JD Vance defends Trump from question about antisemitism

Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) responded to former President Trump’s recent remarks about Jewish Americans who voted for President Biden, suggesting it was a “reasonable argument” to make.

CNN’s Dana Bash pressed Vance on recent remarks by the former president, where Trump again attacked Jewish Americans for considering voting for Biden instead of him. Vance, a potential contender to be Trump’s running mate, brushed off the comments and suggested people look at Trump’s record on Israel.

“Do I think it’s reasonable to look at this situation and say that, if you’re a Jewish American who cares about the state of Israel, who cares about these antisemitic riots, and say you should be on the side of Republicans in 2024 because they govern effectively on some of the issues that you care about? I think it’s a totally reasonable argument to make,” Vance said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“And I think that Donald Trump’s going to keep on making it,” he added.

Trump has made several comments about Jewish Democrats while on the campaign trail, saying in March that any “Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion. They hate everything about Israel.” He made similar comments to reporters last week and on social media, which Vance responded to on CNN.

“What Biden is doing with respect to Israel is disgraceful,” Trump said to reporters last week. “If any Jewish person voted for Joe Biden, they should be ashamed of themselves.”

Vance continued to defend Trump when pressed further about the comments.

“But he made similar comments about a lot of different groups of people, Dana. I don’t think anybody could look at the presidency in the conduct of Donald Trump and say, this is a person who’s somehow antisemitic,” he told Bash.

Bash then noted Trump “had dinner with Nick Fuentes, who is an avowed antisemitic.” The former president had dinner with Fuentes in 2022, prompting backlash from both sides of the aisle.

“Dana, you should look at the record of Joe Biden and recognize that, whether you’re Jewish or not, his presidency has been a disaster for the American people,” Vance replied.

Earlier in the interview, Vance urged people to look at Trump’s record despite the recent comments.

“Well, what I think, Dana, is that people should look at the record here and recognize that Donald Trump has actually been really good for the state of Israel. We had peace and prosperity in our country, and we had a very stalwart ally of the Israelis,” he said.

“Now Joe Biden is president. The Israelis have been attacked. You have got these terrible campus protests with a lot of antisemitic overtones all over our country, and you also have him trying to micromanage the Israeli response to them being attacked,” he added.

Pro-Palestinian protests have broken out on college campuses across the country in recent weeks, prompting thousands of arrests and the cancellation of numerous commencement ceremonies. Biden has maintained that while he has supported peaceful protests, there is no place for antisemitism or violence.