Jews Denounce Trump For Shifting Blame Away From Neo-Nazis And White Supremacists

Image by Getty Images
Jewish leaders quickly denounced President Trump for blaming counter-demonstrators along with neo-Nazis and white supremacists for the racist violence that erupted in Charlottesville.
“As a Jew, as an American, as a human, words cannot express my disgust and disappointment,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) tweeted. “This is not my President.”]
Anti=Defamation League National Director Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement he is “profoundly disturbed” by Trump, whom Greenblatt said “went beyond the pale today in equating racist white supremacists in Charlottesville with counter protesters who were there to stand up against hate.”
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-New York), who represents the most heavily Jewish district in the House of Representatives said Trump showed his true colors by refusing to shifting the blame away from the white supremacists who sparked the deadly violence.
When @realDonaldTrump says “us” he shows which side he associates, endorses + surrounds himself with: white nationalists, KKK, neo-Nazis. https://t.co/my2ro97ZNS
— (((Rep. Nadler))) (@RepJerryNadler) August 15, 2017
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-New York) said “good and great presidents” sought to unite Americans in times of trouble. He said Trump’s response to Charlottesville put him in another category.
Joining several other Republicans, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Florida) also loudly denounced Trump, for saying the “alt-left” who resisted the white supremacists were equally to blame as the racists themselves.
Blaming “both sides” for #Charlottesville?! No. Back to relativism when dealing with KKK, Nazi sympathizers, white supremacists? Just no.
— Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (@RosLehtinen) August 15, 2017
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.
Most Popular
- 1
Culture Cardinals are Catholic, not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
- 2
Fast Forward Ye debuts ‘Heil Hitler’ music video that includes a sample of a Hitler speech
- 3
News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
- 4
Fast Forward Student suspended for ‘F— the Jews’ video defends himself on antisemitic podcast
In Case You Missed It
-
Yiddish קאָנצערט לכּבֿוד דעם ייִדישן שרײַבער און רעדאַקטאָר באָריס סאַנדלערConcert honoring Yiddish writer and editor Boris Sandler
דער בעל־שׂימחה האָט יאָרן לאַנג געדינט ווי דער רעדאַקטאָר פֿונעם ייִדישן פֿאָרווערטס.
-
Fast Forward Trump’s new pick for surgeon general blames the Nazis for pesticides on our food
-
Fast Forward Jewish feud over Trump escalates with open letter in The New York Times
-
Fast Forward First American pope, Leo XIV, studied under a leader in Jewish-Catholic relations
-
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.