Donald Trump’s closing ad is drawing criticism from Jewish groups, who say it plays on Jewish stereotypes.
The two-minute ad, “Donald Trump’s Argument for America,” rails against “those who control the levers of power in Washington” and “global special interests” and includes shadowy footage of several prominent Jews, including financier George Soros, Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen and Lloyd Blankfein, the chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs.
The references to the “global power structure” imposed over the Jewish figures “create thinly-veiled allusions to centuries-old anti-Semitic propaganda,” said rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. He said the ad is part of a pattern of anti-Semitic tropes that have been perpetuated by the Trump campaign.
“There is no place in civil political discourse for the perpetuation of harmful and baseless stereotypes,” Pesner said. “It is the responsibility of every candidate for elected office to promote the interests of all Americans, without resorting to dangerously xenophobic and otherwise bigoted rhetoric or insinuations.”
Minnesota Sen. Al Franken, who is Jewish, called the ad a “German shepherd dog whistle” to certain groups in the United States. He likened the ad to other anti-Semitic propaganda about an “ international banking plot or conspiracy,” led by Jews.
“Trump has retweeted a lot of that sort of thing,” Franken told CNN’s State of the Union. “And I think that it’s an appeal to some of the worst elements in our country as a closing argument.”
The Anti-Defamation League tweeted that “whether intentional or not” the use of such images and rhetoric “needs to stop.”