Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, referred to as former President Donald J. Trump “a recognized antisemite” in a video launched on Tuesday, a notable escalation of assaults by President Biden’s marketing campaign towards Mr. Trump over his language about Jews.
Mr. Emhoff’s remarks got here in a day social media submit by the Biden marketing campaign with the anodyne title “Second Gentleman @DouglasEmhoff responds to Trump attacking Jewish Individuals.”
“The final particular person I’m going to take recommendation from as a Jewish particular person is a recognized antisemite who’s had dinner with antisemites, who stated there was ‘good folks on each side’ after Charlottesville,” Mr. Emhoff says within the video, after he apparently watches a weeks-old video of Mr. Trump proclaiming that Jews who vote for Mr. Biden “must have their head examined.”
Mr. Emhoff provides for emphasis, “He’s the final particular person I’m going to take recommendation from.”
The Biden marketing campaign has been looking for to increase a information cycle that started this week when Mr. Trump posted, then later took down, a video on social media that included old-time newspaper headlines saying a victory by him in November would deliver a couple of “unified Reich.” Mr. Biden, in a video launched by his marketing campaign, accused Mr. Trump of utilizing “Hitler’s language.”
The Biden marketing campaign and its surrogates have beforehand condemned Mr. Trump for utilizing antisemitic language. Two weeks in the past, a Biden marketing campaign spokesman, Charles Lutvak, blasted Mr. Trump for using “patronizing antisemitic shtick” after the previous president stated Jews who voted for Mr. Biden “needs to be ashamed of themselves.”
Mr. Trump has lengthy flirted with antisemitic language and imagery, and proven help for far-right backers who’re brazenly antisemitic.
In 2016, his marketing campaign posted after which deleted a picture of Hillary Clinton, then his general-election rival, with a pile of money and the phrases “most corrupt candidate ever” inside a Star of David. As soon as in workplace, he infamously declared that there have been “very advantageous folks” on each side of the 2017 rally involving neo-Nazis and white supremacists in Charlottesville, Va. Days after saying his 2024 marketing campaign, Mr. Trump dined at Mar-a-Lago with Nick Fuentes, an outspoken antisemite and racist who is without doubt one of the nation’s most distinguished younger white supremacists.
But it’s Mr. Biden who has recently discovered himself in a political vise involving American Jews. His help for Israel’s authorities after the Oct. 7 assault by Hamas, which killed greater than 1,200 folks, has led to fierce criticism from Arab and Muslim Individuals, progressives and different Democrats because the reported loss of life toll in Gaza has swelled to greater than 34,000 Palestinians. Extra just lately, he has been referred to as anti-Israel for saying that he would pause the cargo of some weapons to the nation.
In the meantime, American faculty campuses had been racked this spring with encampments and demonstrations towards the warfare in Gaza, and Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris have been dogged for months by protests over the battle. On Tuesday, as Ms. Harris spoke to union members at a Philadelphia conference heart, about three dozen folks behind the occasion chanted pro-Palestinian slogans and held up indicators that stated “employees stand up” and “free Palestine.”
Mr. Trump’s marketing campaign spokesman, Steven Cheung, didn’t straight reply to Mr. Emhoff’s remarks within the Tuesday video. As a substitute, he sought to tie the protests towards Israel’s warfare in Gaza to Mr. Biden whereas portray opposition to the warfare as antisemitic.
“Joe Biden is chargeable for all this antisemitic hate on campuses throughout the nation,” Mr. Cheung stated. “Whereas there was no larger good friend to Israel and the Jewish folks than President Trump, and his robust document displays that.”
Nicholas Nehamas contributed reporting from Philadelphia.
