Is Trump’s Sleepy Eyes Jibe At Chuck Todd Anti-Semitic?

Donald Trump and Chuck Todd Image by Getty/Wikimedia/Forward Montage

By Ari Feldman April 24, 2018

Is “sleepy eyes” Donald Trump’s latest anti-Semitic dog whistle to the white supremacists and neo-Nazis? That’s what the Washington Post is asking in a column after Trump tweeted the insult of Chuck Todd, the host of NBC’s “Meet the Press” program on Monday.

Trump is a famous user of belittling nicknames and monikers for rivals and media figures he criticize him. During the Republican presidential primary, he called Senator Ted Cruz “Lyin Ted” and called Senator Elizabeth Warren “Pocahontas.”

Trump has been calling Todd “sleepy eyes” since 2012, and has used the phrase both in public appearances as well as on Twitter. But on Monday, after Trump used it in criticizing Todd over a broadcast about North Korea some Twitter users pointed out that the nickname may be anti-Semitic.

Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd of Fake News NBC just stated that we have given up so much in our negotiations with North Korea, and they have given up nothing. Wow, we haven’t given up anything & they have agreed to denuclearization (so great for World), site closure, & no more testing!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 22, 2018

The stereotype of Jews having sleepy eyes goes back to Nazi politician Julius Streicher, who used the trait in a children’s book about how to identify Jews. Now, websites that have pages devoted to identifying Jews often mention the trait, along with bushy eyebrows and a hooked nose.

Todd is Jewish, though it’s not clear if Trump is aware of the anti-Semitic history of the phrase.

“I doubt that Trump knows what he’s talking about. [‘Sleepy eyes’] was hardly a major feature of Nazi propaganda. It was not something that every German had to know,” Peter Kenez, a professor emeritus of the University of California-Santa Cruz and Holocaust survivor, told the Post. “I think it is too obscure. Our president has to have it to think up an adjective for everyone that he says something bad about. I suppose nothing else came to him.”

Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman

Ari Feldman is a staff writer at the Forward. He covers Jewish religious organizations, synagogue life, anti-Semitism and the Orthodox world. If you have any tips, you can email him at [email protected]. Follow him 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.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO