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Trump keeps pushing anti-Semitic stereotypes. But he thinks he's praising Jews.
Source: Washington Post
Trump keeps pushing anti-Semitic stereotypes. But he thinks he’s praising Jews.
Philo-Semitism may seem benign. It isn’t.
By Yair Rosenberg
Yair Rosenberg is a senior writer at Tablet Magazine.
August 21 at 5:16 PM
When it comes to Jews, President Trump presents a puzzle.
His daughter Ivanka converted to Judaism to marry his Jewish son-in-law. He has Jewish grandchildren. He loudly proclaims his support for Israel and has long employed Jews in prominent positions in his businesses.
But Trump also seems to say a lot of anti-Semitic things. This week, for example, the president declared that Jews who vote for the Democratic Party are “disloyal” to Israel, invoking an age-old anti-Semitic slur against the vast majority of American Jews. Trump has regularly implied that American Jews are more loyal to Israel than to the United States and that they are essentially foreign guests in this country: At the White House Hanukkah party in December, he told the assembled American Jews that Israel was “your country.” At the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual gathering in April, he referred to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “your prime minister.”
-snip-
So is Trump a philo-Semite or an anti-Semite? The answer is both. The principle that explains his seemingly contradictory outlook toward Jews is simple: Trump believes all the anti-Semitic stereotypes about Jews. But he sees those traits as admirable.
To Trump, the belief that Jews are foreign interlopers who use their wealth to serve their own clannish interests is not a negative — as it is for traditional anti-Semites — but rather a positive. He wants Jews to be his attorneys and manage his money, so that he, too, can be rich. He wants them in his political corner, so that he, too, can be powerful. He wants to buy politicians, just like they do. As a man who has always stood solely for his own naked self-interest, Trump does not see the anti-Semitic conception of the self-interested Jew as a complaint, but rather a compliment. He prioritizes his needs ahead of the national interest, and so he sees the idea that Jews might do the same with themselves or with Israel as entirely natural. He is the human embodiment of the Onion article “Affable anti-Semite Thinks The Jews Are Doing Super Job With The Media.”
-snip-
Philo-Semitism may seem benign. It isn’t.
By Yair Rosenberg
Yair Rosenberg is a senior writer at Tablet Magazine.
August 21 at 5:16 PM
When it comes to Jews, President Trump presents a puzzle.
His daughter Ivanka converted to Judaism to marry his Jewish son-in-law. He has Jewish grandchildren. He loudly proclaims his support for Israel and has long employed Jews in prominent positions in his businesses.
But Trump also seems to say a lot of anti-Semitic things. This week, for example, the president declared that Jews who vote for the Democratic Party are “disloyal” to Israel, invoking an age-old anti-Semitic slur against the vast majority of American Jews. Trump has regularly implied that American Jews are more loyal to Israel than to the United States and that they are essentially foreign guests in this country: At the White House Hanukkah party in December, he told the assembled American Jews that Israel was “your country.” At the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual gathering in April, he referred to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “your prime minister.”
-snip-
So is Trump a philo-Semite or an anti-Semite? The answer is both. The principle that explains his seemingly contradictory outlook toward Jews is simple: Trump believes all the anti-Semitic stereotypes about Jews. But he sees those traits as admirable.
To Trump, the belief that Jews are foreign interlopers who use their wealth to serve their own clannish interests is not a negative — as it is for traditional anti-Semites — but rather a positive. He wants Jews to be his attorneys and manage his money, so that he, too, can be rich. He wants them in his political corner, so that he, too, can be powerful. He wants to buy politicians, just like they do. As a man who has always stood solely for his own naked self-interest, Trump does not see the anti-Semitic conception of the self-interested Jew as a complaint, but rather a compliment. He prioritizes his needs ahead of the national interest, and so he sees the idea that Jews might do the same with themselves or with Israel as entirely natural. He is the human embodiment of the Onion article “Affable anti-Semite Thinks The Jews Are Doing Super Job With The Media.”
-snip-
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/08/21/trump-keeps-pushing-anti-semitic-stereotypes-he-thinks-hes-praising-jews/
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