TARGET ON MY BACK September 27, 2024

There’s a target on my back, though it doesn’t take the circular shape with a bullseye.

It’s a six-pointed star—the Star of David. Who put it there? The former President of the United States.

On September 19, Donald Trump told attendees at a campaign event titled “Fighting Antisemitism in America,” “I’m not going to call this a prediction, but, in my opinion, the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss if I’m at 40%.” An unnamed poll had said Trump now has two-fifths of Jewish voters’ support. 

The target on my back? To many Trump supporters, a Kamala Harris victory will be traceable to perfidious Jews undermining the United States. After all, Trump accuses Harris—and Joe Biden—of wanting to destroy this country. I can’t help thinking back to Adolf Hitler’s blaming Jews—tens of thousands of whom fought for Germany—for the loss of World War One. The Jews, he said, stabbed Germany in the back. We know what followed.

Of course, I could go back to August 11–12, 2017, and the “Unite the Right” march in Charlottesville, Virginia. Hundreds of white nationalists, neo-Nazis, Klansmen and other lovers of American democracy and freedoms carried tiki torches and shouted the old Nazi slogan “blood and soil” as well as “Jews will not replace us.” The latter phrase referred to Jews bringing non-white minorities into the country to outvote and ultimately get rid of whites.

Donald Trump infamously stated, “There were fine people on both sides.”

I recently mentioned Charlottesville to a non-Jewish friend. He didn’t realize that the march was a white-supremacist event and that all the marchers, not just a few, chanted these slogans. He also didn’t know how often synagogues (including mine), Jewish community centers, Jewish schools and Hillel facilities are targeted for graffiti and worse, i.e. murders in Pittsburgh and San Diego several years ago. And that Jewish college students are attacked on campus and Jews in ultra-orthodox neighborhoods.

So, is Trump an antisemite? 

New York Times columnist Bret Stephens, a Jew and a conservative, says no. In last Monday’s column with liberal Gail Collins, he wrote: “I don’t for a second believe that Trump is an antisemite: He has Jewish grandchildren through his daughter Ivanka and was probably the most pro-Israel president in history. But I also think he’s perilously clueless about classic antisemitic tropes, which leads him to make some spectacularly stupid comments. What worries me a lot more is his proximity to much more sinister and cynical figures like Tucker Carlson, who knows exactly what he’s doing when he offers a platform to a Holocaust denier. It’s yet another reason I’ll never vote for Trump.”

Fair enough. Trump will say anything if he thinks he can corral adoration and votes. Blaming the Jews if he loses is Trump’s way of shaming Jews into voting for him. That’s something neither Bret Stephens nor I—nor the majority of Jews—would ever consider.

Sadly, this nation is politically divided by personalities and conspiracy thinking rather than substantive issues, excepting immigration and abortion. I don’t doubt that a few Trump worshippers have taken his words to heart. If he loses, some will be prepared to defend his honor by killing Jews. 

Still, I wear my target proudly.

Please pass this on. 

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