There goes the neighborhood. Actually, the neighborhood went a long time ago.
And so the now-tiresome and trite 21st century political kabuki dance has (again) begun. Former twice-impeached President Donald Trump has set off yet another political furor. this time due to a pre-Thanksgiving dinner at Mara-a-Largo where he hosted some infamous guests.
Who should show up at Trump’s dinner but serial anti-semitism spewer and rapper Kayne (aka Ye) West. But he wasn’t the only racist who attended. Trump got two bigots for the price of one.
West brought someone with him: Nick Fuentes, a holocaust-denying, antisemitic, white supremecist who also believes women should lose the right to vote. Funtes calls Jews a ‘hostile tribal elite’ and said Israel is ‘the anti-Christ.’ The ADL’s profile of Fuentes is HERE. Also, go HERE for the Southern Poverty Law Center’s profile.
The original reports were by the website Axios, then some more trickled out, parts were denied, and team Trump went into damage control overdrive. NBC News’ Mark Caputo quoted one Trump source as calling the controversy a ‘f—ing nightmare.” Trump’s associates insisted Trump didn’t know who Fuentes was. Others say that’s ridiculous.
Trump and Fuentes reportedly liked each other and fawned over each other. Trump said “I like this guy” when he complimented Trump and told Trump he was his hero. Fuentes confirmed that in a subsequent video. Democrats, some Republicans, and rights groups condemned Trump. Some condemed anti-semitism but did not single out Trump. That is called a c-o-p o-u-t and isn’t acceptable. Or persuasive.
In fact, the time is way overdue for not treating Trump with kid gloves. As Haartez points out, “Fuentes and West are the latest figures with known histories of extremism and explicit antisemitic remarks to meet with Trump since he announced his 2024 presidential candidacy earlier this month.” In fact, as even a box of Manischewitz matzo on the shelf at Vons knows, Trump has associated with, enabled or lightly treated other extremists in the past. This goes back to 2016 when he claimed he never heard of David Duke.
Trump can’t get a pass on this, no matter how much spin from his supporters, partisans or groups who seek to cushion Trump from his latest two extremist friends.
At least once a week I think about how when I was a kid my grandfather Abraham Ravinsky would sit down with me and open a big photo album. He’d point to pages showing photos of his family in Russia, photos often having a slew of people, and he’d say: “Killed by Hitler. Killed by Hitler. Killed by Hitler.” He did the same thing with my sister Nona. He wanted us to always remember the barbarity stemming from bigotry, hatred and the breakdown of basic human values that defined Nazism.
When I was growing up in Connecticut we had a German Shepard named George who was badly sprayed by a skunk. The veterinarian told my mother to bathe George in bottles of tomato juice.
Donald Trump needs a lot of tomato juice. But even if he buys the entire stock of tomato juice at CostCo, it won’t do any good.
The stench will remain.
Having tracked Fuentes for years, let me note this as a reporter: he is well-known inside the GOP. People can pretend otherwise but professionals who work in the party are highly aware of how his white supremacy and anti-Semitism influences some voters, esp on fringe platforms.
— Robert Costa (@costareports) November 26, 2022
First, @RepMTG and now, @realDonaldTrump hanging around with this anti-Semitic, pro-Putin, white supremacist. This isn’t complicated. It’s indefensible. https://t.co/Y3Jgc0p4eK
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) November 26, 2022
Simon Weisenthal Center Denounces Donald Trump’s Meeting with Anti-Semite and Holocaust Revisionist Nick Fuentes and Kanye West: pic.twitter.com/ldrJImiEyw
— Spiro’s Ghost (@SpiroAgnewGhost) November 26, 2022
Here is Donald Trump's Thanksgiving-day dinner guest, Holocaust denier and white supremacist Nick Fuentes, joking about cooking Jews in an oven. Fuentes is an associate of Kanye West, who recently praised Fuentes, and GOP Reps. Marjorie Taylor Green and Paul Gosar. https://t.co/zNP2fnNSMZ
— John Aravosis ???????? (@aravosis) November 25, 2022
All snark and sarcasm aside, I really, really hope journalists and the Democratic Party treat Trump's meeting with Nick Fuentes as the scandal that it is.
This guy has made openly genocidal, authoritarian statements about the Jews within the past few weeks. it's horrifying.
— Max Berger (@maxberger) November 25, 2022
Trump claimed that he didn't know the white supremacist that he dined with was, in fact, a white supremacist. But now that he knows who this white supremacist is, why hasn't Trump denounced him?
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 26, 2022
When you’ve lost Breitbart….
“Breitbart News has repeatedly asked the Trump campaign for comment over the course of more than 24 hours. The only GOP candidate for the office in the next election seems to have met with an open white nationalist, antisemite, and Holocaust denier.” pic.twitter.com/bi2SkQFoHe— Kurt Andersen (@KBAndersen) November 25, 2022
Condemning Nazis shouldn't be hard. Yet, not a peep from GOP leaders Kevin McCarthy and Ronna McDaniel.
Their silence is complicity.
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) November 26, 2022
BREAKING: Chris Christie SLAMS Trump for meeting with Nick Fuentes “this just another example of an awful lack of judgment from Donald Trump, which, combined with his past poor judgments, make him an untenable general election candidate for the Republican Party in 2024."
— Republicans against Trumpism (@RpsAgainstTrump) November 25, 2022
Trump said “this guy gets me”. Sadly he does. https://t.co/BxD6slkchn
— Barbara Comstock (@BarbaraComstock) November 26, 2022
This is just awful, unacceptable conduct from anyone, but most particularly from a former President and current candidate. https://t.co/uoWNJLoiwI
— Chris Christie (@GovChristie) November 26, 2022
Look, I didn’t know the anti-Semite was going to bring a Nazi. pic.twitter.com/Zy8jKo3MNg
— S.V. Dáte (@svdate) November 25, 2022
Some ex-Presidents feed the needy on Thanksgiving, some feed Nazis.
— NoelCaslerComedy? (@caslernoel) November 26, 2022
Trump, an active candidate for the presidency and fmr. president, met with Nick Fuentes.
There is a lot of back and forth about how it happened.
But it happened.
This is just like when MTG appeared with Fuentes earlier this year.
A lot of back and forth.
But it happened.
— Robert Costa (@costareports) November 26, 2022
There are only 2 possibilities for the Republican Party's deafening silence in the wake of Trump's dinner with Nick Fuentes:
1. They don't want to lose his base of voters, so they won't speak out.
Or
2. They agree with the anti-Semitic views of Holocaust-denier, Nick Fuentes.— Dash Dobrofsky (@DashDobrofsky) November 26, 2022
Nick Fuentes looks and sounds like Gilbert Gottfried pretending to be an anti-Semite https://t.co/5Eg6N6XII6
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) November 26, 2022
"The notorious antisemite whom I knew and invited brought along a surprise second notorious antisemite whom I did not know and did not invite." https://t.co/ZBgIEIdQYs
— David Frum (@davidfrum) November 25, 2022
The leader of the Republican Party just dined with a Holocaust denier. And this just happened. https://t.co/SDVD99RDZv
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) November 25, 2022
We are disgusted to learn former President Trump has taken a meeting earlier this week with Nick Fuentes, a known white supremacist and vile Holocaust denier.
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) November 25, 2022
Remember when Trump pretended he had never heard of KKK Grand Wizard David Duke back in 2016? It was an absurd lie. And he’s doing the same thing with Nick Fuentes now.
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) November 25, 2022
All snark and sarcasm aside, I really, really hope journalists and the Democratic Party treat Trump's meeting with Nick Fuentes as the scandal that it is.
This guy has made openly genocidal, authoritarian statements about the Jews within the past few weeks. it's horrifying.
— Max Berger (@maxberger) November 25, 2022
This is who Donald Trump just had dinner with: “This is going to be the most racist, sexist, anti-semitic, holocaust-denying, speech in all of Dallas this weekend!” Elon Musk is also lifting his permanent twitter ban because free speech. pic.twitter.com/5jRRHcnafq
— Ron Filipkowski ?? (@RonFilipkowski) November 25, 2022
Without knowing that Fuentes and Kanye had dined with the president he worked under, this tweet could be about anything. https://t.co/KKLgfTxMgY
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) November 26, 2022
Top photo 163759360 / Anti Semitism © Prazis | Dreamstime.com. Bottom photo Dreamstime.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.