Trump's Crocodile Tears for the Jews
Last week, Donald Trump went on Fox News and took offense on behalf of the Jews. Asked about Vice President Kamala Harris choosing Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate over Pennsylvanias Josh Shapiro, the former president declared: I think its insulting to Jewish people. Trumps own running mate, J. D. Vance, expressed similar sentiments at a Philadelphia rally, saying that he felt bad for Shapiro, and that whatever disagreements on policy you have about somebody, the fact that the vice-presidential race on the Democratic side became so focused on his ethnicity is absolutely disgraceful and insulting to Americans.
These claims didnt come out of nowhere. During the VP selection process, Shapiro faced legitimate criticism over his stances on subjects like school vouchers, but also a campaign by far-left activists to cast the Jewish governora sharp critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuas Genocide Josh, while ignoring the similar Israel stances of non-Jewish VP contenders such as Walz and Arizonas Mark Kelly. Shapiro has said that anti-Semitism played no role in his conversations with Harris, and theres no evidence that it factored into her ultimate decision. Nonetheless, the all-out assault against Shapiros prospective candidacy shocked many Jews and outside observers, who saw it as singling out the governor for his Jewish identity and insinuating that Jews secretly serve the Israeli state over America.
But the fact that Shapiro encountered anti-Semitism doesnt mean that we should take Trumps sympathy for him at face valuebecause we also know how Trump treats Jews once they assume leadership in the Democratic Party. Chuck Schumer has become a Palestinian, the former president recently told supporters in Pennsylvania, unleashing one of his new favorite slurs against the Senate majority leader and highest-ranking Jewish Democrat in the nation. Can you believe it? Hes become a proud member of Hamas.
What was Schumers offense? In March, he called for Israeli voters to replace Netanyahu. But months earlier, Shapiro publicly dubbed Netanyahu one of the worst leaders of all time. Harris didnt pick Shapiro, and so Trump today labels her choice as insulting to Jewish people. But had she picked Shapiro, Trump would be calling the governor a bad Jew over his strident criticisms of Netanyahu, just as he has derided Schumer. Thats because Trump doesnt actually care about anti-Semitism; he just invokes it for advantage.
Sadly, this approach is not unique to Trump. Its emblematic of the cynical politics of anti-Semitism today, where many political partisans attend to anti-Jewish prejudice only if it can be pinned on the other team. Otherwise, they either ignore it or make excuses for it.
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LetMyPeopleVote
(154,542 posts)C0RI0LANUS
(1,343 posts)I recall the Dotard went to the Wailing Wall to pray years ago. Uh-huh. And below is #45 at a church attacking Hilary Clinton when the pastor interrupts him.