-Source-Daily Wire-
In the aftermath of the deadliest anti-Semitic shooting in American history in Pittsburgh on Saturday, the media have leapt to push the narrative that President Trump is somehow responsible. That’s a tough narrative to sell, given that the shooter was outspokenly anti-Trump – he was enraged at Trump for being too pro-Semitic, in fact. The shooter tweeted, “There is no #MAGA, as long as there is a kike infestation.” Trump has, in fact, been historically pro-Israel – by far the most pro-Israel president in American history – and has spoken in glowing terms about Jews and in harsh terms against anti-Semitism. His statement after the shooting was extraordinarily strong:
Anti-Semitism and the widespread persecution of Jews represents one of the ugliest and darkest features in human history. Anti-Semitism must be condemned and confronted everywhere and anywhere it appears.
This was far stronger than the tepid, milquetoast rhetoric of President Obama, who simply lumped in Jew-hatred with all other types of hatred, as though all hatreds are the same or spring from a similar place:
Barack Obama
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@BarackObama
We grieve for the Americans murdered in Pittsburgh. All of us have to fight the rise of anti-Semitism and hateful rhetoric against those who look, love, or pray differently. And we have to stop making it so easy for those who want to harm the innocent to get their hands on a gun.
This would be the same Obama who once labeled an anti-Semitic attack on a kosher French supermarket "random."
So, what’s the evidence that Trump should be linked to the Pittsburgh shooting? Presumably, that Trump winked at the alt-right during the 2016 campaign and the 2017 Charlottesville killing. That's at least the case made by Julia Ioffe, among others, in The Washington Post.
Now, Trump did that. I remember. I was there. I was the leading target of the alt-right that Trump refused to condemn during the campaign, according to the Anti-Defamation League; Trump studiously avoided slamming those who, in anti-Semitic fashion, attacked Leftist journalist Julia Ioffe, who wrote a piece about Melania he didn’t like. This led Ioffe to reason that Trump’s rhetoric was responsible for the shooting.
Of course, Ioffe also said "gentiles" shouldn't comment on the situation, and then blamed Jews who voted for Trump:
Julia Ioffe
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@juliaioffe
And a word to my fellow American Jews: This president makes this possible. Here. Where you live. I hope the embassy move over there, where you don’t live was worth it.
Presumably, according to Ioffe, Jews who voted for Trump traded his Jerusalem position for the rhetoric that caused the shooting. This is purely despicable stuff.
But let’s parse all of this, because several things can be true at once.
1. Trump’s 2016-2017 Winking At The Alt-Right Was Disgusting. Trump did wink at the alt-right throughout his campaign, from his unwillingness to condemn David Duke on CNN to his unwillingness to condemn alt-right attacks on Ioffe to his campaign chief strategist, Steve Bannon, bragging about turning Breitbart News into a gathering place for the alt-right. I know this – I was heavily targeted by the alt-right for my lack of Trump support during the 2016 campaign (the most heavily targeted Jewish journalist in America, by the ADL’s measure). Trump’s statements in the hours following the Charlottesville alt-right march provided aid and comfort to white supremacists. Trump isn’t a white supremacist or an anti-Semite – he just has a pathological aversion to criticizing anyone who says anything nice about him (see Putin, Vladimir and Kim Jung Un).
2. White Supremacism Is Not Alt-Right MAGA. White supremacism and attendant anti-Semitism long predate Trump’s existence on the political scene. The alt-right is a fairly recent development. White supremacists shooting up Jewish targets aren’t. In 1999, a white supremacist drove past the high school I later attended, scoping it for a shooting; he went on to shoot up the West Valley JCC. That same year, six Orthodox Jews were shot in Chicago, as was a black man, as were several Asians, by a white supremacist. White supremacists have been a fringe part of America for decades. Trump had no hand in that. Read more