In 2016, Trump’s campaign ads appealed to (very) thinly disguised anti-Semitism. He let his friends in the Alt Right know that he was on their side.
In July 2016, he tweeted a photograph of Hillary Clinton superimposed over a Jewish Star of David, with a background of dollars.
In the closing days of the campaign, one of his ads asserted to working people that he alone would stand up to the global financiers (Jews) who were destroying their lives. This was one of the worst.
After the mayhem in Charlottesville, he said that there were “very fine people” on “both sides,” both the racists and the anti-racists.
David Duke was thrilled. So were the other leaders of the white nationalist movement. They came out of the shadows. They had a president on their side who accepted their legitimacy.
As Andrew Gillum said of his opponent Ron DeSantis, “I’m not calling Mr. DeSantis a racist,” he said. “I’m simply saying the racists believe he’s a racist.”
Mr. Gillum, running for Governor of Florida, was diplomatic.
There comes a time to say that a candidate who uses racist, anti-Semitic tropes in his campaign ads and in his statements is a racist and an anti-Semite.
This is a president who publicly admits his contempt for immigrants, people of color, women, Muslims, Mexicans, and anyone who openly disagrees with him.
He is a bigot.
This is a shameful time in American history.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
An excellent article by Chris Hedges.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-cult-of-trump-2/
Reblogged this on Lloyd Lofthouse and commented:
Donald Trump is a bigot and there is an old saying that birds of a feather flock together. That means if you support Donald Trump, you are a member of his bigoted flock of white supremacists and fear/hate filled racists.
And, about those Confederate monuments Trumpf has been at such pains to defend:
Where Did All Those Confederate Monuments Come From?
In 1876, a Republican, Rutherford B. Hayes, lost the popular election but won the Electoral College by one vote after a commission ruled in his favor and awarded him 20 votes from states whose ballots were being contested. In the controversy over the election, the Republicans struck a deal with the Democrats: Stop contesting Hayes’s election, and they would pull federal troops out of the South, thus effectively ending Reconstruction.
The decades that followed have come to be known as the Jim Crow Era. Throughout the South, organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and the Sons of Confederate Veterans swelled in membership. Blacks were imprisoned and lynched in enormous numbers, voting by blacks was suppressed, segregation of schools and other public facilities was enforced by law, and Southerners started putting up monuments to the Confederacy, often on courthouse lawns.
What did these monuments mean? Well, here are the words of Senator John Sharp Williams of Mississippi, delivered at the dedication of a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis: “[t]he cause of White Racial Supremacy . . . is not a ‘Lost Cause.’ It is a Cause Triumphant. It was never as safe as now since the Missouri Compromise. . . . The white man’s family, life, his code of social ethics, his racial integrity—in a word his civilization—the destruction of which in the slave states was dreaded . . . are safe.”
Another wave of Confederate monument building occurred in protest against the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
These are the monuments that President Trump has rushed to defend.
Are you as horrified by this as I am?
In my own city of Tampa, Florida, citizens of all backgrounds and ancestries are forced, each day, to drive by a symbol of racial hatred on the main interstate highway through the region—I75—a gigantic Confederate Flag lording over the highway and the countryside. Because I75 is a gateway to the city, it’s often among the first things that visitors see when they arrive here.
In light of the recent terrorist attacks on blacks and Jews in this country, it’s time for these symbols of hatred to come down. Put them in a museum somewhere. We can remember our history without celebrating slavery, segregation, and racism.
More info here: https://segregationinamerica.eji.org/report/confederate-icongraphy.html
Be fair. Pres Trump has an excellent working relationship with PM Netanyahu in Israel. Pres Trump is the one who relocated the US embassy from Tel Aviv, to Jerusalem.
Pres Trump is NOT an anti-Semite.
Trump loves Israel because evangelical Christians believe that Jesus will return there.
I am Jewish. Trump is an anti-Semite.
Trump ran anti-Semitic campaign ads, as my post showed. Trump blames George Soros for the “caravan” and for whatever passes through his sieve of a brain.
Anyone who inspires ethnic and racial hatred towards any group inspires Jew-hatred.
He is a natural hater.
Take it from this Jew, he is an anti-Semite.
I heard the Jewish leaders of Pittsburgh asked Trump to stay away. No haters wanted.
Alert: The so-called evangelicals who like Israel do so not because of an affinity for Jews or Judaism. They will go to hell like all the rest of us who haven’t accepted Christ as their savior when the rapture comes. The rapture they are trying to hasten. Make no mistake, they hate Jews. Their expressions of love and concern for Israel has nothing to do with the people who live there or their respective faiths.
Pres Trump, is not a Christian. He worships himself.
Agreed
But he caters to his fundamentalist base.
They wanted to stop abortion and gay rights.
He delivered two far-right justices to do the job.
I wonder how many abortions he has paid for.
Greg is absolutely correct. The Adelsons and the Republican Jewish Coalition may have made themselves feel better with the news of the U.S. embassy’s move but, it wasn’t for the Jewish people.
Part of the reason that Trump likes Netanyahu is that both are corrupt, and have very corrupt governments.
Charles,
Trump may not be an anti-Semites. But anti-Semites sure think he is an anti-Semite.
When neo-Nazis stop being some of Trump’s most rabid supporters, we can believe he isn’t an anti-Semite.
I’m sure Hitler wasn’t an anti-Semite either — he just found it politically useful to demonize Jews to rile up the anger of his anti-Semitic supporters.
I am a Jew and loves Israel, but not it’s present government. The ruling coalition in Israel is made up of people no better than the Neanderthal that lives in the White House. Where our embassy is located means nothing to me. To add on to Diane’s comment, evangicals want Israel to be destroyed and all Jews converted so that Jesus will return. Many think Trump will herald the end of days. I am an American who is worried about the nation that has been my family’s home for over a century. Israel can take care of itself.
Can we leave off with the insulting the Neanderthals?
You are right, they were smarter and according to the latest research there was definitely genetic mixing with our cromagnum ancestors.
Amen liberal teacher! You expressed my sentiments exactly! My family is also here over one hundred years. My great aunt and most of her children were murdered in a pogrom. Netanyahu is pursuing very dangerous policies. We must stand for justice.
Many of the evangelical Christians believe that the “rapture” will begin in Israel. That is part of the explanation for their devotion to the state, and many of them with money support Israel with their wallets. They want to ensure that Israel remains in friendly hands.
Sadly, many Jews do not understand they still hate us. They are just using us as a means to a perceived end. If one feels there will be a rapture why even bother to preserve the environment.
Lteach: sorry for my flippant response to a serious statement. It is not often that Americans understand the nuances of lsraeli politics. It is my feeling that using scripture to decide foreign policy mixes up Athens with Jerusalem in the extreme.
Netanyahu doesn’t represent Jewish people any more than Kanye West represents black people.
Well said, Diane. I agree entirely.
A good survey of Trumpf’s history in this regard:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_views_of_Donald_Trump
Thank you Diane. You said what I wish most politicians would be saying. It’s a shame and a national disgrace they are not. Thank you again.
I agree. Well said. But Trump has no shame.
There are many wonderful organizations who aid refugees. Many of them are Christian. Notice that Trump says “George Soros” is funding the organizations that are bringing murderers and other criminals to kill your family. There is a reason that the Pittsburgh shooter believed that his real enemy is “Jews”. Trump carefully chooses his words to make the enemy a Jewish person, not a Christian charity that does good work with immigrants.
I’m not saying Trump is a rabid anti-Semite. I’m saying that there sure are a huge number of neo-Nazis who love him because THEY believe he represents their beliefs. (Apologies to Andrew Gillum)
Trump, like neo-Nazis, has Soros on the brain.
I don’t know if he really has Soros on the brain. I do know that Trump knows that he can rile up his base by appealing to their anti-Semitism. It is not surprising that Trump is so popular in the neo-Nazi movement.
Citing the Jewish Soros is the way Trump believes works best to rile up his base and motivate them to vote.
After all, there are plenty of Christian aid organizations doing wonderful work with immigrants. Trump knows if he cites one of those organizations, the anti-Semites who make up so much of his white Christian base will not be riled up enough or maybe even turned off if they heard Trump saying that evil Christians at Catholic Charities were bringing in murderous immigrants to kill their Christian families and destroy their way of life. This has never really been about immigrants or immigration for Trump – he doesn’t really care about the issue. Trump just uses whatever issue works best with his most rabid supporters. All Trump cares about is closing the deal and he will say anything to close it. It really doesn’t matter if it may hurt his own grandchildren because it HELPS Trump get what he wants – which is the ONLY issue that matters to Trump.
Trump knows his deplorable supporters are most motivated when he is anti=Semtic, racist, xenophobic and anti-gay and anti-woman. If his deplorable supporters were anti-dog, Trump would start demonizing all dogs. If they were anti-plumber, he would start demonizing plumbers.
The fact that calls to anti-Semites works great for Trump tells you a lot about his supporters. He only uses what works.
Whenever I find myself needing to speculate about what Trump thinks, I watch a few minutes of Hannity and spend a couple minutes perusing the headlines at Infowars. All becomes immediately clear.
I’m curious. What’s the difference between a neo-Nazi and a Nazi? I think none. The “neo-” only refers to the fact that they did not have honor and privilege of living under the glorious reign of Adolf Hitler. It represents a perverse envy, not a difference or evolution.
Minor spelling correction:
“They had a president on their side who accepted their ILLegitimacy.”
Major meaning correction.
From one fascist to another:
Donald J. Trump
Verified account
@realDonaldTrump
Had a very good conversation with the newly elected President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, who won his race by a substantial margin. We agreed that Brazil and the United States will work closely together on Trade, Military and everything else! Excellent call, wished him congrats!
8:28 AM – 29 Oct 2018
Jair Bolsonaro is a real fire breathing far right wing fascist, authoritarian and militarist.
From the NYT: Many Brazilians see authoritarian tendencies in Mr. Bolsonaro, who plans to appoint military leaders to top posts and said he would not accept the result if he were to lose. He has threatened to stack the Supreme Court by increasing the number of judges to 21 from 11 and to deal with political foes by giving them the choice of extermination or exile. [snip] He accomplished little in his long legislative career, but his roster of offensive remarks — he said that he’d rather his son die than be gay and that women don’t deserve the same pay as men — was interpreted by many as bracing honesty and evidence of his willingness to shatter the status quo. end quote
It’s truly sad that Brazilians would choose a monster like this, the future dictator of Brazil who could be the next Pinochet.
What the world needs now is love, not more right wing fascists. The class and economic divide in Brazil is a powder keg waiting for a spark. An iron fist may very well do it.
you wrote about the Gab site, even before the NY Times posted its piece today, but this came from he New Yorker https://www.newyorker.com/news/current/trumps-response-to-the-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-and-his-obsession-with-the-word-frankly?mbid=nl_Daily%20102918&CNDID=45272181&utm_source=nl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20102918&utm_content=&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=Daily%20102918&MD5=0b7efaaf843601e54e3ef31aad9169d1&SHA1=50d2958d4a70081c1c4006fb9fb3751e9226fdbb&spMailingID=14519810&spUserID=MTgwNzgwOTcyMzEyS0&spJobID=1502256942&spReportId=MTUwMjI1Njk0MgS2
“Before opening fire on the Tree of Life congregants, Bowers posted a message to Gab, a right-wing social network that, like other online forums for extremists, casts itself as an embattled bastion of free speech. “Trump is a globalist, not a nationalist,” Bowers complained on the site. “There is no #maga as long as there is a kike infestation.”
What I can’t understand about the president’s anti-Semitism is that his daughter converted to Judaism after marrying a Jew and has since borne two Jewish children, the president’s grandchildren. Is this what he wants for the daughter that he values above the rest of his children? I can’t wrap my head around reconciling “Jews will not replace us” as something that “good people” would say and the fact that his grandchildren are Jews.
Can someone help me with this?
L H
Do not seek logic. The Trump goal is to rile up the base and he is successful.
“Do not seek logic.” Well-said, Abigail. It is the same as per his narcissism–people are afraid that were he to be charged by Mueller, he would, in turn, start a war, perhaps nuclear, w/no thought as to the consequences, even to his family, so he certainly has no thought as to his Jewish grandchildren (speaking of which, have we ever even seen him playing with his grandchildren, or acting in family ways as have former presidents?
He reminds me of those 1950s “duck & cover” drills & Coronet Educational Films, where we were taught to hide under our school desks in the event of a nuclear attack from Russia.
He may believe that a special fallout shelter for the president would save him. Just as he wants America to be isolationist, he lives in a bubble.
No logic whatsoever.
I don’t think Trump even cares about his children and grandchildren. They are just a means to an end to him. He only cares about himself.
what fats do you have to make an accusation like that one?
Perhaps he is not anti- Semitic.