Former New Jersey governor and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie appeared to excuse antisemitism as a natural reaction to the “intolerant” rhetoric and actions of his main rival, current frontrunner former President Donald Trump.
As Breitbart News reported:
Anchor Dana Bash said, “I want to ask about the spike in hate against Jews in the United States. You told The New York Times that you believe Trump has contributed to this.”
Christie said, “When you show intolerance towards everyone, which is what he does, you give permission as a leader for others to have their intolerance come out. Intolerance towards anyone encourages intolerance towards everyone. That’s exactly what’s going on here. That’s been going on for some time, not just with Donald Trump, but with university professors on some of our most elite campuses in this country, with university administrators and presidents who have been unwilling to stand up against antisemitism on their campuses, most particularly. There should be no campus in this country where a Jewish student is afraid to leave their dorm, a Jewish student is afraid go to their classes, a Jewish student is afraid to go to have a meal in the dining hall. That is outrageous, and it’s wrong.”
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Christie added, “In the end, look, I think that there have been a lot of people who contributed to it. I believe Donald Trump’s intolerant language and conduct gives others permission to act the same.”
Antisemitism has been rising in the U.S. for nearly a decade, starting in the last two years of Barack Obama’s presidency, a period that coincided with the rise of Black Lives Matter, and the emergence of violent radical extremists, both left and right.
Trump was one of the most pro-Israel presidents in American history, and took several unprecedented actions to fight antisemitism, including signing an executive order extending civil rights protections to Jewish students on college campuses.
The current wave of antisemitism is driven by radical left-wing opposition to Israel, in reaction to the Hamas terror attack against Israel on October 7, and has nothing to do with Trump, though Christie appeared eager to trace it back to the former president.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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