Trump says Kamala Harris, who is married to a Jew, ‘doesn’t like Jewish people’
Former president says Democratic hopeful ‘dislikes Israel even more than Biden did’; Emhoff, who has been outspoken in his mission to combat antisemitism, declines to comment
Former President Donald Trump in an interview on Tuesday claimed Vice President Kamala Harris, who is married to a Jewish man, “doesn’t like Jewish people” and seemed to agree with a radio host who called second gentleman Doug Emhoff “a crappy Jew.”
Trump, in an interview on WABC radio on Tuesday, claimed Harris looked uncomfortable while meeting last week with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“You can see the disdain,” he said, adding, “No. 1, she doesn’t like Israel. No. 2, she doesn’t like Jewish people. You know it, I know it and everybody knows it and nobody wants to say it.”
Trump has tried to capitalize on divisions in the Democratic Party over the Israel-Hamas war and sought to paint his political opponents as antisemitic while overlooking some of his own past comments and behavior, such as dining at his Florida club with a Holocaust-denying white nationalist.
With Harris replacing President Joe Biden as the likely Democratic presidential nominee, Trump has escalated his attacks on her.
“America is better than the fear, hate, and despicable insults of Donald Trump,” said James Singer, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign. “Vice President Harris believes Americans want a president who unites our country instead of divides it, uses the power of the presidency to help families instead of hurt them, and has a vision for our future, instead of taking us backwards.”
In the interview, the Republican former president repeated comments he has made before lashing out at Jewish voters who back Democrats, saying anyone who does “should have their head examined” and “if you’re Jewish, if you vote for a Democrat, you’re a fool, an absolute fool. They have let Jewish people down since Obama at a level that nobody could believe.”
As Trump continued on, he again said of Harris, “She dislikes Jewish people and Israel even more than Biden did.”
The interview host, Sid Rosenberg, then mentioned Harris’s husband Emhoff and said, “He’s Jewish like Bernie Sanders is Jewish. Are you kidding me?”
“Yeah,” Trump said.
“He’s a crappy Jew,” Rosenberg said, continuing.
“Yeah,” Trump said again.
Rosenberg went on, saying of Emhoff, “He’s a horrible Jew.”
They then moved on to criticizing Harris on other issues.
Trump made a similar claim about Harris disliking Jewish people on Friday while speaking to a Christian group at a Turning Point USA gathering in Florida. He has also ignited blowback in the past for making similar remarks about Jewish people, like when he said in March that Jews who vote for Democrats “hate Israel” and hate “their religion.”
Emhoff, the first Jewish person to serve as the spouse of a nationally elected US leader, has been one of the most visible members of the Biden administration speaking about combating antisemitism. He hung mezuzahs — rolled parchments inscribed with passages from the Torah — on the doorposts of the vice president’s residence and led Passover celebrations at the White House.
Emhoff’s office declined to comment Tuesday.
Trump’s campaign has also criticized Emhoff’s adult daughter Ella for posting on her social media account a fundraising link for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees.
Israel has accused multiple agency staffers from the UN agency of taking part in Hamas’s attack on October 7, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage. The agency, which provides education, health, and aid to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, said it had suspended 10 people, and that the other two accused staff members were dead.
The UN later suspended investigations into several of the accused, claiming that Israel had provided insufficient evidence.
Israel has sought to ban the group and suggests it supports terrorists. European leaders have said that is a baseless accusation.
