Steve Bannon Insulted Trump Opponents As ‘Shmendriks’

Image by Nikki Casey

By Daniel J. Solomon July 10, 2017

Steve Bannon might have promoted Breitbart News as “the platform for the ‘alt-right,’” but that has not prevented him from using the universal language of insults: Yiddish.

Bannon, now the White House chief strategist to President Trump, used to refer to backers of rival Hillary Clinton as “shmendriks,” according to a new book on the campaign from journalist Joshua Green.

The term “shmendrik” refers to a stupid or foolish person, another entry in the line of Yiddish put-downs, including words like schlemiel, schnorrer and an array of unprintables.

According to Green, whose book is excerpted in New York magazine, Bannon was the architect of Trump’s no-apologies campaign strategy and reveled in lobbing insults at the Clinton camp.

Bannon’s appointment as a White House adviser caused controversy because of his connection with the “alt-right,” a group of modern-day white nationalists, white supremacists and fellow travelers. His pick was opposed by numerous Jewish groups, including the Anti-Defamation League.

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter, @DanielJSolomon

Daniel J. Solomon is the former Assistant to the Editor/News Writer at the Forward. Originally from Queens, he attended Harvard as an undergraduate, where he wrote his senior thesis on French-Jewish intellectual history. He is excited to have returned to New York after his time in Massachusetts. Daniel’s passions include folk music, cycling, and pointed argument.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

This year, we have stood together in strength and sorrow. Our Forward team has worked around the clock to help you find clarity amid the chaos.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO