Trump says antisemitism in the US ‘like Germany in 1938’

US President Donald Trump says antisemitism in the United States is at levels “like Germany in 1938,” at the beginning of the Holocaust.

The president is asked by conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt about the recent rise in antisemitism in the US and what his administration is doing to combat it.

“I’m amazed to see it,” Trump says.  “This is like Germany in 1938 or whatever. It’s, like, crazy what’s going on. When you look at the attacks on people, the racial attacks and the attacks, they’re, I guess, 57 percent on Jewish people, and you wouldn’t believe it.”

According to FBI statistics, 63% of all religion-based hate crimes in the US last year targeted Jews. In 2024, the figure was 70%.

Trump’s comments came days after the 88th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the 1938 Nazi mass pogrom often seen as the beginning of the Holocaust. That came after Jews were stripped of citizenship and faced severe restrictions, boycotts and discrimination from Adolf Hitler and his regime.

Trump claims the rise in antisemitism “started, I would say, during Barack Hussein Obama’s run.”

In fact, the Anti-Defamation League and other groups have tracked an increase in US antisemitic incidents for more than a decade, dating back to the end of Obama’s second term in 2016, the year Trump was elected. That rise continued through Trump’s first term, which saw the deadliest antisemitic attack in US history in 2018, the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, in which a gunman killed 11 Jews.

The number of antisemitic incidents in the US spiked even further following the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and the subsequent Gaza war, during former president Joe Biden’s administration. They have remained at historically high levels.

President Trump says antisemitism around the world "is like Germany in 1938 or whatever." pic.twitter.com/jdhZHiTUn1

— CSPAN (@cspan) November 12, 2026

Pressed on how he is combating anti-Jewish discrimination, Trump points to his administration’s efforts to pressure universities to crack down on antisemitism, particularly surrounding campus protests against Israel, and calls Harvard University antisemitic. The administration has combated campus antisemitism in certain cases by withholding research funding and reaching cash settlements.

Trump says universities are “paying tremendous awards, colleges, for what they’ve done, because they’re antisemitic. Harvard’s antisemitic. And they’re big prices for what they’ve done.”

The crackdowns have split American Jews. Some have expressed appreciation for the fight against campus antisemitism, while others have raised concern about pulling research funds or appearing to make antisemitism a partisan issue.