To be fair, President Trump is not an anti-Semite, at least in the strict sense of the term. But one would have to live on another planet – or watch only Fox News – in order not to realize that his words and actions have led to the worst explosion of anti-Semitic incidents in recent memory of the United States.
It is no coincidence that there have been 68 bomb threats in 53 Jewish community centers in 27 US states since January, according to the Association of Jewish Community Centers (JCC). Or that about 200 headstones were vandalized in a Jewish cemetery in Missouri a few days ago.
Trump created this monster. Although Trump probably has nothing against the Jewish people – the president constantly reminds his critics that his daughter Ivanka converted to Judaism and married an Orthodox Jew – has unleashed the dark forces of racism, xenophobia and intolerance between his followers from the first day of his presidential campaign.
And as a public figure, you can not be anti-Mexican or anti-Muslim, or mock the disabled, or say that you can grab women’s genitals, without sending a tacit message that it is okay to mock minorities and involuntarily encourage Hate crimes.
As Congressman Mark Sanford said, “Trump has fanned the flame of intolerance.” And once you do that, it’s hard to put out the fire.
Recall, Trump opened his presidential campaign on June 16, 2015 capturing the world’s attention with his claim that “most of the undocumented Mexican immigrants are criminals and rapists”.
And from that moment, his veiled speech of racial hatred and his xenophobic rhetoric have risen. Trump questioned the credentials of Judge Gonzalo Curiel, born in the United States, because “he is Mexican.” And laughed at former Republican pre-candidate Jeb Bush because he “speaks Mexican.”
He made racist remarks against Muslims, such as when he told CNN on March 9, 2016 that “Islam hates us,” without distinguishing between the followers of that religion and Islamic fundamentalist terrorists. And the white and neo-Nazi supremacist groups have openly supported him, forcing him to late-disown some of them.
Trump was for many years the main propagandist of the claim that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States, which was seen by many as a racist attempt to delegitimize the first black president of the United States.
Trump’s motto “America First” was the slogan of American Nazis during World War II. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) asked Trump on April 18, 2016 to abandon him because of the “underlying Antisemitism” of the motto.
More importantly, as president, Trump has surrounded himself with several senior advisers linked to the far-right “alt-right” movement. That raised suspicions when the White House recently issued a statement on International Holocaust Day without mentioning the massacre of six million Jews. Many Jewish leaders said that statement gave ammunition to deniers of the Jewish Holocaust.
Earlier this week, after a barrage of criticism for dodging questions about the rise in hate crimes against Jews since his election, Trump read a statement saying, “The anti-Semitic threats directed against our Jewish community and community centers are Something horrible, “and that the country has to” eradicate hatred and prejudice. ”
My opinion: Mr President, you are the one who must eradicate hatred and prejudice, because you are the one who has unleashed those demons.
And the way to do it is not simply to say that anti-Semitism is horrible, but to stop making statements against Mexicans and against Muslims, among others, and denounce the neo-Nazis within those who support it.
Take a deep breath, get out of that angry air, start building a positive agenda instead of being anti-immigrant, anti-trade and anti-doping president, and become the president of all Americans.
Article contributed by Paul Stanwick of Dailyrantonline.com
The post Why did Anti-Semitism Increase under Trump? appeared first on CTN News.
from CTN News http://ift.tt/2lr9S81
via IFTTT http://ift.tt/eA8V8J
Comments
Post a Comment