Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin issued a warning to his Republican counterparts after former President Donald Trump asserted that Jewish voters “would really have a lot to do” with it if he loses to Vice President Kamala Harris in November.
Trump’s comments during opening night of the Israeli American Council (IAC) summit on Thursday have garnered widespread backlash from critics, including prominent Jewish lawmakers like Maryland’s Raskin, who serves as ranking member of the House Oversight Committee.
The former president said in part during his keynote address that he “wasn’t treated properly by the voters who happen to be Jewish” during his 2016 and 2020 elections, adding, “If I don’t win this election, and the Jewish people would really have a lot to do with that if that happens.”
The comments were described as “vile” by attorney Andrew Weinstein, a public delegate of the United States to the United Nations who wrote to X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday night that Trump’s statements were “dangerous and should be condemned by all Americans.”
Raskin echoed the sentiment during an appearance on CNN‘s The Lead with Jake Tapper Friday evening, saying that Trump’s comments were “extremely dangerous rhetoric, and we need everybody across the political spectrum, including any self-respecting Republicans left, to denounce this kind of rhetoric.”
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The congressman proceeded to speak directly to conservatives who have homed in on instances of antisemitism during pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses in recent months. Politicians on both sides of the aisle, including President Joe Biden, have spoken out against reports of antisemitic sentiment at demonstrations hosted by student-led groups critical of Washington’s policies on Israel. Student protesters have also denounced inflammatory remarks and said such rhetoric does not represent their movement.
“You can obviously find antisemitism all over the political spectrum,” Raskin said on Friday. “But what we have right now is the Republican presidential candidate setting up a situation where he’s going to blame Jews if he loses the presidential election.”
“I think that anybody who’s involved with that party has got to remember that antisemitism and racism are the gateway to destruction, not just of our communities, but also of liberal democracy itself,” Raskin added. “And most American Jews, like most Americans, can recognize an autocrat and a would-be dictator when we see them.”
Trump has repeatedly touted his administration’s policies toward Israel and has claimed that Harris, his Democratic opponent in November, would destroy the Jewish state if she wins, including stating on Thursday that Israel “will cease to exist within two years” if he loses. He’s also previously said that Jews who vote Democratic should have their “heads examined.”
Polling has shown that a majority of Jewish voters back Harris in the 2024 election. Trump earned 27 percent of the Jewish vote in 2020, while Biden was backed by 70 percent of Jewish Americans.
When reached for comment about Trump’s IAC speech, Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told Newsweek via email Friday afternoon that Trump “did more for Israel than any American President in history.”
Leavitt’s statement went on to blame Harris’ policies for “unraveling” the “progress” that Trump’s administration made in the Middle East, adding, “When President Trump is back in the Oval Office, Israel will once again be protected, Iran will go back to being broke, terrorists will be hunted down, and the bloodshed will end.”
Newsweek sent another email to Trump’s campaign on Friday for comment on Raskin’s statement.
Harris’ campaign national security spokesperson Morgan Finkelstein on Friday adamantly denounced Trump’s IAC speech in a statement, writing that the former president was “resorting to the oldest antisemitic tropes in the book because he’s weak and can’t stand the fact that the majority of America is going to reject him in November.”
Harris’ husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, also reacted to Trump’s speech over X on Friday, writing that Jewish Americans “will not be intimidated and will continue to live openly, proudly, and without fear as Jews.”
In a joint statement on Friday, a group of Democratic Jewish lawmakers wrote that Trump “has dangerously and irresponsibly shifted blame on the Jewish people for his potential loss in November—yet another extension of a pervasive antisemitic trope.”
“To be clear: making support for Israel a partisan issue is bad for Israel and it’s bad for those who believe that America should remain a global leader in the Middle East and around the world,” the lawmakers added.
That statement was signed by Representatives Dan Goldman of New York; Kathy Manning of North Carolina; Brad Schneider of Illinois; Brad Sherman of California; and Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida. New York Congressman Ritchie Torres, who is not Jewish but is an outspoken supporter of Israel, also signed the letter.
