Is “Renegade Jew” A Glimpse of Comments To Come

Beware the true believers; they can be raw and scary. Some fervent supporters of Bernie Sanders have made death threats against local pols and even their grandchildren. And even the online media, like Breitbart, have become ugly in their support of Donald Trump. Perhaps, it is a glimpse of the chaos to come.

On the one hand, today’s New York Times, reports on Donald Trump and his excellent use of Twitter. The accompanying photo shows Donald Trump showing how he tweets from his smartphone. In the background on his office wall, is a large framed “Etz Hayim” Award from a Jewish organization, next to a plaque featuring the word “Shalom” from another organization. He is surrounded by awards and magazines that featured him on their covers.

On the other hand, many Trump supporters caused the words “Renegade Jew” to trend on Twitter for many hours this week.

The issue was rooted in a Breitbart.com essay by its editor David Horowitz. When Weekly Standard founder Bill Kristol advocated for a third=party, GOP-based, candidate to run against Trump in the upcoming elections, Horowitz criticized Kristol as a “Republican Spoiler, Renegade Jew.”

Some have begun to call Breitbart “Trumpbart” after it sided with the Trump campaign over its own reporter Michelle Fields. Fields, with video backup, accused Donald Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski of assault. This led to the resignations of Fields and some other Brietbart staffers.

Kristol as an “AnyoneButTrump” Spoiler? Sure.

But what did Kristol’s religion have to do with it? Horowitz tried to cloak his Jew-bating with his concern that Trump was the only candidate who could protect World Jewry.

Kristol told CNN that he did not even read the essay. He said, “I’m a proud Jew, a strong supporter of Israel. I don’t think I’ve ever been called a ‘renegade Jew’ before; that’s something new,” (he said with a smirk). As for “Republican Spoiler,” Kristol said, “I worked in the Reagan and Bush administrations, I’ve always voted for a Republican for president.” He added that he was unhappy that he “can’t vote for the Republican nominee” in 2016.

The way that “Renegade Jew” trended so quickly and for so long, I think, portends that this Summer will see – at least over social media – “Jews” blamed for hurting Hillary (As the NYT front page read: “Sanders Willing to Hard Clinton in Homestretch”) and Donald.