Trumps statement marking Holocaust remembrance leaves out mention of Jews

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Washington Post

Trumps statement marking Holocaust remembrance leaves out mention of Jews

By Abby Phillip

January 27 at 1:57 PM

A statement from President Trump marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day omitted any mention of Jews or anti-Semitism, an apparent oversight that marks a departure from recent bipartisan precedent set by previous presidents.

The statement calls for remembrance of victims, survivors and heroes, but nowhere does it mention the millions of Jewish people killed during the Holocaust nor does it mention the ideology of anti-Semitism that led to the killings.
....

In a series of tweets, Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, noted the omissions.

“@WhiteHouse statement on #HolocaustMemorialDay, misses that it was six million Jews who perished, not just ‘innocent people,’?” Greenblatt tweeted. “Puzzling and troubling @WhiteHouse #HolocaustMemorialDay stmt has no mention of Jews. GOP and Dem. presidents have done so in the past.”
....

Abby Phillip is a national political reporter covering the White House for The Washington Post. She can be reached at [e-mail]. Follow @abbydphillip
https://twitter.com/abbydphillip

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-statement-marking-holocaust-remembrance-leaves-out-mention-of-jews/2017/01/27/0886d3c2-e4bd-11e6-a547-5fb9411d332c_story.html

---

But, really, how big a part did they play?

[marybourg]

1. If he can't play

victim, survivor and hero then it wasn't important to him.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Remember what he said about McCain.

"I don't like people who were captured." He considers prisoners to be "losers" because they were captured. Also, Bannon probably told him not to mention Jews.

[Arkansas Granny]

4. I thought the same.

[xor]

3. Despite my disdain for all things Trump, I'm not sure I'm seeing why there is outrage

They said victims, which would obviously include the Jewish people who were killed. However, it's often noted that the nazis did not only go after the jewish people, but went after everyone they viewed as inferior. Now I could see someone making an issue about him not mentioning the jews killed if they mentioned several other groups which were victims. I can even see a complaint on this because they didn't go into specifics about any of the groups, but I would have to see the previous similar statements myself before seeing how far they deviated.

Of all the things we have to be outraged over when it comes to Trump, I'm not sure this is one that stands out. Unless there is something I am not seeing that makes it more clear there is an obvious antisemitic intent behind the wording.

[TygrBright]

8. Possibly because rampant anti-semitism among the Septic Sphincter's toadies...

...has raised fears that he will be complicit in anti-semitic policies and actions (other than anything that will get Israel to kick off Armageddon for his Millenialist wackjob toadies, of course.)

A statement that showed someone in his Administration recognized the problem of anti-semitism both historically and as a modern phenomenon might have been a bit better received.

informatively,
Bright

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

24. Like Steve Bannon

[geek tragedy]

9. Let's play "imagine if this were Obama" and you'll probably

be able to guess how the Republicans would react.

[xor]

11. Oh yeah, I agree 100% that they would be going apeshit over it.

I would have the same thoughts on it, though.

As for this administration, I see it as possible sign that may point it to being something. However, for me to feel comfortable labeling it as antisemitic, I will have to see a pattern of similar acts over a period of time.

[geek tragedy]

12. while Jews weren't the only group targeted by the Nazis, the Holocaust itself

is specific to the Nazis' plan to exterminate Jews.

[fountainofyouth]

13. This is the main point

One of the most essential aspects of Nazism was its anti-Semitism, and Hitler's public virulent anti-Semitism -- in which he states that not only are Jews inferior, but dangerous -- is traced back to the publication of Mein Kampf, more than 10 years before the Nuremberg Laws and nearly 20 years before the Wannsee Conference.

[BlueMTexpat]

18. Bingo!

And if someone in the ADL - a Jewish organization - finds the omission noteworthy, then we more likely than not should also consider it so.

Minimizing its absence is, IMO, as unacceptable as responding "All lives matter" to someone who is emphasizing that "Black lives matter," when it is statistically clear that African-Americans are MUCH more victimized by police brutality in the US than any other group.

Yes, it is a fact that the Nazis acted despicably against other target groups, specifically, Roma, Jehovah's Witnesses, mentally and physically disabled persons, and gays - as well as against certain nationalities, e.g. Slavs.

But it is undeniable that the numbers of Jews exterminated during the Holocaust were overwhelmingly greater than those in all other target groups taken together - and the hateful Nazi rhetoric directed specifically towards Jews is also undeniable.

Anyone who thinks otherwise needs to reread their history. Carefully.

Once again, Trump FAILS as a human being, let along as President.

[tavernier]

21. Because skin heads are part of his fan club?

And his fan club is shrinking bits and pieces every day so he has to be careful not to lose the rest.

[Lokilooney]

23. I'd have to agree

The total is estimated to be as high as 11 million, I find it disturbing when I hear people say something like " you know 6 million died in the holocaust" I don't think they even know they revisioned out 5 million people.

[potone]

26. It is disturbing to me, and I am not a Jew.

While the Nazis killed millions of other people, they had it in for the Jews as a people, and wanted to exterminate them. They were not just one among many groups that were persecuted. Israel would not exist as a state had it not been for the Holocaust, so the consequences have been enormously important.

I can't view this as a mere oversight when there are people like Richard Spencer who are openly anti-semitic in the alt-right political scene, and when Nazi language, symbols and gestures are employed by those same people who are Trump supporters.

[Behind the Aegis]

27. Well stated.

Saved me having to write a post. Thanks.

As a Jew, I am upset by this. I don't think this the be all, end all, but given this administrations ties with and use of anti-Semitism, is why I find this a bit unnerving.

[leftynyc]

36. I dint see ANYONE saying

only six million died. NOBODY. Only white nationalist try and spread that bullshit notion that Jews ignore the other victims The reality isn't that the nazis got other countries to turn over their socialists, unionists,gays or any other group specified for genocide. Only their Jews were turned over, the only ones being told to turn over. Anyone who doesn't see the specific genocidal aspect of the Jewish victims isn't trying very hard.

[Fred Sanders]

25. Maybe you missed the part about it being HOLOCAUST remembrance day? 6 million to

remember and maybe some do not know Bannon´s well-known antisemitism.

[uhnope]

30. agreed, but this might be the Bannon effect, the result of the neo-Nazi fan power behind the throne

that's why it's alarming.
That said, I've always decried how the rest of the victims of the Holocaust generally get shut out of the story.
The Holocaust against the Roma, for example, was just as severe as against the Jews. Literally 90% of European Roma were mass-murdered by the Nazis. But there aren't hundreds of Hollywood movies made about them

[uhnope]

31. agreed, but this might be the Bannon effect, the result of the neo-Nazi fan power behind the throne

that's why it's alarming.
That said, I've always decried how the rest of the victims of the Holocaust generally get shut out of the story.
The Holocaust against the Roma, for example, was just as severe as against the Jews. Literally 90% of European Roma were mass-murdered by the Nazis. But there aren't hundreds of Hollywood movies made about them

[leftynyc]

37. I'm getting a bit sick

at this bullshit meme. Could you please point out just where the other victims are forgotten? You've obviously never been to Yad Vashem. The final solution was specifically about Jews, other countries were told to turn over their Jews. That was a racist genocide but nobody forgets the other victims, least of all the Jews.

[uhnope]

38. plaeze

Are you saying the Holocaust wasn't racist genocide against the Roma?

[leftynyc]

39. Was the rest of Europe

Ordered to turn over their Roma? And did those country's oblige them the way they handed over their Jews on a silver platters? Gee,so sorry you think the Jews are hogging the suffering. MYbe they should pipe down. Although perhaps those like you should have to prove the Jews minimize the suffering of others.

[uhnope]

48. I won't get into a misplaced-anger pissing match, thanks.

but the accusations you have made against me are disgraceful.
In the country where I live, 90% of the Roma were disappeared by the Holocaust.
And the fact that it has received comparatively little attention is not even debatable.
Have a good day

[leftynyc]

40. You could also link to where

The final solution, the actual paper, mentioned the Roma.

[JudyM]

41. You can't be serious.

"The Holocaust against the Roma, for example, was just as severe as against the Jews"

These are the facts -- unless you have some alternative facts:

It is not known precisely how many Roma were killed in the Holocaust. While exact figures or percentages cannot be ascertained, historians estimate that the Germans and their allies killed around 25 percent of all European Roma. Of slightly less than one million Roma believed to have been living in Europe before the war, the Germans and their Axis partners killed up to 220,000.
https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005219

[uhnope]

47. wait what? you're saying the Holocaust wasn't also genocide against the Roma?

In the country I live in, 90% of the Roma were disappeared by the Porajmos. You're saying it wasn't genocide? WTF

[JudyM]

49. I didn't say that at all. Maybe reread what I wrote.

[yallerdawg]

5. Bannon might have wrote this.

Which explains no mention of Jews.

[underpants]

7. Exactly what I was going to say

[pbmus]

10. Exactly...

[bdamomma]

14. oh for sure

bannon is anti Semitic

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/27/us/politics/steve-ban non-white-house.html?_r=0

just a snip bannon is a filthy man.

More quietly, Mr. Bannon systematically courted a series of politicians, especially those who share his dark, populist worldview: at home, a corrupt ruling class preying on working Americans; globally, “the Judeo-Christian West” in a “war against Islamic fascism.” They were views that placed him closer to the European right than to the Republican mainstream.

[dalton99a]

35. He almost certainly did.

[Paladin]

6. So, how did trump's Jewish son-in-law feel about this? (nt)

[tenorly]

15. He probably couldn't have cared less.

Kushner is one of the coldest, most spine chilling people I've ever seen.

If the thing about lizard people turns out to be true, we'll know where to start looking.

[keithbvadu2]

17. Kushner is tolerable to them as long as things go well.

If things go badly, Trump's followers will have no problem blaming 'the Jew'.

[Generator]

20. It's amazing how people sell their souls for power

Ivanka converted and her children are being raised Jewish. And she is fine with a Nazi advising Daddy. Steve Bannon.

[no_hypocrisy]

16. Crickets from Bibi . . . .

[yurbud]

19. He didn't say, "The Jews love me. Hitler never had as many Jews love him, believe me..."

[mahatmakanejeeves]

22. Give him a chance. He's been in office only a week.

Berlin wasn't built in a day.

[Behind the Aegis]

28. A YUUGE mistake?

No, but it is disturbing nonetheless. It, IMO, shows disregard for underlying issues and as of late, especially from this administration, it is the undercurrents which are set to drown this country. From an article I posted yesterday:

“Only a small minority supported Hitler’s plan to kill all European Jews through mass extermination, a plan that was widely circulated years before.

“But he was able to act because an undercurrent of hatred had seeped into everyday life.”

That undercurrent of hatred is still there today – and could have worrying consequences, he said.

DU thread

His failure to mention Jews or any groups is as disturbing as those who feel any mention of Jews, the Holocaust, or anti-Semitism warrant a comment about Israel or Israelis. Both are simply different sides of the same dismissal/devaluing of anti-Semitism coin.

[msanthrope]

34. This deserves it's own OP. nt

[GallopingGhost]

29. When I was about eight

my parents took us on vacation. Standing in line at the theme park, I was staring and staring at the numbers on an older gentleman's arm. He saw me looking and smiled at my mother. She admonished me and apologized to him. My mother wouldn't explain in detail until I was older.

I've never forgotten him. To this day I wish I could have heard his story.

The mentality that permitted the Holocaust has been terrifyingly emboldened once again.l

[oberliner]

32. Turns out the omission of Jews was deliberate

White House decision not to mention Jews on #HolocaustMemorialDay was a deliberate decision, not simply an oversight.

Bannon's influence at work.

[msanthrope]

33. Did Nazi that coming. nt

[Hekate]

42. Too right. This is a Steve Bannon Holocaust Denial trope and NO coincidence.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

44. And, a handful of U.S. soldiers were killed at Wounded Knee

So I think Trump can take over native lands and their casinos.

Mostly their casinos.

This will be taught in Alternative History class in high schools.

[oberliner]

45. As time passes, Holocaust revisionism will gain strength

Especially with folks like Bannon leading the effort.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

46. Oh good. At least they don't feel the need to pretend anymore. I'm guessing

this comes from that sweaty walking testicle of a white supremacist "advisor" of his.