Trump Says Jews Who Vote for Democrats Show ‘Great Disloyalty’
“Any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat -- I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty,” Trump said.
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump said Jews who vote for Democrats are either ignorant or disloyal after two U.S. congresswomen were blocked from entering Israel because they support a boycott of the country over its treatment of Palestinians.
“Any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat -- I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty,” Trump said Tuesday during an Oval Office meeting with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.
The president’s comments came in response to a question about two freshmen Democratic representatives -- Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar -- who he said were plotting a “propaganda tour” of Israel and the West Bank. Trump had encouraged Israel not to let them into the country, a move that was ultimately criticized in Washington by Democrats and Republicans alike.
Trump has called Tlaib and Omar the “face” of the Democratic Party and has seized on their criticism of Israel to attract Jewish voters.
“Five years ago, the concept of even talking about this, even three years ago, of cutting off aid to Israel because of two people that hate Israel and hate Jewish people. I can’t believe we’re even having this conversation,” Trump said, referring to Tlaib and Omar’s suggestion that U.S. aid to Israel should be slashed. “Where has the Democratic Party gone? Where have they gone where they’re defending these two people over the state of Israel?”
Democratic Voters
American Jews have historically voted overwhelmingly for Democrats. In the 2018 midterm elections, 79% of Jews backed Democratic candidates, according to Pew Research Center.
Trump has made several controversial pro-Israel policy moves, such as moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and urging the country to block Tlaib and Omar from entering. He’s cultivated ties to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, including inviting him for a White House visit shortly before he stood for re-election.
Many of those actions, however, have been criticized by Jewish groups across the political spectrum. The Union for Reform Judaism, which represents the largest denomination in North America, denounced Trump’s call for Tlaib and Omar to be blocked, as did the pro-Israel lobby group American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the progressive Jewish group J Street.
J Street on Tuesday called the president’s latest remarks “disgusting.” The nonprofit Republican Jewish Coalition, however, stood by Trump’s comments.
“President Trump is right, it shows a great deal of disloyalty to oneself to defend a party that protects/emboldens people that hate you for your religion,” the group wrote, adding that the Republican Party “always acts swiftly and decisively” to punish anti-Semitism among its own ranks.
But Halie Soifer, executive director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, condemned the remarks, arguing that the president was “repeating an anti-Semitic trope.”
“If this is about Israel, then Trump is repeating a dual loyalty claim, which is a form of anti-Semitism,” she said in a statement. “If this is about Jews being ‘loyal’ to him, then Trump needs a reality check.”
Matt Boxer, a professor at Brandeis University who has studied Jewish voting patterns, said that Jewish Americans have historically supported the Democratic Party by large numbers because they see it as more open to immigrants and minorities.
“It’s not the first time he’s said something like that,” he said. “Quite frankly, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
He added that Trump is unlikely to change that decades-old pattern, especially with language that seemed to suggest that American Jews should have a dual loyalty to Israel simply because of their religion.
To contact the reporters on this story: Jordan Fabian in Washington at jfabian6@bloomberg.net;Ryan Teague Beckwith in New York at rbeckwith3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, John Harney, Bill Faries
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