The Trump Administration’s crusade against antisemitism is politically situational, an excuse to go after ideological adversaries while overlooking allies.
Specifically, the Administration has targeted elite Universities, mainly private institutions, over past incidents of antisemitism by cutting federal assistance, demanding they adopt more conservative practices.
Blatant antisemitism, however, among young Republicans and influencers is either ignored or minimized. Trump and Vice President Vance have downplayed vicious neo-Nazism from right wingers, and there are officials in the Administration sympathetic to antisemites.
The Administration charges that antisemitism is flourishing and tolerated at most of these elite Universities, which is just an excuse to go after perceived enemies; it’s also an exaggeration.
To be sure, during the Gaza war anti-Israel sentiment, anti-Jewish rhetoric and threats took off at a number of these schools. Their Administrations have moved aggressively against these threats.
The Trump Administration has cut or frozen billions of dollars of federal funds, much of it for valuable scientific or medical research. Some institutions have paid ransom money to minimize losses, others were forced to turn over identities of possible antisemites on the faculty or in the student body.
At the same time the Administration says almost nothing about the greater, more pervasive threat from the right, especially Christian nationalists. Moment, a respected magazine on Jewish affairs -- one of the founders was Elie Wiesel -- has a terrific piece in its current edition entitled: “The Dangerous Anti-Semitism Lurking in the Christian Nationalist Movement.”
“A new generation of pastors in the Christian nationalist mode has emerged in the podcasting world, unleashing overtly antisemitic diatribes,” reported Tom Gjelten.
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America, they believe, is a Christian nation, and everything should reflect that. Public space, author Stephen Wolfe contends, “should be exclusively for Christians.”
One of the most prominent Christian nationalist preachers is Tennessee-based Douglas Wilson, close to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who insists he’s even-handed . Jews, he wrote in his blog, are “high performance ... when they are good, they are very, very good, when they are bad they are very, very bad.”
A few political conservatives, like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, has denounced right wing antisemitism but the Trump Administration has been largely silent.
That has caused leaders like Alan Solow, former chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, to believe the Administration isn’t serious on the issue: “If you look at these efforts around antisemitism, it’s apparent they are really not about antisemitism at all,” he told Moment magazine. “They are about broader attacks on what I would call democratic society.”
Trumps’ lack of real commitment has long been apparent. Eight years ago, after a clash between white nationalists with neo-Nazis versus counter protestors resulted in a death, Trump equated both sides. Only after pressure, did he specifically criticize the Nazis.
This month he refused to condemn his friend Tucker Carlson’s fawning interview with Nick Fuentes, a Nazi admirer, Trump claimed this was a matter of free speech.
This might have been defensible if a.) Trump had a history of championing free speech which he clearly does not, b.) Carlson had conducted a vigorous interview which he did not, and c.) If Fuentes were not such a hateful bigot, praising Hitler and downplaying the Holocaust. (Fuentes also had dinner with Trump at Mar-a- Lago several years ago.)
It doesn’t get any better with Vice President J.D. Vance.
Politico broke a story about messages sent by young Republicans from multiple states, chiefly New York. Some of the participants were in their 30s. Hateful missives included antisemitic diatribes, expressing love for Hitler, and threatening to send opponents to gas chambers.
Vance, however, treated this vile hatred as kid’s stuff. He called criticism of them “pearl clutching,” declaring “I really don’t want us to grow up in a country where a kid telling a stupid joke, telling a very offensive, stupid joke is cause to ruin their lives.”
Do you imagine he would be so forgiving if one of those pro-Palestinian college kids railed against “from the river to the sea” when they might not even know which river or which sea?
Trafficking with antisemites or neo-Nazis is no disqualification for working in the Trump Administration. Paul Ingrassia had to withdraw his White House nomination to head the Office of Special Counsel, requiring Senate confirmation, after reports of him describing his “Nazi streak” and associating with white nationalists and Holocaust deniers.
But the White House took care of Ingrassia. He was named deputy general counsel of the General Services Administration, a position that doesn’t require Senate confirmation. There are others in this Administration with similar backgrounds.
The Justice Department’s Antisemitic Task force is led by Leo Terrell, a Trump convert who has faced multiple financial and legal controversies; he vowed to go after “Jew-haters.” at Universities. Judging by actions, this doesn’t seem to apply to Holocaust deniers or Hitler lovers if they’re on the political right.
“The Trump Administration not only doesn’t go after right wing antisemites, they embrace them,” charges Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council.
The Jewish rank and file is on to this ruse, according to a poll by GBAO Research, giving Trump negatives marks on the antisemitism campaign, with a strong plurality saying the effort against the Universities is doing more harm than good.
When I grew up antisemitism was pervasive, there were Jewish quotas in schools, colleges and clubs, no Jews were allowed at major organizations. Much of that is gone but a new and different wave has emerged. Some Jewish citizens at colleges, synagogues and elsewhere are worried about their safety.
Rather than denouncing this, especially the deeper threat from the right and calling on our better angels, Trump, politicizes the issue, making it worse.