Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) tried to push back on Sunday against the idea that Donald Trump could be antisemitic—forgetting that the ex-president’s associations with known antisemites were as recent as 18 months ago.
State of the Union host Dana Bash grilled Vance, a vice presidential contender, for his support of Trump’s claim that Jewish people who voted for Joe Biden should be “ashamed of themselves” after Biden added contingencies to U.S. aid to Israel. Vance tried to defend Trump’s argument and past support for Israel and criticized Biden for trying to “micromanage” Israel’s actions in Gaza, saying it was “reasonable” for Trump to urge Jewish Americans to side with Republicans.
However, Bash noted how Trump’s phrasing has historic roots in antisemitism. “The notion of saying to Jews, ‘you should put Israel first and what happens in Israel first,’ and not sort of consider them American citizens first, has been used as an antisemitic trope,” Bash said. “Do you recognize that there, and perhaps that language isn’t exactly on point when you’re talking about something that is very—it’s like a tinderbox right now?”
