Trump is no antisemite. Drawing comparisons with Hitler is just crass
Don’t compare Trump to Hitler. To do so is as much an over-exaggeration as it is wrong.
By JPOST EDITORIALU.S. President Donald Trump speaks in the first 2020 presidential campaign debate with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden held on the campus of the Cleveland Clinic at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S., September 29, 2020. (photo credit: OLIVIER DOULIERY/POOL VIA REUTERS)
Toward the end of Tuesday night’s chaotic debate between US President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden, moderator Chris Wallace gave Trump a golden opportunity to condemn white supremacists.During a discussion in the debate on protests and riots on America’s city streets, Trump was asked by Wallace: “Are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and militia groups, and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence?”“Who would you like me to condemn?” Trump asked. When the answer came back “white supremacists and ‘Proud Boys,’” the name of a far Right group known for a history of street violence, Trump said: “Proud Boys, stand back, and stand by. But I tell you what: Somebody has to do something about antifa and the Left.”Trump missed the opportunity.Instead of just unequivocally condemning white supremacists, full stop, he said a paltry “stand back and stand by” (unclear what that means), and then changed the conversation to antifa.With that head-scratching reply, Trump missed the chance to correct the impression created in 2017 that he was giving support and comfort to the extreme Right when he said there were some “very fine people” among the white supremacists marching in Charlottesville.As clumsy as that Charlottesville comment was, a close reading of the transcript of those remarks does not indicate – as many have maintained – that what Trump really meant was that there were some good neo-Nazis.Yet, as his reply Tuesday night indicated, it is difficult for him to unambiguously denounce the far Right and white supremacists.While this is most likely the result of some sort of political calculation – not wanting to alienate far Right voters while trying to ensure that they, too, go to the polls – the president’s unwillingness to just say the obvious and condemn white supremacists without any “ifs” or “buts” is both jarring and short-sighted. It’s also bad politics, because this will be used by Trump’s legion of opponents to prove his “ racism” and “antisemitism.”We do not believe – based on Trump’s very positive track record on Israel and steps his administration has taken to combat antisemitism in the US, as well as by the number of Jews in his immediate family and in his inner circle – that the US president is an antisemite.Those opposed to Trump have enough ammunition to use against him, having to do both with his behavior and his policies, without having to stoop to saying that he is an antisemite or a neo-Nazi sympathizer, or drawing comparisons between him and Hitler.Unfortunately, the Jewish Democratic Council of America released a political advertisement on Tuesday, even before the debate – that will run in swing states with large Jewish populations – drawing a direct comparison between Trump’s America and the rise of fascism in 1930s Germany, and hinting at comparisons between Trump and Hitler.“History shows us what happens when leaders use hatred and nationalism to divide their people,” a narrator solemnly stated over pictures of German shops dabbed with the word “Jude,” and a US synagogue defaced with graffiti.The ad juxtaposes film of Nazi parades in Germany with footage of neo-Nazis marching in Charlottesville. It places images of German masses giving the sieg heil salute on one side of the screen, with Trump speaking on the other.“As antisemitism and white nationalism rise to dangerous levels in America, we are all less secure,” the narrator intoned. “It is time to show that we have learned from the darkest moments in history. Hate doesn’t stop itself: It must be stopped.”The advertisement – likening Trump to Hitler and 1930s Germany to 2020 America – is over the top, out of line and a gross misappropriation of the absolutely darkest period of Jewish history for momentary political gain.Disagree with Trump, even vehemently if you wish. Criticize his behavior and his policies. Jump all over him, deservedly so, for not being able to unreservedly condemn white supremacists in America. But don’t compare Trump to Hitler, or the situation facing America’s Jews to that which faced German Jewry in the 1930s. To do so is as much an over-exaggeration as it is wrong.
