Trump says Jews would be to blame for eventual election defeat

Former US President Donald Trump said on Thursday (19) that “the Jewish people” would be partly to blame if he lost the November election, stepping up his persistent campaign criticism of Jewish voters and insisting that Democrats have a “curse” on them.

“I’m not going to call it a prediction, but in my opinion, the Jewish people would have a lot to do with me losing if I had 40 percent support in the polls,” Trump told Republicans in Washington at an event billed as a counter to anti-Semitism.

“If I have 40%, think about it, that means 60% are voting for Kamala [Harris]who in particular is a bad Democrat. Democrats are bad for Israel, very bad.”

The former president did not cite any specific research.

Trump has frequently questioned why American Jews would consider voting for his opponent, repeatedly saying that Jewish Democratic voters “should have their heads examined.”

In the first of two speeches to Jewish groups on Thursday, Trump warned an audience that included GOP mega-donor Miriam Adelson, who introduced him on stage, that the upcoming U.S. election is “the most important” in Israel’s history.

He claimed that the Jewish state would be “eradicated,” “wiped off the face of the earth,” and “cease to exist” if Harris won the presidency.

But the former president appeared concerned about what he described as ingratitude from Jewish voters, who he said should support him in greater numbers because of his record on Israel.

“A poll just came out. I’m at 40 percent,” Trump said, again without identifying the poll. “That means you have 60 percent voting for someone who hates Israel. And I tell you, it’s going to happen. It’s only because of the Democrats’ control or curse on you. You can’t let that happen. 40 percent is not acceptable, because we have an election to win.”

After calling on Harris to “officially repudiate the support of all Hamas sympathizers, anti-Semites and Israel haters on college campuses and everywhere else,” Trump turned his attention back to Jewish voters.

“Unfortunately, and I have to say this, and it pains me to say this, you’re still going to vote Democrat, and that doesn’t make sense,” the former president said.

“I say all the time that any Jew who votes for her, especially now, for her or the Democratic Party, should have his head examined.”

Harris has never claimed support from any of the groups Trump mentioned. She has, in fact, been criticized by some younger progressive and liberal Democrats, many of them Jewish, for her refusal to consider a pause in U.S. arms shipments to Israel, as many pro-Palestinian groups are demanding, amid Israel’s war in Gaza.

Earlier on Thursday, the “Uncommitted” movement, which emerged during the Democratic primaries in opposition to the Biden administration’s policy on Israel and Gaza, said it would not support Harris after her campaign again rejected activists pushing for a halt to U.S. military aid to Israel and an immediate ceasefire.

Later Thursday night, at the American Israeli Council’s national summit, Trump said he was not “treated properly by voters who happen to be Jewish” during the 2020 election and, for the second time in as many hours, said Jewish voters would bear some responsibility if he were defeated this year.

“I gave them the Golan Heights. I gave them the Abraham Accords. I recognized the capital of Israel and opened the Embassy in Jerusalem. And most importantly, I ended the Iran nuclear deal, which was the worst deal ever made in the history of Israel, in the history of the Middle East,” Trump said.

“I was there for four years, I gave them billions and billions of dollars. I was the best friend Israel ever had, and yet in 2020, now, I did all these things, so now, the Jewish people have no excuse,” he added, playing on an anti-Semitic trope that American Jews have dual loyalties to the US and Israel.

Harris’ husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, is Jewish and has been an outspoken critic of anti-Semitism, particularly during protests in the US against Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Yet Trump has repeatedly branded his rival as “anti-Israel” and “anti-Jewish.”

“You have to defeat Kamala Harris more than any other people on Earth,” Trump said, addressing Jewish voters in the audience. “Israel, I believe, has to defeat her. Did you know that? And I’ve never said this before: More than any people on Earth, Israel has to defeat her.”

He then promised to “make Israel great again.”

Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and a former aide to Democratic officials in New York, accused Trump of using “a speech about anti-Semitism as an opportunity to adopt anti-Semitic tropes and attack the American Jewish community.”

“Treating Jews and Israel like political footballs makes Jews, Israel, and all of us less safe. Dividing Jews into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ camps and engaging in tropes of dual loyalty further normalizes anti-Semitism,” Spitalnick added.

“This is not partisan politics – it is about the fundamental safety of the Jewish community.”

In a March interview, Trump said that any Jew who votes Democrat “hates their religion” and hates “everything about Israel.”

He made similar statements that evoked anti-Semitic tropes during his first two presidential campaigns.

“You’re not going to support me because I don’t want your money. You want to control your politicians, that’s fine,” Trump told the Republican Jewish Coalition in December 2015. “I’m a dealmaker like you, we’re dealmakers.”

But Trump’s open frustration with Jewish voters became a more frequent theme after his 2020 election defeat.

“Jews living in the United States don’t love Israel enough. Does that make sense to you?” he told an Orthodox Jewish outlet in 2021.

In a 2022 social media post, the former president — using an argument he alluded to on Thursday — complained that “wonderful evangelicals are so much more grateful [por seu histórico em Israel] than people of the Jewish faith, especially those living in the United States.”

“American Jews need to get their act together,” he wrote, “and appreciate what they have in Israel – Before it’s too late!”

In July, Harris affirmed her “unwavering commitment to Israel” after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington.

Following pro-Hamas demonstrations surrounding the Israeli leader’s visit, Harris said in a statement: “I condemn any individual associated with the brutal terrorist organization Hamas, which has vowed to annihilate the State of Israel and kill Jews.”

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This content was originally published in Trump says Jews would be to blame for eventual election defeat on the CNN Brasil website.

Source: CNN Brasil