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---
title: Why Anti-Semitism Is Thriving in the Age of Donald Trump
description: Jonathan Weissman discusses his book "(((Semitism))): Being Jewish in America in the Age of Trump" and how hate speech spreads today
canonical: https://time.com/5225360/jonathan-weisman-anti-semitism-twitter-harassment/
author: Joey Lautrup
article:opinion: true
article:content_tier: free
article:published_time: 2018-04-06T17:10:51.000Z
article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T09:05:22.968Z
article:section: Ideas
og:title: Why Anti-Semitism Is Thriving in the Era of President Trump
og:description: And how bigotry spreads from one group to another
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twitter:title: Why Anti-Semitism Is Thriving in the Era of President Trump
twitter:description: And how bigotry spreads from one group to another
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![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt98e055f0aafb66f3/69892d0397cdff0c116b4e16/alt-right-donald-trump-nazi-anti-semitism.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9)


# Why Anti-Semitism Is Thriving in the Era of President Trump

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<!-- video src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/t4jVyttu.m3u8" -->
## Video: American Anti-Semitism Lives on in the President Trump Era

[Watch (HLS stream): American Anti-Semitism Lives on in the President Trump Era](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/t4jVyttu.m3u8) (3:07)

![American Anti-Semitism Lives on in the President Trump Era](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/t4jVyttu/poster.jpg?width=720)

_Published 2018-04-06. Jonathan Weisman, an editor at the New York Times, thought America had largely moved past anti-semitism, confining it to a more prejudiced history. During the 2016 presidential campaign, he learned that he was very mistaken._


![Joey Lautrup](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltffae18e9414866a5/6989408897cdff83f56b6e3a/j_lautrup-web-resized.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1:1)

by 

[Joey Lautrup](https://time.com/author/joey-lautrup/)


![Joey Lautrup](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltffae18e9414866a5/6989408897cdff83f56b6e3a/j_lautrup-web-resized.jpg?branch=production&width=96&quality=75&auto=webp)

## Joey Lautrup


Apr 6, 2018 5:10 PM UTC

![Joey Lautrup](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltffae18e9414866a5/6989408897cdff83f56b6e3a/j_lautrup-web-resized.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1:1)

by 

[Joey Lautrup](https://time.com/author/joey-lautrup/)


![Joey Lautrup](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltffae18e9414866a5/6989408897cdff83f56b6e3a/j_lautrup-web-resized.jpg?branch=production&width=96&quality=75&auto=webp)

## Joey Lautrup


Apr 6, 2018 5:10 PM UTC

Jonathan Weisman, an editor at the New York _Times_, thought America had largely moved past [anti-semitism](http://time.com/4672402/donald-trump-anti-semitism-netanyahu/), confining it to a more [prejudiced history](http://time.com/5220830/france-anti-semitism-mireille-knoll/). During the 2016 presidential campaign, he learned that he was very mistaken. After he shared a popular op-ed titled [“How Fascism Comes to America”](https://www.washingtonpost.com/) on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/jonathanweisman/status/733100724884639744?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref%5Furl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tabletmag.com%2Fscroll%2F203210%2Ftrump-supporters-hurl-anti-semitic-twitter-attacks-against-new-york-times-editor&tfw%5Fsite=tabletmag), Weisman soon became a favorite subject of harassment, receiving a surge of bigoted and threatening messages directed at him. During that time, Jewish journalists received thousands of anti-Semitic messages on Twitter. Out of more than 800 journalists sought out, Weisman was the fifth-most targeted, according to a report from the [Anti-Defamation League’s Task Force on Harassment and Journalism](https://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/documents/assets/pdf/press-center/CR%5F4862%5FJournalism-Task-Force%5Fv2.pdf). 

Weisman uses his and others’ experiences dealing with such attacks to examine the rise of hate toward Jewish people in America in his latest book _\[tempo-ecommerce src=”_[_http://www.amazon.com/Semitism-Being-Jewish-America-Trump/dp/1250169933&#8243_](http://www.amazon.com/Semitism-Being-Jewish-America-Trump/dp/1250169933″)_; title=”(((Semitism))): Being Jewish in America in the Age of Trump” context=”body”\]_. Watch TIME’s interview with him in the video above.


## Transcript

I honestly, I grew up in the south in Atlanta, Jewish. I really kinda thought that this really base anti- Semitism was a thing of the past. [ MUSIC ] During the campaign of 2016, I was an editor doing a lot of political work. And I had put out on Twitter just an article that was op- ed and it was how fascism comes to America. And I just took a quote, put it out on Twitter, got a mention back saying Ho Weissman and my name was just my name and had 3 parenthesis around it, I didn't know what in the world that meant and what it turned out having your name in 3 parenthesis allowed this army of alt- right, neo- nazis and white supremacists to go after you because they actually had.

Unbeknownst to even Google, they had a piece of software called the Coincidence Indicator that could actually search out these three parentheses for like these swarming attacks. There were images of me in gas chambers. There was an image of me, Kneeling down to be executed by a Nazi. Donald Trump pressing the button on a gas chamber with me behind. There were those famous gates of Auschwitz instead of saying, Work makes you free, it said Machen Amerika Great Again. After all of this, I really strongly. They're looking into what is going on here. What is happening in our society that the guard rails are off and hate seems to be flourishing.

In, what I call, the White Nationalist Movement, but they like to call the Altright. I don't think they know a lot of Jew, but they have this sense of what they call white genocide. That the white people of America are being Being supplanted by African- Americans, by Latino- Americans, by immigrants, Muslims. You will not replace us! But they think that all those people are inferior to them. How could white genocide be pulled off by people who are actually genetically inferior? Well, there must be some kind of puppet master. And that's where they latch onto the Jew. I think what we see in killings of Muslims or they the harassment, the hatred unleashed on immigrants And Latinos.

They're coming for the [ UNKNOWN ], and I just, I feel very strongly that, what, anti- Semitism probably isn't the worst of the bigotry out there, but we're all in this together, and I would like to see American Jews realize Is that now when bigotry hits one group, it's going to hit every group. [ MUSIC ]

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