News

Donald Trump Praises Era When ‘My Jews’ Said Merry Christmas: Michele Bachmann

Michele Bachmann speaks to members of the media after meeting with Donald Trump at Trump Tower on 5th Avenue on November 21, 2011 in New York City. Image by Getty Images

By Josefin Dolsten July 14, 2016

Michele Bachmann said Donald Trump longs for the time when “even my Jews would say merry Christmas.”

The Republican former representative spoke fondly of Trump’s “churched background” and “1950s sensibilities,” in a clip from a Saturday interview published by watchdog Right Wing Watch.

“He said, ‘When I was growing up, everyone said merry Christmas, even my Jews would say merry Christmas,’” Bachmann recounted Trump telling her. “‘It’s New York City, there’s [sic] a lot of Jews, and they would even say merry Christmas. Why can’t we even say merry Christmas anymore?’”

In the interview with evangelical radio host Jan Markell, who has been involved in Christian ministries that seek to convert Jews, Bachmann admitted she is not sure of the presumptive Republican nominee’s religious beliefs. .

“I’m not here to certify where he is on the Christian scale because I honestly don’t know,” said Bachmann, who serves on Trump’s evangelical advisory board, “but I will say he’s very much 1950s common sense, he believes in a lot of things we believe in.”

The Minnesota Republican conceded Trump had not been her first choice candidate, but said he was the only option left to defeat Hillary Clinton and implied God may have chosen him to do so.

“What I kept thinking to, Jan,” she said, addressing the radio host, “was the Book of Daniel, and the Book of the Daniel, the essence of the book is that the most high God lifts up who he will and takes down who he will.”

Listen to the interview here:

Contact Josefin Dolsten at [email protected] or on Twitter, @JosefinDolsten

Josefin Dolsten is a New York-based writer who has reported for the Forward, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Times of Israel and other Jewish publications. She currently works as an account director at Fenton Communications, supporting organizations that work to advance racial justice, LGBTQ+ equality, reproductive rights and more. Dolsten earned her B.A. in government from Cornell University and her M.A. in comparative religion and Jewish studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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.

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..

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