Why Won't Trump Denounce His Anti-Semitic Supporters?
You might’ve thought after the media firestorm that engulfed Donald Trump in February when he failed to vocally denounce the endorsement of white supremacists like David Duke to CNN’s Jake Tapper, Trump would’ve learned a lesson. That lesson being, of course, that presidential candidates should unequivocally denounce bigotry and hate, even when spewed by supporters.
But on Wednesday night, it happened again. This time instead of white supremacists, it was anti-Semites, and instead of Jake Tapper, it was Wolf Blitzer. Blitzer asked Trump if he had a “message” for his “fans” who had spewed a tidal wave of anti-Semitic comments at Julia Ioffe, a journalist who had written an article about Trump’s wife Melania that appeared in GQ last week.
Melania Trump was so outraged by the article that she took to Facebook to respond, attacking Ioffe personally and claiming the article contained “numerous inaccuracies.” That inspired some Trump supporters to lash out, leveling horribly anti-Semitic attacks at Ioffe, who is Jewish.
It was truly vile garbage. There was an image of Ioffe depicted as a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp. A cartoon of a Jewish man being shot in the head. Others called her phone and played speeches of Adolph Hitler. And the white supremacist website Daily Stormer ran an article titled, “Empress Melania Attacked by Filthy Russian Kike Julia Ioffe in GQ!” (The Daily Stormer has repeatedly attacked me for being Muslim, proving once again that bigots tend to hate both Jews and Muslims.)
The barrage of anti-Semitic attacks on Ioffe has been well documented in the media over the last week with countless articles and coverage on cable news channels. When Blitzer asked Trump about the backlash, Trump ignored the specific question and instead attacked the article. Although Trump claimed he hadn’t read the article, he still dubbed it “very inaccurate” and “nasty,” adding, “they shouldn’t be doing that with wives.” (I guess Trump already forgot his attacks on the looks of Ted Cruz’s wife Heidi).
Yet Blitzer pressed Trump, “But the anti-Semitic death threats that have followed...” Trump interrupted, “Oh, I don't know about that. I don't know anything about that. You mean fans of mine?”
Blitzer responded, “Supposed fans of posting these very angry—but your message to these fans is?”
This is the moment at which Trump should’ve clearly condemned the anti-Semitic comments. And if Trump were a true leader, he would’ve encouraged his “fans” to stop spewing such hate.
But he didn’t. Instead Trump responded: “I don’t have a message to the fans.” And then, astoundingly, he attacked Ioffe again. “A woman wrote an article that’s inaccurate.”
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