DAILY KOS: We knew this was coming. It came in his speech tonight.
Donald Trump lashed out at global elites who undermine American sovereignty through “international banks” — and many observers couldn’t help but notice the underlying anti-Semitic message.
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Throughout the speech, Trump used harsh language that evoked old and ugly anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about international bankers who supposedly infiltrate national governments and control the global agenda. Citing recent Clinton campaign emails published by WikiLeaks, Trump told the crowd that “Clinton meets in secret with international banks in order to plot the destruction of US sovereignty.” Echoing the rhetoric of Alex Jones and other conspiracy theorists, Trump repeatedly referred to “globalists” as the true enemy and Clinton as their handmaiden.
The “international bankers” trope is nearly as old as Anti-Semitism itself and needs little explanation. But for those who are unfamiliar, there is Wikipedia.
Various conspiracy theories have been advanced regarding Jews and banking,[1] including the theory that world banking is dominated by theRothschild family,[2] that Jews control Wall Street,[2] and that Jews control the U.S. Federal Reserve System.[3] A related theory is that Jews control Hollywood or the news media.[4][5][6]
But all things need to be placed into the proper context. Trump’s rage at Jews in his speech today is being egged on by the far-right Neo-Nazi elements of his campaign, who have devised a theory regarding the release of the now-infamous tape of Trump and Billy Bush joking about Trump’s penchant for sexual assault:
A fringy conspiracy theory about how the blockbuster 2005 tape of Donald Trump bragging about sexual assault was leaked to the Washington Post has gotten the endorsement of Jerry Falwell Jr., the social conservative activist and president of Liberty University, who brought it up on a Fox Business News appearance this week.
He joins David Duke, neo-Nazi web forums and — of course — Breitbart in peddling similar conspiracy theories, which vary in their specifics from merely absurd to virulently anti-Semitic.
Their “theory” is that the tape was released to the Washington Post by “GOP elites,” specifically Dan Senor, a former Bush Administration official who happens to be Jewish, among others:
On some of the alt-right message boards touting the theory, anti-Semitic slurs are thrown at Senor. Former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke put triple parenthesis around Senor’s name, a signal in alt-right circles that the person is Jewish.
More broadly, though, the anti-Semitic allusions Trump made tonight are perfectly in keeping with the behavior of a large segment of his support base, the “alt-right,” a loosely defined group of digital racists whose denizens include white supremacists and various “white power” groups seeking to establish “racial purity” via their “white identity.”
And even more broadly, it was just a matter of time, wasn’t it? First he came for the Hispanics, then the Blacks, then he came for the Muslims, then the disabled, then POW’s, then the women.
And now, the Jews.