Donald Trump seemed to yet again traffic in antisemitism and anti-Blackness as he claimed during a radio interview with WABC on July 30 that Vice-President Kamala Harris hates Jews and her husband, first gentleman Doug Emhoff, was a “crappy Jew.”
According to the Associated Press, Trump claimed that Harris was uncomfortable when she met with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“You can see the disdain. 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 claimed.
Trump, who has eaten with neo-Nazis, seems to be spiraling and throwing anything he can at Harris in the hopes that it will stick with his base, which, to be fair, probably won’t be difficult. As Jelani Cobb described in a piece for The New Yorker, Trump is “awkwardly trying to figure out how to hate Harris from scratch.”
The Harris campaign issued its rebuttal to Trump’s strategy of throwing hatred and division at the public through James Singer, a spokesperson for the campaign.
“America is better than the fear, hate, and despicable insults of Donald Trump,” Singer said. “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 [backward.]”
The former president also repeated comments he has previously made, saying that Jewish voters who back Democrats “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.”
Trump continued, saying that Vice President Harris “dislikes Jewish people and Israel even more than Biden did.”
Trump’s interview was conducted by Sid Rosenberg, who was fired from Don Imus’ radio show in 2001 for calling tennis legend Serena Williams an “animal” and saying that Williams and her sister Venus Williams should pose for National Geographic. Imus’s show later rehired him and was also involved in the incident when Imus called members of the mostly-Black Rutgers women’s basketball team “nappy-headed hoes.”
Rosenberg and Trump went on something of an extended rant targeting Emhoff, beginning with Rosenberg saying, “He’s Jewish like Bernie Sanders is Jewish. Are you kidding me?”
“Yeah,” Trump said.
“He’s a crappy Jew,” Rosenberg said.
“Yeah,” Trump repeated.
Rosenberg then disparaged Emhoff again, saying, “He’s a horrible Jew.”
Although Emhoff’s office did not issue a statement to the AP, Emhoff has been a critical asset to the Harris campaign. As The Hill reported, Emhoff has previously called the ex-President a “known antisemite” and “toxic.”
On July 23, he told reporters that Trump’s criticisms of his wife underwhelmed him.
“That’s all he’s got? You heard the vice president yesterday making the case against Donald Trump very clearly. Laid out the case directly and in a compelling fashion. But she also laid out a vision for the future, a vision where there’s freedom, where we’re not having to talk about these issues of today in this post-Dobbs hellscape that Donald Trump created.”
In contrast to Melania Trump’s absence, Emhoff was described to The Hill by ex-Harris staffer Rachel Palmero as a true partner to Harris and an asset to the campaign.
“Mr. Emhoff and Vice President Harris are true partners in every sense of the word. His support for the vice president fuels the fight for gender equity in a way that will shape future generations. The second gentleman is a significant asset to the campaign — which is why we are seeing him hitting the trail and galvanizing people across the country.”