After Poway: Trump, anti-Semitism and our rising insecurity
By Halie Soifer
Only hours after I wrote on NBCnews.com that President Trump’s policies have led to rising insecurity for American Jews, a white supremacist armed with an assault weapon launched a vicious attack on innocent worshippers at the Chabad Synagogue in Poway, California on the last day of Passover. As we mourn the senseless loss of life and pray for the injured, we also consider the factors that laid the foundation for this unconscionable hate crime.
Hours before the attack, the perpetrator posted a letter online replete with virulent anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and racism. Like the murderer who killed 11 Jews at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh exactly six months prior, he was inspired by a deep hatred for religious and racial minorities.
The attackers in Poway and Pittsburgh made clear in their online manifestos that — in their view — President Trump didn’t go far enough in endorsing white supremacy. This does not exonerate the president for creating the environment in which one would commit such an attack.
To the contrary, it underscores the role the president has played in feeding the flames of hatred that have resulted in a shocking rise of anti-Semitic hate crimes and proliferation of hate groups during his presidency. While Trump himself has not explicitly encouraged violence, he has given a green light to those who do so by using rhetoric that supports xenophobic and racist ideologies. He has used anti-Semitic dog whistles, conspiracy theories, and tropes, self-identified as a “nationalist,” and equivocated in his condemnation of neo-Nazis and white supremacists.
Less than 24 hours before the Poway attack, President Trump had the audacity to defend his description of white supremacists as being “very fine people” in Charlottesville, and defended Robert E. Lee, who fought for white supremacy by waging war against the United States. Just hours after the Poway attack, the president told thousands of people in Green Bay, Wisconsin, that he was “proud” of the fact that sending immigrants to sanctuary cities was his “sick idea,” lauding himself for his own xenophobia and even acknowledging it as slightly deranged.
Americans should not be fooled by Trump’s shallow condemnation of anti-Semitism while the cameras are rolling, nor should we forget the vitriol he has espoused from the campaign trail to the Oval Office and throughout his presidency. These words have led to a deep and growing sense of insecurity for American Jews and other religious and racial minorities. Just as we will never forget those tragically lost in Pittsburgh and Poway, we will never forget that the President of the United States has fomented and inspired hate.
Halie Soifer is executive director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America. Previously, she served as national security advisor to Sens. Kamala Harris and Chris Coons, and as a senior policy advisor for the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power.
