Trump says at antisemitism event that Jewish voters would bear some blame if he loses in November

(CNN) — Former President Donald Trump said Thursday that “the Jewish people” would be partially to blame if he loses in November, escalating his persistent campaign trail criticism of Jewish voters and insisting that Democrats hold a “curse” over them.

“I’m not going to call this as a prediction, but in my opinion, the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss if I’m at 40%” support in the polls, Trump told Republicans in Washington at an event billed as opposing antisemitism. “If I’m at 40, think of it, that means 60% are voting for Kamala (Harris), who, in particular, is a bad Democrat. The Democrats are bad to Israel, very bad.”

The former president did not cite any specific polling.

Trump has frequently questioned why Jewish Americans would consider voting for his opponent, repeatedly saying that Jewish Democratic voters “should have their head examined.”

In the first of two speeches to Jewish groups on Thursday, Trump warned an audience that included GOP megadonor Miriam Adelson, who introduced him onstage, that the upcoming US election is “the most important” in Israel’s history. He claimed that the Jewish state would be “eradicated,” “wiped off the face of the earth” and “cease to exist” if Harris wins the presidency. But the former president appeared preoccupied with what he described as ingratitude from Jewish voters, whom he said should be supporting him in greater proportions because of his record on Israel.

“A poll just came out. I’m at 40%,” Trump said, again without identifying the survey. “That means you got 60% voting for somebody that hates Israel. And I say it, it’s going to happen. It’s only because of the Democrat hold or curse on you. You can’t let this happen. Forty percent is not acceptable, because we have an election to win.”

After calling on Harris to “officially disavow the support of all Hamas sympathizers, antisemites, Israel haters on college campuses and everywhere else,” Trump again turned his attention to Jewish voters.

“Sadly, and I have to say this, and it hurts me to say it, you’re going to still vote for Democrats, and it doesn’t make sense,” the former president said. “I say all the time that any Jewish person that votes for her, especially now, her or the Democrat Party, should have their head examined.”

Harris has never claimed support from any of the groups Trump mentioned. She has, in fact, come under scrutiny from some progressive Democrats and younger liberals, many of them Jewish, for her refusal to consider a pause in US arms shipments to Israel, as many pro-Palestinian groups are demanding, in the midst of the Israel’s war in Gaza. Earlier Thursday, the “Uncommitted” movement, which sprung up during the Democratic primaries in opposition to the Biden administration’s policy in Israel and Gaza, said it would not endorse Harris after her campaign again spurned activists pushing for a halt to US military aid to Israel and an immediate ceasefire.

Later Thursday evening, at the Israeli American Council’s national summit, Trump said he had not been “treated properly by voters who happen to be Jewish” during the 2020 election and, for the second time in a few hours, said Jewish voters would hold some responsibility if he is defeated this year.

“I gave them Golan Heights. I gave them the Abraham Accords. I recognized the capital of Israel and opened the Embassy in Jerusalem. And most importantly of all, I terminated the Iran nuclear deal, which was the worst deal ever made in the history of Israel, in the history of the Middle East,” Trump said.

“I was there four years, gave them billions and billions of dollars. I was the best friend Israel ever had, and still in 2020, now, I’ve done all these things, so now, Jewish people have no excuse,” he added, playing into an antisemitic trope that Jewish Americans have dual loyalties to the US and to Israel.

Harris’s husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, is Jewish and has been an outspoken critic of antisemitism, especially during protests in the US against Israel’s actions in Gaza. Still, Trump has repeatedly cast his rival as “anti-Israel” and “anti-Jewish.”

“You have to defeat Kamala Harris more than any other people on earth,” Trump said, addressing the Jewish voters in the audience. “Israel, I believe, has to defeat her. You know that? And I’ve never said this before: More than any people on earth, Israel has to defeat her.”

He then promised to “make Israel great again.”

Amy Spitalnick, the CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and a former aide to Democratic officials in New York, accused Trump of using “a speech about antisemitism as an opportunity to embrace antisemitic tropes and attack the American Jewish community.”

“Treating Jews and Israel as political footballs makes Jews, Israel and all of us less safe. Dividing Jews into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ camps and engaging in dual loyalty tropes further normalizes antisemitism,” Spitalnick added. “This is not partisan politics – it’s about the fundamental safety of the Jewish community.”

In an interview in March, Trump said that any Jewish person who votes for Democrats “hates their religion” and hates “everything about Israel.”

He made similar statements that evoked antisemitic tropes during his first two presidential campaigns.

“You’re not gonna support me because I don’t want your money. You want to control your politicians, that’s fine,” Trump said at the Republican Jewish Coalition in December 2015. “I’m a negotiator like you folks, we are negotiators.”

But Trump’s open frustration with Jewish voters became a more frequent theme in the aftermath of his 2020 election defeat.

“Jewish people who live in the United States don’t love Israel enough. Does that make sense to you?” he told an Orthodox Jewish outlet in 2021.

In a social media post in 2022, the former president – using an argument he alluded to Thursday – complained that “wonderful Evangelicals are far more appreciative of (his Israel record) than the people of the Jewish faith, especially those living in the U.S.”

“U.S. Jews have to get their act together,” he wrote, “and appreciate what they have in Israel – Before it is too late!”

In July, Harris asserted her “unwavering commitment to Israel” after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington.

Following pro-Hamas demonstrations surrounding the Israeli leader’s visit, Harris said in a statement, “I condemn any individuals associating with the brutal terrorist organization Hamas, which has vowed to annihilate the State of Israel and kill Jews.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

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