Why Trump Can't Answer Questions About Anti-Semitism

[Tea Ess]

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/02/why-trump-cant-answer-questions-about-anti-semitism/517092/

"The most bizarre and unsettling moment in President Trump’s bizarre and unsettling press conference this Thursday came near the end. Trump, who had been insulting the journalists questioning him for more than 90 minutes, declared that, “I want to find a friendly reporter.”

Then he spied Jake Turx of the magazine Ami, a bearded man attired in the white shirt and black velvet kippa (skullcap) typical of ultra-Orthodox Jews. “Are you a friendly reporter?” Trump asked. “Watch how friendly he is. Wait. Wait. Watch how friendly he is. Go ahead.”

This is not normal. Presidents don’t usually announce that they want an easy question. It’s possible that Trump saw Turx’s distinctive appearance and guessed that he would be “friendly,” since the ultra-Orthodox supported Trump at substantially higher rates than other Jews.

In any case, the encounter initially unfolded as Trump desired. “Despite what some of my colleagues may have been reporting,” declared Turx, “I haven’t seen anybody in my community accuse either of yourself or anyone on your staff of being anti-Semitic. We understand that you have Jewish grandchildren. You are their zeide [grandfather].”

Trump responded: “Thank you.”

But then Turx pivoted. “However,” he went on, “what we are concerned about and what we really haven’t heard being addressed is an uptick in anti-Semitism and how the government is planning to take care of it. There has been a report out that 48 bomb threats have been made against Jewish centers all across the country in the last couple of weeks. There are people who are committing anti-Semitic acts or threatening to…”

At this point Trump grew angry. “He said he was gonna ask a very simple, easy question,” Trump exclaimed, interrupting Turx. “And it’s not, it’s not, not—not a simple question, not a fair question.”

Trump continued: “Number one, I am the least anti- Semitic person that you’ve ever seen in your entire life.”

Then he berated Turx some more: “See, he lied about — he was gonna get up and ask a very straight, simple question, so you know, welcome to the world of the media.”

 

The main point of the article: "The problem isn’t that Trump is anti-Semitic. It’s that he’s more upset by the charge than by the actual anti-Semitism growing around the country, some of which his supporters are perpetrating."