Donald Trump Waves Anti-Semitic Graphic Tweeted by David Duke
Image by Getty
By Ari Feldman August 15, 2016
Donald Trump used another graphic initially published by an anti-Semitic site last week at a rally in Sunrise, Florida. He held up a chart that purported to show the amount of money several countries in North Africa and the Middle East had paid in order to receive money from the State Department, calling it a “Pay to Play” system. The graphic showed a twenty dollar bill with Hillary Clinton’s face in the center.
The graphic, however, had been tweeted last month by former Klu Klux Klan member and candidate for senator of Louisiana, David Duke. That image had an Israeli flag where the stamp of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York would be. The graphic Trump held up at the Florida rally, on a large piece of poster board, did not display the Israeli flag or a Star of David.
Nathaniel Meyersohn, a reporter for Buzzfeed, first noticed that Duke had originally tweeted the graphic.
David Duke in July | Donald Trump yesterday pic.twitter.com/Ld32FCWu0c
— Nathaniel Meyersohn (@nmeyersohn) August 12, 2016
The graphic was published on BeforeItsNews.com, a community-sourced conspiracy theory site that has an active UFO search section, warnings of the “coming civil war” and an article stating that Bill Clinton may die from AIDS within a year. In its original form the graphic does not seem to have depicted the Israeli flag. It is likely that Duke added that himself.
Last month Trump tweeted a graphic depicting a Star of David and referring to Hillary Clinton as the “Most Corrupt Candidate Ever!” Trump was roundly criticized for the tweet, which originally came from an online neo-Nazi forum. Trump then changed the Star of David to a circle, before defending the original graphic by saying it was meant to be taken as a sheriff’s star.
“These false attacks by Hillary Clinton trying to link the Star of David with a basic star, often used by sheriffs who deal with criminals and criminal behavior, showing an inscription that says ‘Crooked Hillary is the most corrupt candidate ever’ with anti-Semitism is ridiculous,” Trump said in a statement released by his campaign.
Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
