Read on Twitter
Just so we’re all clear, “people behind the scenes secretly funding and controlling things” is a big antisemitic trope. And, one presumes, here, a dogwhistle to the people steeped in these theories.
1/x https://twitter.com/newsweek/status/1300747485325991936
1/x https://twitter.com/newsweek/status/1300747485325991936
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was concocted by the Czar during a time of great unrest. "Blame the Jews, not me" has been a time-tested way of people in power doing things.
Some background: https://mobile.twitter.com/TheRaDR/status/1057333224538624001
Some background: https://mobile.twitter.com/TheRaDR/status/1057333224538624001
How that played out during a different pandemic: https://mobile.twitter.com/TheRaDR/status/1237470319008526337
And as @BulldogShadow has pointed out, it very much animates the contemporary white nationalist movement. https://www.politicalresearch.org/2017/06/29/skin-in-the-game-how-antisemitism-animates-white-nationalism
"The successes of the civil rights movement created a terrible problem for White supremacist ideology. White supremacism...had been the law of the land, and a Black-led social movement had toppled the political regime that supported it...." (Cot'd)+
"How could [they] have unseated this power through organizing alone?....Some secret cabal, some mythological power, must be manipulating the social order behind the scenes.. Jews function for today’s White nationalists as they often have for antisemites through the centuries."
Trump knows this, and he knows that this is what his base is thinking. He doesn't even need to say "Soros" at this point. "Someone" is funding the protesters. His people will fill in the blanks.
And for those of you saying, "but his policy on Israel!" Well, that's not for us. He has even said so himself:
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/512452-trump-on-recognizing-jerusalem-as-the-capital-of-israel-thats-for-the https://twitter.com/TheRaDR/status/1078361881365176322?s=20
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/512452-trump-on-recognizing-jerusalem-as-the-capital-of-israel-thats-for-the https://twitter.com/TheRaDR/status/1078361881365176322?s=20
Oh, and I haven’t even started on QAnon, which is wildly antisemitic and growing now with Trump’s validation. He was most certainly also speaking to them. https://www.axios.com/mary-ann-mendoza-rnc-qanon-antisemitic-0def1387-2ebe-4547-90e1-f7bee980a055.html
It’s like an Antisemitism’s Greatest Hits theory. Protocols! The Rothchilds! Blood Libel! https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/25/qanon-conspiracy-theory-explained-trump-what-is
Note that none of this minimizes his harm and threats to non-Jews who are Black, immigrants, Muslim, etc. but rather a) tells his base who to blame for the economy, protests etc (not him, never him) b) undermines the agency of communities fighting for their own liberation
And c) gives them a focal point for their rage and despair right now, while stoking fears about how things will be if Biden is elected. It ticks a lot of boxes for him. It’s useful and convenient. (NB re: a), some Jews are Black and/or immigrant etc etc)
We are all in this together.
Solidarity is absolutely essential now.
The stakes are so, so high.
We all have to have each others’ backs.
This freedom is and must be a collective project.
Solidarity is absolutely essential now.
The stakes are so, so high.
We all have to have each others’ backs.
This freedom is and must be a collective project.
Oh, hey, @EgSophie has a solid writeup of this and a whole website chronicling this stuff. Worth checking out: https://www.howtofightantisemitism.com/timeline/trump-repeats-a-centuries-old-antisemitic-conspiracy-on-national-television
