Doug Emhoff will warn of Trump’s threat to Jewish Americans – The Forward

Second Gen. Doug Emhoff looks on as Vice President Kamala Harris on Oct. 7, 2024. Photo by TING SHEN/AFP via Getty Images

By means of Jacob Kornbluh
October 28, 2024

Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff on Monday in Pittsburgh – site of the worst anti-Semitic attacks in US history – criticized former President Donald Trump, accusing him of using anti-Semitic tropes and trying to undermine the Constitution.

“There is a fire in this country,” said Emhoff, husband of Trump’s opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. “Either we pour water on it, or we pour gasoline.” Excerpts of the speech were shared exclusively with the Come on Monday morning.

A senior campaign official said the 20-minute speech at the University Club in Pittsburgh was Emhoff’s most extensive and direct comments on the subject, as was the Democratic candidate’s speech. key Jewish surrogate on the campaign trail. “When chaos and brutality are given the green light, historically speaking, Jew-hatred is not far behind,” Emhoff said of the Republican candidate. “That matters today because Donald Trump is nothing but an agent of chaos and brutality.”

Emhoff’s closing argument before Jewish voters in the crucial swing state came one day after the sixth anniversary of the election 2018 Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, where a gunman killed eleven worshipers.

In his remarks, Emhoff emphasized Trump’s alleged admiration for Adolf Hitlernext newly confirmed statements from former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, Trump noted privately that “Hitler did some good things.”

Emhoff highlighted Trump’s scapegoating of Jewish Americans vote for the Democrats, as he has done with other ethnic groups. “It is no coincidence that things have gotten worse for American Jews since Trump entered politics — as they have for so many,” Emhoff said. “You don’t reward someone like that with a platform or with power, and never with the presidency again.”

Emhoff also pointed to his personal experiences and deep connection with his Jewishness, and spoke about them at length his wife’s long-term relationship with the Jewish community and its commitment to combating hatred and anti-Semitism. “I know what is in her soul,” Emhoff told Jewish voters. “I know she feels what you and I and Jews all over America feel today. She gets it. And to tell you the truth, it’s not because she married a nice Jewish boy.”

Last week, during an election rally for Jewish voters in Southfield, Michigan, Emhoff said Jewish support for Trump is “shocking” and “annoying,” citing Trump’s statements. engage in anti-Semitic tropes, dining in 2022 with Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, and suggests that The Jews would be largely to blame if he loses the election. “Everywhere he goes he stirs up anti-Semitism,” the second gentleman said. “He doesn’t care about us.”

Harris and her allies has intensified attacks on Trump he warned in recent days that his re-election would endanger American democracy Polls show a tight race in key theaters of war, where Jews remain a crucial voting bloc. A recent poll of 907 Jewish voters, conducted for the Come on CHIP50, an academic consortium of polling experts, shows that 62% of them plan to vote for Harris in November and 31% plan to vote for Trump.

In his speech on Monday, Emhoff warned American Jews that Trump, “if it suited his personal interests, he would turn his back on Israel and the Jewish people for a dime — hell, he would turn on anyone for the price of a dime .” .”

“We should never have to wonder where our government stands,” he continued. “We should never wonder whether our leaders are praising the Nazis behind closed doors. So when Donald Trump says something unhinged, don’t roll your eyes. Roll up your sleeves.”