Anti-Trump antisemitism: The link between Pittsburgh and Poway

The alleged manifesto of shooter behind the attack on the Chabad of Poway synagogue includes condemnation of US President Donald Trump. The letter or manifesto was posted on 8chan. “That Zionist, Jew-loving, anti-White, traitorous [expletive],” John Earnest wrote in a version quoted online. Similarly, the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter Robert Bowers wrote on Gab that he opposed Trump who he claimed was surrounded by Jews. “Trump is a globalist, not a nationalist.” He claimed that Jews, who he used an expletive to describe, were an “infestation” in the White House.

The antisemitic links between the two attacks are clear. Both expressed hatred of Jews who they accused of destroying or invading the United States. Bowers accused Jews and Jewish groups, such as HIAS, of being behind “migrant caravans” who he calls “invaders.” The Poway attacker wrote, “Is it worth it for me to live a comfortable life at the cost of international Jewry sealing the doom of my race.”

Both men claimed to be Christians, but in their own narrow, racist, worldview to be a Christian was to be a white nationalist and that white people were the real “chosen” people, in the Pittsburgh shooter’s view. Similarly the California manifesto blames Jews for spreading pornography, for “their large role in every slave trade,” and for “promoting race mixing” and persecuting Christians. Bowers talked about “Jewish international oligarchy” while Earnest wrote about “international Jewry.”

Behind their ideologies is a hatred of the Trump, who they both believed had become a “globalist.” It appears that in both cases they felt the need to point this out, as if they were impelled to differentiate themselves from Trump and to show that their version of racism distinguished itself from any association with Trump. This may be due to the fact that Trump was accused of fueling a rise in “white nationalism” when he ran for office and these extremists wanted to assert that they no longer connected to Trump. There was a rise of antisemitic attacks during the run-up to Trump’s election and after. However, there has been a shift in this extremist movement away from any support for Trump because they believe Trump is part of a “globalist” and pro-Israel or “Zionist” conspiracy. One perpetrator calls Trump “Jew-loving” and the other saw Jews as “infesting” the administration. This appears to be an attack on Trump’s support for Israel and his Jewish family members, particularly Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.

Besides the links between the two synagogue attacks, there is widespread hatred of Trump on the far right emerging due to belief that he has been “Kushnered” by, in the words of one social media account “subversive nation-plundering Jews.” Unsurprisingly, when we searched for other attacks on Kushner we found conspiracies about Kushner being tied to “globalist Jew George Soros.” One woman, responding to the recent New York Times cartoon antisemitism controversy wrote, “Trump is controlled by Israel and Jared Kushner, the Jews control the media.” Many attacks on Kushner over the years by what appear to be far-right social media accounts label him a “kike” and often say he should be removed from the White House. “Get this Kike out of Washington,” for instance, one user writes. Another claimed he is behind conspiracies to allow undocumented migrants to stay in the US. No doubt, social media groups like Twitter have removed much of the most offensive content. On a website named “infostormer”, we found a headline that notes, “Trump hails subversive Jew Jared Kushner.”

Some of the anger over Trump’s “betrayal” of white nationalists and their assertion that now the administration is “infested” with Jews goes back to the period when Steve Bannon left the administration in August 2017. A headline in April 2017 notes that far-right protesters had already turned out to accuse the administration of betraying their cause. Anti-Israel and anti-Zionist views also are common in this far-right antisemitic circle, sometimes overlapping or dovetailing with far-left antisemitic views, which are difficult to distinguish. When Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, one person responded asking if white nationalists and “Aryan Brotherhood” felt betrayed. Trump “proves” that his is a “Zionist Occupied Government [ZOG],” tweeted one man who had an “America First” button as a profile in mid-April. Trump is accused of being a “cuck for Israel” and a puppet of the “ZOG.” Trump is accused of being an “Israel first” president.

The obsession with Trump’s Jewish family has led some on the far right to turn on Trump. Nevertheless, others are trying to continue to support him, despite feeling he has been “taken over.” One website argues that Trump is still fighting the “shadow government and International Banking Cartel” and that he “requires the support of patriots.”

What is clear is that there is a link between antisemitism on the far-right and anti-Trump views, a link that is also clear on the far-left and which tends to unite around hatred not only of Jews, but also Israel and beliefs that the US is controlled by Jews who in turn are accused of controlling banks or the media. It shows how antisemitism, when it is a defining worldview and ethos, can easily turn anyone into an enemy once that person is linked to Jews or “globalism.”