Trump Tells Jewish Pittsburgh Protesters To ‘Go Home To Mom’
President Donald Trump speaks during the 9th Shale Insight Conference at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center on October 23, 2019, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Image by Brendan Smialowski / AFP
By Aiden Pink October 25, 2019
After a group of Jewish protesters disrupted President Trump’s speech at a fracking conference in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, Trump responded with an unexpected retort: “Go home to mom.”
Members of the Jewish group Bend the Arc: Jewish Action attempted to disrupt the speech at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, chanting “Trump endangers Jews.” As they were ejected from the premises, Trump responded, “Don’t hurt him. Don’t hurt him, please. They don’t know they’re dealing with very tough people in this room.”
Don’t hurt them please! https://t.co/cKVa2HlJQb
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 24, 2019
“Oh, they don’t know who they’re dealing with,” he continued, to laughter in the room. “They don’t know who they’re dealing with. They just don’t understand. All right. Go home to mom. Explain to mom that you tried to take on very powerful people, and many of them physically as well as mentally. That’s not a good thing to do — not in this room. Be careful. Make sure you don’t hurt them, please.”
Related Story: Nationals Owners Didn’t Want To Sit With Trump At World Series
Members of Bend the Arc had been arrested earlier that day for protesting outside the convention center. Trump’s visit to Pittsburgh came almost a year after the Tree of Life synagogue shooting, the deadliest anti-Semitic incident in American history (Bend the Arc also protested Trump after he visited the synagogue a few days after the incident).
Bend the Arc said in a statement that Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric had emboldened the alleged shooter, who reportedly targeted Tree of Life because it was hosting a Shabbat sponsored by the immigration-resettlement agency HIAS.
“The gunman who entered the synagogue a year ago was driven by fear and lies to kill Jewish people and stop new immigrants—but he didn’t invent these lies,” they said in a statement. “He heard them from the mouth of this President and the white nationalists this President and his allies have emboldened and enabled.”
Aiden Pink is the deputy news editor of the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @aidenpink
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
