WASHINGTON — In remarks ostensibly focused on combating antisemitism, former President Donald Trump questioned why he lacks commanding support from Jewish voters and suggested that they would have “a lot to do” with a loss in November if their support for his campaign does not grow.
“I’m not going to call this a prediction, but, in my opinion, the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss if I’m at 40%,” Trump said during a campaign event titled “Fighting Antisemitism in America,” citing an unnamed poll that he said showed him with two-fifths of Jewish voters’ support.
Trump spent a significant part of his remarks recounting to the audience what his administration accomplished on behalf of the Israelis — including recognizing the Golan Heights as Israeli territory, withdrawing the U.S. from the Iranian nuclear deal and moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
He bemoaned that, despite those milestones, which he framed as being on behalf of the Jewish people, he had not seen an increase in support from Jewish voters. Trump went on to say he has not been “treated right” by Jewish voters and, despite being the “most popular person in Israel,” lamented that their support “doesn’t translate” in the U.S.
“You can’t let this happen. Forty percent is not acceptable, because we have an election to win,” Trump said, blaming the lack of support on what he described as “the Democrat hold or curse” on Jewish voters.
During his remarks, he also made a direct appeal to Jewish voters and lobbed criticism at the college protest movement against Israel’s handling of its war with Hamas.
“My first week back in the Oval Office, my administration will inform every college president that if you do not end antisemitic propaganda, they will lose their accreditation and federal tax credit support,” he said.
In a statement provided to NBC News, Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt reiterated the moves the former president touted in his remarks, including helping facilitate the Abraham Accords and moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
“All of the progress made by President Trump in the region has been unraveled by Kamala Harris’s weakness and America Last policies. 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,” she said.
At a separate event in the capital on Thursday evening, he shared a similar warning with Jewish voters about the stakes of their support in the election.
“If I don’t win this election — and the Jewish people would really have a lot to do with that if that happens, because, at 40%, that means 60% of the people are voting for the enemy — Israel, in my opinion, will cease to exist within two years,” Trump said at the second event, the Israeli-American Council National Summit.
As Trump continues to court Jewish voters ahead of the November general election, he has continued to publicly assail high-profile Jewish leaders like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.
As he did in his remarks Thursday evening, Trump has described Schumer as being “like a Palestinian,” and in a post on his social media site, Truth Social, last month, described Shapiro as a “highly overrated Jewish governor.”
With Trump out of office but revving on the campaign trail, his outward appeal to Jewish voters has also involved extensive outreach to — and praise for — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, including hosting him at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in late July.
Trump’s comments Thursday echo his years of frustration at Jewish voters’ lack of support for him (they historically lean Democratic, according to the Pew Research Center.) As president, he that Jewish people who vote Democratic show “either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty,” and two weeks before the 2022 midterms, he posted on social media: “U.S. Jews have to get their act together and appreciate what they have in Israel — Before it is too late!”
Jake Traylor contributed.
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