RACISM AND ANTI SEMITISM IN TRUMP’S POPULIST AMERICA

There are many that would argue that Trump is just a symptom of a world wide phenomenon towards populism which has been triggered by waves of uncontrolled illegal immigration…that the movement which has swept across Europe spawned a Brexit and a slew of right wing regimes just bounced across the pond to America and voila out popped The Donald. Not only is  the explanation simplistic it is inaccurate.  America for starters was not facing the millions of displaced from the Middle East wars and those fleeing chaotic Africa.

 At heart of the European experience was a retreat to a movement of exclusive nationalism accompanied by a growth of racism and anti semitism unimaginable eighty years after the Holocaust. Besides the hate and violence spawned across the continent, the United Kingdom has a political party, on the cusp of becoming the Government, which is being investigated by the UK Justice Department for anti semitism.

Trump’s nativism was thus not precipitated by a sudden uncontrollable influx of refugees from the Middle East. He just needed to ensure that America retained its traditional demographic make up. His objective was to decrease the existing traditional immigrant influx, legal and illegal, and to rid the country of the current “illegals” who have been integrated into the economy for decades. This he and his guru Steve Bannon believed would be enough to keep America white. The major similarity that Trump’s populist America has with the European experience is that it is attended with a similar surge of racism and anti semitism.

RACISM AND DISCRIMINATION CANNOT BE COMPARTMENTALIZED.

 The lesson of history that racism or discrimination against any one religion, group, gender or the like cannot be compartmentalized to just one entity is one that is never learned. That which the German theologian Pastor Niemoller chronicled in 1946 is as valid today as it was then and has been throughout history:  

"First they came for the Socialists and I didn't speak out for I was not a socialist

Then they came for the Trade Unionists and I didn't speak out for I was not a Trade Unionist

Then they came for the Jews and I didn't speak out for I was not a Jew

Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me"

There are many variations and additions to the Niemoller poem which included that “they came” for the Communists, incurable patients, the retarded, Jehovah’s witnesses, the gypsies and the homosexuals. 

The crisp point is racism and discrimination is not divisible and those who believe that they can espouse it against one group and ostensibly not against another are in denial. 

TRUMP, ANTI SEMITISM AND RACISM

The issue of racism and bigotry in modern day America is far from being only associated with Trump but let the discussion begin with him. 

Trump’s strongest argument that he is not an anti semite is that he has a daughter, son in law and three grandchildren to prove it. Moreover he unconditionally backs Bibi Netanyahu and his vision of Israel. (He ignores the fact that the majority of American jews have grave reservations about the Netanyahu government). He boldly put into effect the policy of every American President by physically moving the American Embassy to Jerusalem thereby acknowledging the latter as Israel’s capitol. It does no harm too that the biggest donor by several multiples to the midterm Republican election campaign was Bibi Netanyahu’s close friend, Sheldon Adelson, who wrote checks for a $118 million dollars. 

The POTUS’S response to any criticism that he is a racist is that he is protecting legitimate Americans’ jobs. He further rationalizes what he espouses is in national security and to prevent crime, drug dealing, rape and murder.  However his behavior on the issue of discrimination projects another picture.

Trump is on the record with overt words and actions against one group or another starting from his announcement of his Presidential bid to this very day. The Mexicans were first singled out as having inferior status and who were ostensibly pouring into the country. (The irony is that there has been a net emigration of Mexicans from America for the past few years). He continued this line in spades. Then he followed this with a proposal for a blanket ban of all Muslims entering the country. His outbursts against African Americans especially women is there for all to see and all African countries are “sh…holes”. He claims that he is a Nationalist with all the connotations that label has, arguing it is just another term for being a patriot. 

Trump wants it both ways. He argues that he is not a racist but because of his actions the racists have embraced him unconditionally and he has done very little to disabuse their support. 

THE RACISTS INCLUDING ANTI SEMITES BELIEVE TRUMP IS A RACIST. 

Throughout his campaign right wing groups flocked to The Donald with a vengeance. The former Grand Wizard of the Klu Klux Klan, David Duke, led the way. He claimed that voting against Trump was “really treason to your heritage”. While Trump had condemned Duke in years gone by he initially claimed he didn’t know who he was and didn’t know anything about white supremacists. It took a full court media press over days for Trump finally disavow Duke. A few days later, again under duress, he responded in the affirmative to the question as to whether he unequivocally renounced the support of white supremacists. 

Seven months into his Presidency a landmark event occurred which to this day has left an indelible impression as to his attitude to those who behaved, in the words of Bob Woodward, in a manner akin to the Nazis of the 1930’s. White supremacists and nationalists had gathered in Charlottesville Virginia to protest the removal of a confederate leader’s statue shouting, “Jews will not replace us” and the Nazi slogan, “Blood and Soil”. The torch bearing activists were seen on video menacing the counter protestors. One of them drove into the crowd brutally killing a young woman and injuring nineteen others. Needless to say the incident created a storm of protest and indignation.

Trump initially issued a number of statements which were characterized by the fact that he did not condemn the racists.  Most notable was his final comment, “We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence, On many sides….”.  The equivalence he adjudicated between the violent Neo Nazis and the counter protestors unleashed a backlash from every sector of the body politic including Republicans John McCain, Speaker Ryan, Lindsey Graham and Vice President Pence. Most telling was the comment by the Republican Senator from Ohio, Orrin Hatch, “ My brother didn’t give his life for Nazi ideas to go unchallenged at home”. With regard to the incident Trump was warned by David Duke, "To take a good look into the mirror and remember that it was White Americans who put you into the Presidency not radical leftists".

The pressure on Trump to clear up the mess his position had put him into crescendoed. He finally conceded and backed down by condemning racism as evil specifically calling out the KKK, Neo- Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups. His distaste at this back tracking was exacerbated when he heard a Fox correspondent describe his action as a “course correction”. As reported in Woodward’s best selling book “Fear”, he subsequently castigated his Secretary Rob Porter who orchestrated his concession, “This was the biggest f…ing mistake I’ve made. You never make these concessions. You never apologize. I didn’t do anything wrong in the first place. Why look weak?”

HATE CRIMES UP IN THE USA ESPECIALLY AGAINST THE JEWS.

While the reporting by local police agencies is woefully inadequate the number of “hate crimes” for 2017 represents an increase in 2017 from 6,200 to 7,100. ( For example nationally reported incidents such as the murder of Scrinivas Kubchibhotla whose assailant pled guilty to a hate crime and the Charlottesville scandal were not on the list.) The most alarming increase was in anti semitic incidents which were up thirty seven percent from 2016.

 Twenty percent of the hate crimes are based on religion of which 58% are anti semitic in nature. About a quarter of the religiously motivated crimes are against Muslims.These are astonishingly high numbers bearing in mind that jews and muslims only represent 2% of the US population respectively. The occurrences were predominantly in the major cities, notably New York which has the largest Jewish presence. 

The infamous Pittsburgh Synagogue Tree of Life massacre where 11 worshippers were gunned down by a right wing bigot brought the problem of racial and religious hatred to the forefront. The assassin was motivated to act urgently by the President’s claim that the immigrant caravan of South America refugees represented an existential threat to America. The gunman alluded to the fact that the Tree of Life synagogue supported a Hebrew agency that assists all immigrants and refugees. The caravan he argued was financed by George Soros. This was his motivation for the attack where he exclaimed that there should be, “Death to all Jews”.

CAMPUS AND OTHER ANTI SEMITISM

There was close on two thousand incidents of anti semitism on campuses in 2017 a rise of close on sixty percent from the previous year. Most of those were cloacked as being anti Zionist. The Anti Defamation League noted a doubling of white supremacist literature on campuses for the 2017 - 18 College year. Far left groups are also involved in several of the attacks. The unpopular views of Netanyahu are used as propaganda and rather than attacking them per se the narrative is that Israel and by extension the jews have no right to exist. The illegality of Israel’s existence is led by the National Students For Justice in Palestine. The BDS, (Boycott, Disinvest and Sanction) campaign is often the basis to put an end the existence of the Israeli State. Another reported subject matter used in the religious attacks is Holocaust Denial. Besides intimidation, defacements and the like, meetings and debates are broken up by the antagonists. 

The Louis Brandeis Center for Human Rights is investigating legal recourses to the College intimidation and attacks. Thus far there is been a limited willingness for either the police or the Universities to get involved. It is against Criminal Law to forcefully break up a meeting which infringement is common. The key legal mechanism to put a halt to the limitation of free speech is Title VI. The latter is a Civil Rights Act which is designed to prevent a “hostile environment”. The Universities have a responsibility to enforce this on their own campuses and their failure to do so could invite outside intervention. 

Another unlikely group which has been accused of failing to condemn anti semitism is the highly successful Women’s March that radicalized and organized a wave of opposition to Trumpism culminating in the successful repudiation of Republican candidates in the midterms. Three of the Women’s March Vice Presidents have close ties with Nation of Islam’s Louis Farrakhan. This has resulted in the movement’s failure to disassociate themselves from his extremist anti semitic views. The issue came to a head recently when Farrakhan denounced “Satanic Jews” claiming that “If you want something in this world the Jew holds the door”. Thus far the issue has not been resolved. The irony that results when the left wing groups have as their bedfellows the white supremacists, who are certainly out to get them as well, is apparently above the heads of Farrakhan and his supporters. 

AT THE END OF THE DAY

While America has not the same existential immigration problem that precipitated European populism, the latter has reared its head in the form of the election of Donald J. Trump as its President. The concomitant racism, particularly anti semitism that accompanies populism is, however, alive and well in America. Trump has claimed that his exclusivism does not extend to the jews. This apparent disconnect is obviously not a deterrent to the ultra right who see him as a racist and white supremacist. 

The upshot of Trump’s attitude is that racism including anti semitism thrives in this milieu. The American President occupies a unique position in American politics and culture as a leader so that he can legitimize any behavior or trend. 

Trump will not change but the lesson for all those who are excluded from his invective is the lesson of history as articulated by Pastor Niemoller. Similarly those groups that are peculiarly anti semitic need to realize that their legitimacy as fighters for equality and justice is compromised by their stance. Ironically, as history has shown, a disproportionate number of jews were often part of the struggle that helped liberate the very groups that are now vilifying them and are now part of the right wing anti semitic coalition.