Trump’s pick for German ambassador called Muslim refugees ‘invaders’

Retired U.S. Army Colonel Douglas MacGregor Image by Wikipedia
Retired U.S. Army Colonel Douglas MacGregor, a frequent guest on Fox News and other conservative talk shows, has a history of racist and xenophobic comments that has prompted Jewish groups to voice their concern about the possibility that he will become the United States’ ambassador to Germany.
The White House announced MacGregors nomination last week, touting his media appearances and influence, not just with the U.S. army, but the IDF as well, as qualifications.
“He is a frequent radio and television commentator on national security affairs and his writings on military affairs have been influential in the transformation of United States ground forces, NATO, and the Israeli Defense Force,” said the press release.
In those appearances however, MacGregor has repeatedly disparaged Muslims, immigrants and asylum seekers among other groups.
“They’re coming to benefit, to consume and to establish themselves, inside other people’s countries with the goal of eventually turning Europe into an Islamic state,” MacGregor said about immigration to Europe from Muslim-majority countries, in a 2016 appearance on the Michael Ostrolenk Show.
In a 2018, appearance on radio show called Conservative Commando he referred to Germany’s refugee population as “millions of unwanted Muslim invaders.”
If confirmed by the Senate, he would represent the U.S. to a country whose population includes nearly 5 million Muslims.
“We are troubled by retired U.S. Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor’s past comments on “neocons” and dismissal of Iran’s threat to the U.S,” said B’nai B’rith International in a statement.
He has also used the term “neocons,” which can be a dog whistle for Jewish conservatives. In a 2012 interview with the Daily Bell, MacGregor described neocons as “making decisions in Washington that in their minds are beneficial to a foreign power.”
More explicitly, according to B’nai Brith, in another more recent interview he defined neocons as those who “operate in a variety of settings in the government and in the media, and they support or advocate, for all intents and purposes, unconditional support for whatever the Israeli government wants to do.”
“It is important that American diplomats not question the patriotism of other Americans who hold political views different from their own, especially given that questioning Jewish loyalty to America is an anti-Semitic trope,” B’nai B’rith said.
Roz Rothstein, CEO of StandWithUs, was more blunt.
“This is nothing more than a repackaging of the antisemitic conspiracy theory alleging that Jews are more loyal to Israel than they are to the countries of which they are citizens,” Rothstein said in a statement.
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
Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
- 2
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 3
News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
- 4
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
In Case You Missed It
-
Yiddish צווישן טרער און מוט — צווישן געדענקען און אומאָפּהענגיקייטBetween tears and courage — between memory and resilience
הירהורים צום 77סטן געבוירן־טאָג פֿון מדינת־ישׂראל
-
Opinion Ireland’s prime minister gave condolences for Hitler’s death — here’s why that’s a contemporary problem
-
Fast Forward The fires in Israel are under control — but debate is raging over their cause
-
Fast Forward Argentina declassifies more than 1,800 files on Nazi escape via ‘rat-lines’ to South America
-
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.