Jewish GOP Lawmaker Walks Back Support For Trump On Charlottesville — A Bit
Image by YouTube
By Ari Feldman August 18, 2017
Congressman Lee Zeldin is the latest in a growing contingent of Jewish Republican political figures walking back their support for Trump. On CNN Friday morning Zeldin issued a more full-throated disagreement with the equivalence Trump drew on Tuesday between white supremacists and counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia. Zeldin’s first statement on the matter backed Trump’s take.
“I don’t know of anyone who would be there, who would associate themselves with that particular protest, who are good people,” Zeldin said.
Zeldin, who represents New York’s 1st District covering eastern Long Island, had originally defended Trump on Facebook.
“Antifa bused in criminals with bats and pepper spray for the purpose of committing acts of violence targeting anyone who was part of the protest against Charlottesville bringing down the statue of Robert E. Lee, whether associated with the KKK or Nazism or neither,” Zeldin wrote on Tuesday.
Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
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..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
