Updated by Yochi Dreazen
Oct 14, 2016, 4:00p
http://www.vox.com/world/2016/10/14/13288138/donald-trump-anti-semite-israel-david-duke-racism-misogny-clintonThere’s no more doubting it, no more excusing it, no more defending it, no more trying to explain it away. We’re past the time when having a Jewish son-in-law makes it okay to spew paranoia and conspiracy theories. A line has finally been crossed, and we need to acknowledge a cold and very scary truth: Donald Trump is openly trafficking in the types of anti-Semitic slurs that have been used to justify the hatred of Jews for decades.
I don’t write those words glibly, or casually. They’re not words I ever thought I’d need to write about the nominee of a major American political party. And it’s true that Trump’s allegation Thursday that a global financial cabal is secretly working hand in hand with the media to destroy the United States doesn’t include the word “Jew.”
But here’s the thing: It doesn’t need to. Trump is using barely coded words that directly echo one of the most ancient of all anti-Semitic libels. Jews have long been accused of controlling the global financial system. Jews have long been accused of controlling the media. And Jews have long been accused of being disloyal citizens secretly working to maneuver governments to pursue disastrous policies solely for their own benefit. Trump has now chosen to combine all of those charges into a single paranoid and hate-filled rant.
It’s worth looking at the key phrases from his comments yesterday at a rally in West Palm Beach, Florida (you can read a fuller transcript
here):
It's a global power structure that is responsible for the economic decisions that have robbed our working class, stripped our country of its wealth, and put that money into the pockets of a handful of large corporations and political entities…
We've seen this firsthand in the WikiLeaks documents in which Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of US sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers, her special interest friends, and her donors...
This is a struggle for the survival of our nation. Believe me. And this will be our last chance to save it on November 8. Remember that.
This election will determine whether we're a free nation, or whether we have only an illusion democracy but in are in fact controlled by a small handful of special global interests rigging the system, and our system is rigged.
Michelle Obama said Thursday that Trump’s boasts about sexually assaulting women had “shaken me to my core.” His resurrection of a hoary anti-Semitic canard has done the same to me.
That’s because Trump, who commands media attention like no presidential candidate in recent history, openly used phrases more commonly spoken by those who hate Jews or want to do them harm. David Duke, a white supremacist who backs Trump,
said earlier this year that a legal case involving the mogul could help “expose the entire Jewish manipulation of the American media, the American political process, control of politics in America and truly how they are the dominant and dangerous power that exists in the United States.” Remove the word “Jewish,” and Duke’s broader point — that there’s a group secretly controlling and trying to harm the US — closely echoes Trump’s comments Thursday.
Intentionally or not, Trump has revived some of the ugliest of anti-Semitic stereotypes. Taking those out of the box is much easier than putting them back in.
(much more at link)
