Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
News

Jewish Organization Demands Donald Trump Return Donations from White Supremacists

Bend the Arc, a Jewish justice organization, is demanding Donald Trump return contributions from white nationalists.

The Republican presidential nominee has continuously collected money from notable figures in the alt-right, including Michael Polignano, editor of a white supremacist, anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant website, Counter-Currents.

Polignano donated $214.12 this election cycle. According to Media Matters, the editor has asserted that “Jews need to leave America.”

Small donations were also made by Peter Brimelow, editor of the alt-right website VDare.com and white nationalist leader William Daniel Johnson. Brimelow gave $4.80. Johnson donated $250 (which was later returned to him by the Trump campaign.)

“We call on the Trump campaign to immediately return these donations and to vocally and forcefully condemn white nationalism,” Stosh Cotler, CEO of Bend the Arc Jewish Action, wrote in a statement released today. “Further, we urge all Americans to stand against Trump’s hateful rhetoric and join us to defeat him in November.”

Cotler pointed to the fact that the campaign has still yet to distance itself from the alt-right, cementing Trump as “the candidate of white supremacy.”

Bend the Arc has been working to bring Jews together against the Republican candidate through its “We’ve Seen This Before” campaign. The group is currently traveling to swing states to mobilize Jews to defeat Trump.

“Our organization will work every day from now until the election to ensure that Trump’s agenda of violence and bigotry is rejected and to advance the Jewish vision of a more just, democratic and inclusive America.” Cotler wrote.

Thea Glassman is a Multimedia Fellow at the Forward. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter at @theakglassman.

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 credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link 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.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.