the Jewish American community that this
ugly tide of antisemitic, pro-Hamas bigotry and hate will be turned
back and crushed starting at noon on Jan. 20, 2025,” he said,
referencing inauguration day.

Pro-Israel Jews, he continued, have an important role in assuring that
he can carry out his plan. “You have to defeat Kamala Harris more
than any other people on Earth,” he said, seemingly conflating
American and Israeli Jews. “Israel, I believe, has to defeat
her.” 

“And if not,” he added, “Israel will be eradicated.” 

Reached for comment, the Harris campaign provided a statement she gave
in response to Trump’s speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition
earlier this month. “Donald Trump has made it obvious he would turn
on Israel in a moment if it suited his personal interests, and in fact
he has done so in the past.”

The statement also described Harris as a fast friend of Israel: “She
has been a lifelong supporter of the State of Israel as a secure,
democratic homeland for the Jewish people. She has an unwavering
commitment to the security of Israel and will always stand up for its
right to defend itself.”

‘40% IS NOT ACCEPTABLE’

Trump often talks about his support for Israel in transactional terms,
suggesting Israelis owe him loyalty in return. Many Israelis
appreciate how, in his first term, Trump relocated the American
embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, recognized Israel’s control over
the Golan Heights, withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal and brokered
the Abraham Accords. 

And while his complaints about American Jews voting for Democrats have
grown common in recent weeks, the theme is not new. After the 2020
presidential election, in which 77% of Jewish voters chose President
Joe Biden, Trump accused them of ingratitude.

On Thursday, he repeated that assertion
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“I really haven’t been treated very well,” he said. “After
having done all of that, having been the best president, the greatest
president, by far.”

And he returned to his refrain
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that Jews supporting Harris “should have their head examined.”

This time, however, Trump said, without presenting evidence, that 40%
of American Jews support him. (A poll
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sponsored by the Jewish Democratic Council of America, showed Harris
with a 68% to 25% lead among Jewish voters, and a Pew Research Center
poll
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showed 34% of American Jews supporting Trump.)

“That means you got 60% voting for somebody that hates Israel,” he
said. “It’s only because of the Democrat hold or curse on you. You
can’t let this happen — 40% is not acceptable, because we have an
election to win.” 

A SECOND SPEECH, A HOLOCAUST COMPARISON

Later in the evening, Trump also addressed the annual summit of the
Israeli American Council at the Washington Hilton, and claimed without
evidence that a Harris win would mean the end of Israel, with Iran
targeting it with nuclear and ballistic missiles.

“If we continue down our current path, with four more years of
Kamala, Israel will be faced not just with an attack, but with total
annihilation,” Trump told the crowd. “Total annihilation, that’s
what you’re talking about. You have a big protector in me. You
don’t have a protector on the other side.” 

He asked the audience: “Can you imagine that a non-Israeli election
is the single most important election that Israel will ever have?”
and compared the months before the election to the period before the
Holocaust.

“You’re under attack like never before,” he said. “There’s a
very great similarity.”

Adelson, the widow of GOP mega-donor Sheldon Adelson, who has
committed to spend more than $100 million
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to boost Trump’s presidential bid, also helped organize the second
event of the night.

Introducing Trump, she described him as the only possible choice for
those who care about Israel.

At a time when the Middle East is in chaos and the Jewish state is
fighting for its survival, she said, American Jews “should already
have made up their mind on whom to vote for in November: Donald
Trump.”

* anti-Semitism
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* Donald Trump
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