Hier Blesses Trump Moments After Trump Invokes ‘America First’ Slogan
Marvin Hier Image by Getty Images
By Josh Nathan-Kazis January 20, 2017
Simon Weisenthal Center founder Rabbi Marvin Hier delivered a benediction at President Donald Trump’s inaugural ceremony, just moments after Trump employed a slogan in his address that was made famous by a 1940s-era anti-Semitic organization.
“Bless President Donald J. Trump and America and our great nation,” Hier said. “By the rivers of Babylon we wept as we remembered Zion,” he said, quoting the Psalm.
Moments earlier, Trump had pledged to put “America first.”
“From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land,” Trump said. “From this day forward it’s going to be only America first. America first.”
Trump was criticized during the campaign for his use of the “America first” slogan, which recalls the America First Committee, a national group that was sympathetic to the Nazis and led by well-known anti-Semites. The Anti-Defamation League asked Trump to stop using the phrase, but he declined.
Hier’s benediction came moments after Trump’s speech.
Hier is the leader of the California-based Simon Weisenthal Center. In 2013, the Forward reported that Hier was the most overpaid head of a U.S. Jewish nonprofit, based on an independent analysis of tax filings.
Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected]
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Fast Forward Deborah Lipstadt says Trump’s campus antisemitism crackdown has ‘gone way too far’
-
Fast Forward 5 Jewish senators accuse Trump of using antisemitism as ‘guise’ to attack universities
-
Fast Forward Jewish Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky reportedly to retire after 26 years in office
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Fast Forward Deborah Lipstadt says Trump’s campus antisemitism crackdown has ‘gone way too far’
-
Fast Forward 5 Jewish senators accuse Trump of using antisemitism as ‘guise’ to attack universities
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.