Trump says Jews who support Democrats are ‘disloyal’

President ‘is repeating an antisemitic trope’, says executive director of the Jewish Democratic Council

Donald Trump has said Jewish voters who vote for Democratic Party politicians show “great disloyalty”.

The president made the comments while attacking Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, two Democratic congresswomen.

He said: “Where has the Democratic Party gone? Where have they gone where they are defending these two people over the state of Israel?”

“I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.”

It is unclear if the president meant that Jewish Democrats were disloyal to the US or to Israel, but the accusation itself is a common antisemitic trope.

Antisemites are also known for accusing Jewish voters of being loyal to Israel.

Recent polling shows that a majority of Jews identify as Democrats.

According to AP VoteCast, a survey of the 2018 electorate, 72 per cent of Jewish voters supported Democratic House candidates in 2018.

Similarly, 74 per cent said they disapprove of how Trump is handling his job.

Around 71 per cent of Jewish voters supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, with just 24 per cent supporting Donald Trump.

The trend is a long-running one, with 71 per cent of Jewish voters opting to support Democratic candidates since 1968.

Mr Trump’s invocation of the antisemitic dual loyalty trope has prompted fury from Jewish groups.

“This is yet another example of Donald Trump continuing to weaponize and politicise antisemitism,” said Halie Soifer, executive director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America.

“At a time when antiisemitic incidents have increased – due to the president’s emboldening of white nationalism – Trump is repeating an antisemitic trope.”

Logan Bayroff of J Street, a liberal pro-Israel group, said it was “no surprise that the president’s racist, disingenuous attacks on progressive women of colour in congress have now transitioned into smears against Jews”.

“It is dangerous and shameful for President Trump to attack the large majority of the American Jewish community as unintelligent and ‘disloyal,”’ Mr Bayroff said.

A number of groups noted that accusations of disloyalty have long been made against Jews, including in Europe during the 1930s.

The Democratic Majority for Israel called it “one of the most dangerous, deadly accusations Jews have faced over the years”.

“False charges of disloyalty over the centuries have led to Jews being murdered, jailed and tortured,” a spokesperson added.

But the right wing Republican Jewish Coalition defended Trump, arguing that the president was speaking about people being disloyal to themselves rather than to Israel.

“President Trump is right, it shows a great deal of disloyalty to oneself to defend a party that protects/emboldens people that hate you for your religion,” the group said in a tweet.

This is not the first time the president has been criticised for remarks interpreted as antisemitic. In 2015, Mr Trump, then a candidate, spoke to the Republican Jewish Coalition and made a similar comment.

“You’re not going to support me because I don’t want your money,” he said. “You want to control your politicians, that’s fine.”

Later in the campaign, he tweeted a graphic critical of his opponent Hillary Clinton that featured a six-pointed star, a pile of cash and the words “most corrupt candidate ever”.

The star was believed by many to be the Star of David, which is featured on the Israeli flag. The campaign denied that the star carried any special meaning.

Since becoming president Mr Trump has closely aligned himself with Israel and its right-wing prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Additional reporting by agencies