President Trump handed the liberal media more ammunition on Wednesday when he doubled down on his inartful comments criticizing American Jews who voted for Democrats instead of siding with Israel. With the President calling them “disloyal,” accusations of anti-Semitism poured forth from the media. Meanwhile, Democratic Congresswomen Ilhan Omar (MN) and Rashida Tlaib (MI) were wrapped up in their own cases of anti-Semitism and claims of disloyalty, yet the liberal media covered for them.
“President Trump also digging in, again painting Jewish Americans as disloyal if they support Democrats,” chided NBC White House correspondent Peter Alexander on NBC Nightly News. “Many Jewish groups have condemned the comments accusing the President of echoing an anti-Semitic trope: that Jewish people have dual loyalties and are more devoted to Israel than to their own counties.”
But just last week, Alexander was much easier on Omar. While he was swift to brand Trump’s comments as anti-Semitic, Alexander said Omar “faced criticism” for comments others “called” anti-Semitic. He went out of his way to give Omar some deniability for her bigotry. He also reported that such accusations of anti-Semitism from the President were “attacks both women have rejected.”
On ABC’s World News Tonight, correspondent Kyra Phillips hyped how the Anti-Defamation League was “outraged.” “I will be exactly clear on what that was: anti-Semitism. The charge of disloyalty or dual loyalty has been used against Jews for thousands of years,” ADL head and former Obama official Jonathan Greenblatt said in a soundbite. “Today, the hashtag ‘Disloyal to Trump’ trending on Twitter,” she added
For last week’s World News Tonight, senior national correspondent Terry Moran parroted Omar’s smear that Israel was carrying out Trump’s “Muslim ban” on his behalf. “Both Omar and Tlaib criticize Israeli policies concerning the Palestinians and support movements to boycott Israel,” he added, ignoring how Tlaib paled around with Hezbollah activists.
CBS White House correspondent Paula Reid was more measured than the other networks on Wednesday. “The President also continued his attacks on Democratic Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, who have criticized Israeli policy towards Palestinians,” she reported for the CBS Evening News. “Democrats accused the President of stoking anti-Semitism.”
Yet none of the networks have reported that both Congresswomen have recently shared a political cartoon crafted by a man who placed second in “Iran's International Holocaust Cartoon Contest”.
New York Times columnist Bari Weiss expertly explained on CNN over the weekend why the media were covering for the Congresswomen. Weiss argued that “one of the problems of this moment” was how “everything [Trump] touches becomes toxic”. So, “it's very hard to cover, sort of, complicated characters and stories like them because [of] the President…”
Weiss pointed out that no major network or paper was reporting how Omar and Tlaib’s trip to Israel “was being sponsored by a group that literally published neo-Nazi blood libels and said that it supported female suicide bombers. You know, hailing them as heroes. That's a scandal.”
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Commentary magazine associate editor Noah Rothman published “The Case Against Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, the preponderance of evidence.” In the piece, Rothman dismantled both Congresswomen with their long and well-documented histories of anti-Semitism, including their own accusations of disloyalty.
The transcripts are below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s World News Tonight
August 21, 2019
6:37:41 p.m. Eastern(…)
KYRA PHILLIPS: The prime minister now joins a growing list of women the President has called “nasty”. Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris. Even Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.
His attacks on Denmark come as he escalates his attacks on American Jews who vote for Democrats. Today on Twitter, he thanked a conservative conspiracy theorist for saying Israeli Jews love Trump. Quote, “like he's the king of Israel.” While American Jews “don't even know what they're doing or saying anymore.”
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: In my opinion, you vote for a Democrat, you're being very disloyal to Jewish people and you're being very disloyal to Israel. And only weak people would say anything other than that.
PHILLIPS: Major Jewish organizations like the Anti-Defamation League outraged.
JONATHAN GREENBLATT: I will be exactly clear on what that was: anti-Semitism. The charge of disloyalty or dual loyalty has been used against Jews for thousands of years.
PHILLIPS: Today, the hashtag “Disloyal to Trump” trending on Twitter. The President asked about his words concerning Jewish loyalty.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Isn't that anti-Semitic?
TRUMP: No, no, no. It’s only in your head. It's only anti-Semitic in your head.
(…)
CBS Evening News
August 21, 2019
6:35:22 p.m. Eastern(…)
PAULA REID: The President also continued his attacks on Democratic Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, who have criticized Israeli policy towards Palestinians.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: In my opinion, you vote for a Democrat, you're being very disloyal to Jewish people, and you're being very disloyal to Israel. And only weak people would say anything other than that.
REID: Democrats accused the President of stoking anti-Semitism.
TRUMP: Oh, no, no, no, it's only in your head. It’s only anti-Semitic in your head.
(…)
NBC Nightly News
August 21, 2019
7:08:22 p.m. Eastern(…)
PETER ALEXANDER: President Trump also digging in, again painting Jewish Americans as disloyal if they support Democrats.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I think that if you vote for a Democrat, you're very, very disloyal to Israel and the Jewish people.
ALEXANDER: Many Jewish groups have condemned the comments accusing the President of echoing an anti-Semitic trope: that Jewish people have dual loyalties and are more devoted to Israel than to their own counties.
(…)
