Topline
Former President Donald Trump on Sunday lamented that Jewish Americans are insufficiently supportive of him, calling on the group to “get their act together,” the latest in a series of disparaging comments by Trump about Jewish Americans that have received backlash and drawn allegations of antisemitism in the past.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at … [+]
Key Facts
In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump claimed he has “done more for Israel” than any other U.S. president, yet Jewish Americans are “somewhat surprisingly” less appreciative of his actions than evangelical Christians living in the U.S.
He also said he enjoys the “highest approval rating in the world” among Jewish people in Israel and argued he could “easily be [prime minister]” (a June Pew Research poll found Israel was the only country in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development where survey respondents favored Trump over President Joe Biden).
Trump wrote that Jewish Americans need to “get their act together and appreciate what they have in Israel before it is too late.”
Key Background
It’s not the first time Trump has claimed Jewish Americans don’t appreciate him or Israel enough, a line that has drawn intense criticism. In December, Trump said Jewish people in the U.S. “either don’t like Israel or don’t care about Israel,” and lamented Israel no longer has the “absolute power” it ostensibly once did in Congress, adding that even The New York Times “hates Israel” even though “they’re Jewish people that run the New York Times” (the Times’ longtime publishers, the Sulzberger family, have a Jewish background). Trump went on to say that “people in this country that are Jewish no longer love Israel” and “evangelical Christians love Israel more than the Jews in this country.” His comments received condemnation from the Anti-Defamation League, which said it was “disturbing” that Trump used “classic antisemitic stereotypes” about Jewish control of Congress and the press. In 2019, Trump said any Jewish American who voted for a Democratic candidate would be guilty of ignorance or “great disloyalty,” a line that was widely interpreted as recalling a common antisemitic troupe that Jewish Americans have split loyalties between the U.S. and Israel.
Further Reading
Trump Says Jewish Americans ‘No Longer Love Israel’ In Bizarre Interview (Forbes)
Antisemitic Incidents Hit 42-Year High Across U.S. In 2021, ADL Report Says (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2022/10/16/trump-says-jewish-americans-must-get-their-act-together-and-appreciate-him-in-bizarre-truth-social-post/