Preemptively blaming Jews, Trump crosses a dangerous line - Ruth Marcus WaPo

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But when it comes to his comments about Jews, Trump has managed to outdo himself — at a campaign event billed as condemning antisemitism in America, no less. “I’m not going to call this as a prediction, but in my opinion, the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss if I’m at 40 percent” Jewish support in the polls,” Trump said Thursday, likely overstating his backing among Jewish voters.

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This is both of a piece with Trump past and crossing a hazardous new line, at a time when antisemitism in the United States is exploding and the broader American Jewish community feels vulnerable and besieged. In Trump’s previous comments about Jews and the election, he has seethed with resentment that ungrateful Jewish voters have failed to reward Trump for all the wonderful things he claims to have done for them and Israel. Yet his latest remarks go beyond the typical Trumpian petulance and grievance. They threaten, if he does lose, and especially if he continues this line of argument, to unleash the fury of disappointed Trump supporters on Jews. It does not take much to imagine the backlash, and the violence, that could ensue. We Jews know something about being scapegoated.

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As bad or worse, Trump consistently speaks in ways that suggest American Jews have dual loyalty to the United States and Israel. There was Trump speaking to Jewish Americans at a White House Hanukkah party in 2018: Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen “love your country. And they love this country,” he said. He called Benjamin Netanyahu “your prime minister” at a 2019 Republican Jewish Coalition event. In a 2020 Rosh Hashanah call with American Jewish leaders, Trump said, “We really appreciate you; we love your country also.” Your, your, your. Wrong, wrong, wrong. We are Jewish Americans, not Israelis, and it is beyond insulting to imply otherwise. I love Israel, but my country is the United States.

And it is wrong, no matter how much Trump portrays it differently, to think of Jewish Americans as monolithic, single-issue, Israel-only voters, and support for his candidacy the requisite payback in a purely transactional enterprise. “Any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion,” Trump said in March. “They hate everything about Israel and they should be ashamed of themselves because Israel will be destroyed.”

Trump’s been on this rant about supposedly self-hating Jews for months now. He has no standing to lecture me or anyone else about what it takes to be a good Jew. His ominous new turn is instructing other people that Jews like me would be at fault if he loses. And that is not just insulting — it’s threatening and dangerous. We’ve seen this move before. It needs to be called out because it does not end well.

https://wapo.st/4dnhP4P