For weeks and weeks now Donald Trump — the man who once allegedly said that he didn’t want “Black guys” counting his money and only trusted “little short guys that wear yarmulkes every day” to do it — has been smearing the Democratic Party as anti-semitic. It’s a blatant example of projection coming from a man with a long recorded history of bigotries of every kind.
This is, after all, an individual who has inspired a massive spike in hate crimes since he took office, which many reasonably attribute to his hateful rhetoric. Bluntly put, this man isn’t an ally to anyone but white Americans and anything he says to the contrary is just politicking.
Earlier today, Trump took to Twitter in a vain attempt to do damage control for the frankly jawdropping anti-semitic comments he made in the Oval Office yesterday when he said that the vast majority of American Jews are disloyal and ignorant for not voting for the GOP.
Of course, this president is pathologically incapable of apologizing so his attempt at Twitter damage control just made things a thousand times worse, as he quoted a crank radio host who said Jews love Trump and referred to the president as the “King of Israel.”
Hopefully, one does not need a deep explanation for why Donald Trump — who is neither Jewish nor Israeli — should not be flirting with the idea of rhetorically crowning himself “King of Israel.” It’s a truly staggering cocktail of anti-semitism and unbridled egotism.
The backlash was swift and overwhelming. “King of Israel” quickly began trending. Responses ranged from stunned disbelief to the usual mockery, to sadly more than a few Jewish people who felt compelled to voice their profound discomfort and even fear at the President of the United States engaging in this kind of language.
Read some below.
The president is publicly comparing himself to the "King of Israel" and "the second coming of God." Normal stuff. https://t.co/iLYeYE9p9M
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 21, 2019
BOW BEFORE THE KING OF ISRAEL! pic.twitter.com/O6eOB7K6Xk
— The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) August 21, 2019
In the past 24 hours Trump cancelled a trip to Denmark because it wouldn’t sell him Greenland, referred to American Jews who vote Democratic as disloyal, and tweeted Israeli Jews view him as the “second coming of God” and the “King of Israel.”
— John Haltiwanger (@jchaltiwanger) August 21, 2019
We have reached a point as a civilization where "King of Israel" is trending on Twitter and it is about Donald Trump, the President of the United States.
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) August 21, 2019
@realDonaldTrump is no "King of Israel" but he is a queen of these fucking morons. pic.twitter.com/eRNoqSfdLk
— Mr.Alberto.Z (@darthaz84) August 21, 2019
It's hard for me to tweet through my tears at this utter ignorance & antisemitism. How is this happening in a country where we felt so safe? Trump is no "King of Israel". Trust me on this. https://t.co/M6p6zlM515
— Rabbi Jill Zimmerman (@RabbiJill) August 21, 2019
Now I'm not an Old Testament scholar, certainly, but I feel like the *actual* King of Israel wouldn't retweet so many neo-Nazi anti-Semitic memes about how Jewish globalist bankers secretly control the world economy.
— Ken Tremendous (@KenTremendous) August 21, 2019
NEW COMMANDMENT:
Thou shalt not let the president describe themselves as ‘The King of Israel’ or ‘The Second Coming of God.’ If they do that, thou shalt recognize they are insane and immediately remove them from office for being insane.— God (@thegoodgodabove) August 21, 2019
https://twitter.com/SpillerOfTea/status/1164194706793947136?s=20
https://twitter.com/TheTweetwit/status/1164201214579314688?s=20
https://twitter.com/lucidEYEty/status/1164204080388038656?s=20
https://twitter.com/IStandWithIlhan/status/1164200579037573120?s=20
Trump is quoting someone who calls him "the King of Israel" on par with "the second coming of God." Two things: 1) it's weird & offensive to say, in effect, "Jews love him like he's Jesus." 2) Christians should see this as blasphemy but many, especially in USA, won't. https://t.co/Q341T49yZ7
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) August 21, 2019
We learn in med school that if someone comes to the emergency room calling themselves the King of Israel and the second coming of God, that patient is either high on drugs or is having a psychotic break and needs to be promptly evaluated with a tox screen and psychiatric consult.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) August 21, 2019
Nothing but respect for our King of Israel https://t.co/LZLXHK8MvE
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) August 21, 2019
Can you imagine if Barack Obama decided one morning to jump on twitter and call himself King of Israel and Jesus in one tweet
Michelle would have stopped that shit before it happened because well they live together unlike Melania and trump pic.twitter.com/u9VYiuQtDE
— YourPresidentIsARacist (@battletested5) August 21, 2019
So religious right in Israel (and the US), tell me, how do you feel about the racist, rapist, felonious, traitorous, corrupt president of the United States embracing and promoting the idea of himself as the "King of Israel…the second coming of God?" You down with that? https://t.co/eaeploFqSh
— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) August 21, 2019
