Trump says Jewish voters who support Biden 'should be spoken to', criticizes Black, Jewish Democrats

Former President Donald Trump said Jewish voters who support President Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential election “should be spoken to” and accused Jewish and Black voters of backing Democrats “by habit.”

“Any Jewish person that votes for Biden does not love Israel and, frankly, should be spoken to,” Trump said in an interview Monday night on Real America’s Voice. “How a Jewish person can vote for Biden – or a Democrat. Because they are on the side, 100%, of the Palestinians, and he doesn’t know how to get out of it. He’s stuck.”

Biden has long supported Israel, saying in an interview with MSNBC last month that “The defense of Israel is still critical.” The president has called on Israeli leaders to take further steps to protect civilians and aid workers as the Israel-Hamas war continues.

The former president’s comments this week aren’t the first time he has publicly cited stereotypes about Jewish voters. Trump has repeatedly conflated American Jewish people with Israelis, or their political positions with that of the Israeli government.

Organizations quickly criticized Trump’s interview. Halie Soifer, the CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, said in a statement that “American Jews aren’t voting for Biden ‘out of habit’ and every time Trump talks to -- or about us -- he invokes antisemitic tropes.”

Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, accused the former president of having “repeatedly turned to the ‘bad,’ ‘disloyal’ Jews trope” in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Trump this week also argued that Jewish Americans and Black Americans support Democratic candidates “by habit.”

“A lot of it’s habit. Jewish people by habit, they just, they vote for the Democrats and Black people, by habit, vote for the Democrats,” Trump said.

Black Americans and Jewish Americans do overwhelmingly support Democrats. In 2020, 92% of single-race, non-Hispanic Black voters supported Biden, according to the Pew Research Center.

As of 2021, about seven-in-ten U.S. Jewish people identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party, according to Pew.

However, millions of Black voters and Jewish voters support Republicans, independent candidates and other leaders. Some voters are also Black and Jewish.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Antisemitic tropes': Jewish groups criticize Donald Trump's comments