Leave it to President Trump to pour gasoline on a fire.
During an Oval Office meeting with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, Trump weighed in on the activities of anti-Semitic Democratic Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. Trump stated, "I think Jewish people that vote for a Democrat — I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty."
Trump was fine until he said "or great disloyalty." I do think there are many young Jews who are ill-served and misinformed about the history of the Middle East and the struggle to bring about Israel. Some of these Jews join organizations like If Not Now or Jewish Voice for Peace.
But when Trump speaks of disloyalty then he is no better than either Omar or Tlaib who have both questioned the loyalty of American Jews. In Trump's case, I believe he is questioning the loyalty of American Jews to him rather than to the country per se. Indeed, Trump expects a great deal of loyalty and is not pleased at anything less than fastidious fealty. Just ask James Comey. His casual claims of treason against the FBI, Google, The New York Times and the Mueller investigation.
Now one might argue that Trump means Jews aren't loyal to their fellow Jews. If that is the case then it is not for him to make that determination since he is not a Jew even if his daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren are.
If Trump's objective is to make the case that Omar and Tlaib are anti-Semitic then he will not succeed so long as he accuses American Jews of any kind of disloyalty.
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