Donald Trump is playing a dangerous game, and Jews lose either way

Donald Trump is playing a dangerous game, and Jews lose either way

Last week, former President Donald Trump posted to his social media account a video that referenced a “unified reich” in an effort to construct a vision of a prosperous future that could be unlocked only by the return of Trump to the presidency.

That was two months after Trump said that Jewish Americans who vote for Democrats “hate” their religion.

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None of this is new. Both Trump’s flirtation with Holocaust terms and imagery and his accusations that American Jews are disloyal to their heritage when they decline to support him are well-worn flourishes for the former president.

These controversies may seem ephemeral in a news cycle saturated by Trump’s ugly rhetoric. But make no mistake: Trump has set a terrible trap for Jews. We don’t know whether he will win or lose in November, but either way, he has already put our safety on the line.

We have more than enough evidence to know that a Trump victory could be perilous for Jews.

Dangerous white supremacist individuals and groups are clearly paying attention to his words, lapping up every signal that if Trump wins the election in November, their white nationalist dreams for America would enjoy tacit approval from the highest levels of government.

We don’t have to guess what happens when political leaders routinely send those signals. Since Trump’s political popularity began to take off in 2015, antisemitism and hate crimes have spiked, and Jew-focused conspiracy theories have proliferated.

A review by ABC News turned up dozens of criminal cases where Trump was invoked in direct connection with violent acts, threats of violence or allegations of assault; the same search for connections to President Barack Obama or President George W. Bush came up empty.

Meanwhile, far-right social media platforms have created communities for hateful ideologies, providing comfort and support to those who might do harm.

But what of a Trump loss?

When Trump repeatedly attacks the 70% of American Jews who typically vote for Democrats as disloyal to their faith, he sets the stage for them to be held responsible for his defeat at the ballot box.

We know that bearing blame for Trump’s loss can be dangerous. The last time Trump lost an election, thousands of his most fervent supporters descended on the U.S. Capitol Building in a violent attempt to stop the certification of the election. Trump’s own aides recalled Trump seeming to cheer on the angry mob’s chants of “hang Mike Pence!” because his vice president refused to interfere in the election process.

And narratives that scapegoat Jews already dominate right-wing conspiracy theories. “Replacement theory,” which holds that the white race is in danger of extinction by a rising tide of non-whites who are controlled and manipulated by Jews, inspired both the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, and the murder of 11 Jews as they attended Shabbat services in my neighborhood.

When Trump is called out for endangering Americans with his comments, he sometimes professes ignorance and sometimes doubles down. Regardless, the trap has been set for American Jews: If he wins, antisemitic white supremacists will be emboldened. If he loses, he’s already signaling to a receptive audience where the blame should lie.

Our country has weathered times like this before. In our 250 years as a nation, many charismatic figures have led and stoked antisemitic, anti-immigrant and anti-Black movements. Our best protection is to call it out, without equivocation. PJC

Dan Frankel represents the 23rd District in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

Editor’s note: The video referenced in this column was removed from Trump’s account a day after it was posted. A Trump campaign spokesperson said that a junior staff member had reposted the video from another account and he was unaware that the word “reich” appeared in the video.