[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 125 (Wednesday, July 31, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5637-S5638]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             ANTI-SEMITISM

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, 245 days ago, I stood right here on the 
Senate floor to raise the alarm of rising anti-Semitism in America and 
the need to condemn anti-Semitism whenever we see it.
  This week, Squirrel Hill, the site of the Tree of Life synagogue 
massacre of 2018, was targeted once again with anti-Semitic vandalism 
and attacks. These attacks are vile. They are hurtful. They poison our 
society with division, fear, grief. And for the Squirrel Hill 
community, which has already suffered unimaginable tragedy, this is 
particularly horrific.
  It pains me to say that anti-Semitism like this is unfortunately not 
unusual today. In our community and in our politics, anti-Semitism is 
ascending. This week, none other than Donald Trump, once again, added 
to the division.
  Yesterday, during a radio interview with WABC in New York City, 
Donald Trump agreed with his interviewer that the Nation's Second 
Gentleman, a Jewish American, is ``a crappy Jew.''

[[Page S5638]]

Why? Presumably because he is a Democrat. On air, Donald Trump then 
repeated the sick idea that if you are a Jew and you happen to support 
Democrats, you should ``have your head examined'' and that you are a 
bunch of ``fools.''
  Sadly, we have been here before. But it must be said again: Donald 
Trump's comments were reprehensible, dangerous, and proof that he is 
disturbingly at ease with anti-Semitic rhetoric.
  It might be tempting to listen to what Donald Trump said on the radio 
and tune it out just as another Trump insult. But that would be a 
mistake. Calling Jews ``fools'' and suggesting they are bad or disloyal 
because of their political beliefs is not just some juvenile insult. It 
is an old anti-Semitic trope that goes back centuries, one of dual 
loyalty. It has been used for a very long time to drive Jews out of 
their homes, to paint them as untrustworthy, to deny their basic 
dignity.
  So when Donald Trump goes on air and attacks Jews for the way they 
vote, he knows precisely what he is doing. He is sowing the seeds of 
division. He is propagating naked anti-Semitism.
  Donald Trump will always try to drag this Nation down with insults, 
intolerance, fear, and smear. But we are better than that, as the 
American people will make very clear in the months to come.

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