To my friends and family - our incoming president has just appointed an open antisemite and racist as his close White House advisor. Steve Bannon was the CEO of his campaign and is now going to be his chief strategist and senior counselor. Before he started working for Trump, Bannon was the head of Breitbart News, a right-wing news site (started by the late Andrew Breitbart,who was Jewish). He turned it into a bastion of the "alt-right" - a new name for what used to be called the racist right.
An NBC News article on Trump's appointment of Reince Preibus as Trump's chief of staff says this of Bannon: "That list also reportedly included Steve Bannon, Trump's controversial campaign CEO whose website, Breitbart News, has espoused anti-Semitic and nationalist views."
Below is just one of the anti-semitic articles published by Breitbart - discussed in an article by Yair Rosenberg of Tablet Magazine (who has been exposing the antisemitic alt-right all during the campaign).
If you - a friend or a family member - expect me to calm down and accept that Donald Trump's presidency is "business as usual," you'll be waiting for a long time.
For the first time since the late 1930s, political antisemitism is now a part of the mainstream of American politics, this time fostered by one of the two major parties, the Republicans.
If anyone - especially other Jews - thinks that this is normal, you are sticking your heads into the sand.
Last month, Donald Trump tapped Stephen Bannon, the chairman of Breitbart News, to be his campaign’s new CEO. Today, Breitbart published an anti-Semitic screed against Washington Post columnist Anne Applebaum. Titled “WaPo’s Anne Applebaum Embarks On Kremlin-Style Disinformation Offensive vs. the Anti-Globalist Right,” the piece is a meandering, conspiratorial critique of Applebaum’s political stances. And as meandering conspiratorial pieces tend to do, it ultimately introduces its target’s Jewishness for no reason at all:[H]ell hath no fury like a Polish, Jewish, American elitist scorned. Following the fall from grace, Applebaum began utilizing her global media contacts, disbursing heavily curated and obfuscated “facts patterns” meant to construct an anti-democratic global news narrative depicting the new democratically elected Law & Justice government as far right fascists and illiberal anti-democrats.
Essentially, the piece is 1,400-word fever dream about a Jewish agent working for a globalist conspiracy. Rather than offering a serious critique of Applebaum’s views, it offers dark innuendo. And with the explicit invocation of her Jewishness, it abandons the dog whistle for the fog horn. (Unsurprisingly, the piece’s comments section is full of enthusiastic anti-Semites.)Go to Tablet for the rest of the article.
"For the first time since the late 1930s, political antisemitism is now a part of the mainstream of American politics, this time fostered by one of the two major parties, the Republicans."
ReplyDeleteLet's not indulge in hysteria and misinformation. There is enough of that already. Vice President-elect Mike Pence, for example, is very pro-Israel. It would be so wrong to paint the Republicans as people who foster political antisemitism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqURNhLh714
Pro-Israel does not equal tolerant toward Jews. Trump having appointed Steve Bannon as an important advisor (after having picked him as his campaign's CEO) is allowing open antisemitism and racism into the White House. I'm not being "hysterical" or giving misinformation.
ReplyDeleteThis cannot be normalized. Bannon is a white supremacist whose publication had a section called, "Black Crime."
ReplyDeleteAnd while we're on the topic of "pro-Israel," Evangelicals are pro-Israel to the extent it fits into their own end-times scenario. It has noting, not a single thing, to do with supporting the self determination of the Jewish people.
There is hardly any group in the world that is more pro-Jews than Evangelicals, and this would include Vice President-elect Mike Pence, the many Evangelicals who will be involved in the Trump administration, and the millions of Evangelicals who voted for the Republicans.
ReplyDelete"All Israel will be saved" (Romans 11:26).
If Evangelicals are so pro-Jewish, why would they vote for someone who has as his chief advisor a race-baiting anti-semite?
ReplyDeleteWhat does being pro-Jewish mean to you?
Do you think that all Jews should convert to Christianity? Or do you believe in two covenants?
I think all Jews should recognize Jesus as messiah, because I think Jesus actually is the messiah.
ReplyDeleteTrump alone is pro-Jewish because his daughter is Jewish, and his other daughter currently dates a Jew. I'm tempted to think that Bannon isn't actually an anti-Semite, as you suggest, or Trump is unaware of that. I think Trump would care if Bannon were actually an anti-Semite.
You think that Trump would care if Bannon is really an antisemite? From all the evidence, Trump is completely okay with infusing antisemitism into his campaign, as was shown with his last campaign ad. Trump himself has said made antisemitic statements - look up what he said to the Republican Jewish Coalition earlier this year. Trump has Jewish relatives, but that doesn't mean he's not prejudiced. People are complicated and can be prejudiced against people who are close to them. White people can have that "one Black friend" that they like and still say anti-Black things. I'm not so concerned about whether Trump himself is personally prejudiced against Jews - I'm much more concerned about the political use of antisemitism in Trump's campaign and now potentially in his administration.
ReplyDeleteI'm also very concerned about the way that Trump's campaign has fostered anti-Black racism, anti-Mexican racism, and anti-Muslim feeling.
Your fear of an antisemitic Trump administration is unfounded; it's never going to happen with Trump and Pence as leaders. http://www.jta.org/2015/08/07/news-opinion/politics/when-it-comes-to-jewish-ties-nobody-trumps-trump-1
ReplyDeleteAnd while the campaign has been bad in many ways (on both sides to be fair), I think we will have better times ahead of us, now that Trump will concentrate more on administrative things and less on getting votes. We will hear less of the brash Trump who is fighting for votes and more of the presidential Trump. I suppose, I might be wrong, if for example Trump is going to be attacked a lot, and he feels that he has to defend himself.
I'm Jewish, and I don't look to evangelical Christians to tell me when it is reasonable to fear antisemitism and when it is not. If the Trump administration, with Steve Bannon in the White House, spreads antisemitic lies, it won't hurt you. You're a Christian - you're not the target of antisemitic violence.
ReplyDeleteYou clearly haven't paid any attention to what I have said - the evidence I have cited of the evidence of antisemitism in the Trump campaign, the evidence of the antisemitism that Steven Bannon is bringing in. I'm not interested in reading your opinion any more, and if you try to post again, I'll delete your comments. (And don't whine about free speech - this is my blog, and I get to post whatever I want to. If you're unhappy about that, find another venue to complain).