Trump says Jewish voters will be ‘largely’ responsible if he loses in ‘fighting anti-Semitism’ event
WASHINGTON — In remarks apparently focused on combating anti-Semitism, former President Donald Trump questioned why he does not enjoy overwhelming support from Jewish voters and suggested they would have “a lot to do” with a November defeat if their support for his campaign does not increase.
“I’m not going to call it a prediction, but in my opinion, the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss if I were at 40 percent,” Trump said at a campaign event titled “Combating Anti-Semitism in America,” citing an anonymous poll that he said showed him supported by two-fifths of Jewish voters.
Trump devoted much of his speech to telling the audience what his administration has accomplished on behalf of Israelis — including recognizing the Golan Heights as Israeli territory, withdrawing the United States from the Iran nuclear deal and moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
He lamented that despite these advances, which he presented as being made in favor of the Jewish people, he had not seen an increase in support from Jewish voters. Trump went on to say that he had not been “treated well” by Jewish voters and, despite being the “most popular person in Israel,” he lamented that their support “doesn’t translate” to the United States.
“We can’t let that happen. Forty percent is not acceptable because we have an election to win,” Trump said, blaming the lack of support on what he described as “the Democratic takeover or curse” of Jewish voters.
During his speech, he also made a direct appeal to Jewish voters and criticized the student protest movement against Israel’s handling of its war against Hamas.
“Within my first week in the Oval Office, my administration will inform every university president that if they do not end anti-Semitic propaganda, they will lose their accreditation and their support for the federal tax credit,” he said.
Kamala Harris’ campaign hit back at the remarks Friday, accusing Trump of spreading anti-Semitic rhetoric because he is afraid of losing.
“Donald Trump is resorting to the oldest anti-Semitic tropes in history because he is weak and he can’t stand the fact that the majority of Americans will reject him in November,” Morgan Finkelstein, a national security spokesperson for Harris’ campaign, told NBC News. “But we know that words like these can have dangerous consequences. As Trump has proven, particularly in recent weeks with his lies about Springfield, Ohio, he will cling to fear and intimidation no matter the cost. When Donald Trump loses this election, it will be because Americans of all faiths, races and backgrounds have come together to turn the page on the division he displays every day.”
Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, also weighed in on X:
In a statement provided to NBC News, Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt reiterated steps the former president touted in his remarks, including facilitating the Abraham Accords and moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
“All the progress President Trump has made in the region has been undone by the weakness of Kamala Harris and by America’s policies last. When President Trump returns to the Oval Office, Israel will be protected again, Iran will be ruined again, terrorists will be hunted down and the bloodshed will stop,” she said.
At another event in the capital on Thursday night, he shared a similar warning with Jewish voters about the stakes of their support in the election.
“If I don’t win this election – and the Jewish people would have a lot to do with it if that happened, because at 40 percent that means 60 percent of the people are voting for the enemy – Israel, in my opinion, will cease to exist within two years,” Trump said at the second event, the Israeli-American Council National Summit.
As Trump continues to court Jewish voters ahead of the November general election, he has continued to publicly attack prominent Jewish leaders like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.
As he did in his speech Thursday night, Trump described Schumer as “like a Palestinian,” and in a post on his social media site, Truth Social, last month, he described Shapiro as a “highly overrated Jewish governor.”
With Trump out of office but in the midst of an election campaign, his outward appeal to Jewish voters has also included extensive outreach and praise for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, including hosting him at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in late July.
Trump’s comments Thursday echo his years of frustration with the lack of support for him among Jewish voters (they historically lean Democratic, according to the Pew Research Center). As president, he believes that Jews who vote Democratic demonstrate “either a complete lack of knowledge or great disloyalty,” and two weeks before the 2022 midterm elections, he posted on social media: “American Jews need to get their act together and appreciate what they have in Israel — before it’s too late!”
