“The claim of anti-Semitism is particularly non-credible to Trump’s supporters”

The claim of anti-Semitism is particularly non-credible to Trump’s supporters. Not to the deplorables, of course, many of whom really are anti-Semitic, but to the vast middle of white America that pushed Trump over the hump in swing states. Go to a Trump rally (conveniently, they’re still going on) and you may find one or two deplorables there, but you’ll find thousands of disaffected white folks who supported the Tea Party and now support Trump for populist, nationalist reasons.

Of course, there’s racism, sexism, Islamophobia and occasionally anti-Semitism there, too, but they exist as part of an overall populist worldview, not as expressions of individual animus. That is the point: that these are systems, not personal prejudices. The “whiny Jews” thing is totally irrelevant.

Jay Michaelson, “Sorry, Jews. Steve Bannon Is Not an Anti-Semite, and This Story Is Not About Us.”, The Forward (10 December 2016) [http://forward.com/opinion/356390/sorry-jews-steve-bannon-is-not-an-anti-semite-and-this-story-is-not-about-u/]