President Trump expanded upon his comments from Tuesday about Jewish American voters who side with Democrats.
Trump was asked to clarify his comments a day after he told reporters in the Oval Office, “And I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.”
“[Democrats] want to do a lot of bad things to Israel. In my opinion, you vote for a Democrat, you’re being very disloyal to Jewish people, and you are being very disloyal to Israel. And only weak people would say anything other than that,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
On the charge from critics saying he is using anti-Semitic tropes, Trump said he has done “a lot of great things for Israel.”
The president was criticizing Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib over their complaints about not being able to visit Israel, despite the country allowing Tlaib to visit her grandmother, when he made his comments on disloyalty.
He said because of the congresswomen’s support for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement, “I don’t blame Israel for doing what they did. I have nothing to do with it, but I don’t blame them for doing what they did,” adding he was surprised there is a debate whether the U.S. should continue to provide financial aid to Israel.
