--- description: Jonathan Weissman discusses his book "(((Semitism))): Being Jewish in America in the Age of Trump" and how hate speech spreads today title: Why Anti-Semitism Is Thriving in the Era of President Trump image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt98e055f0aafb66f3/69892d0397cdff0c116b4e16/alt-right-donald-trump-nazi-anti-semitism.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Ideas](/section/ideas/) ## Ideas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [politics](/tag/politics/) ## politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Why Anti-Semitism Is Thriving in the Era of President Trump  by [Joey Lautrup](/author/joey-lautrup/)  ## Joey Lautrup Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 6, 2018 5:10 PM CUT  Neo-Nazis and white supremacists encircle counter-protestors at the base of a statue of Thomas Jefferson after marching through the University of Virginia campus with torches in Charlottesville, Va., on Aug. 11, 2017. Neo-Nazis and white supremacists encircle counter-protestors at the base of a statue of Thomas Jefferson after marching through the University of Virginia campus with torches in Charlottesville, Va., on Aug. 11, 2017.Shay Horse—NurPhoto/Getty Images  by [Joey Lautrup](/author/joey-lautrup/)  ## Joey Lautrup Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 6, 2018 5:10 PM CUT 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/ "undefined"), confining it to a more [prejudiced history](http://time.com/5220830/france-anti-semitism-mireille-knoll/ "undefined"). 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/ "undefined") 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 "undefined"), 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 "undefined"). 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 _\[tempo-ecommerce src=”_[_http://www.amazon.com/Semitism-Being-Jewish-America-Trump/dp/1250169933″_](http://www.amazon.com/Semitism-Being-Jewish-America-Trump/dp/1250169933″ "undefined")_; title=”(((Semitism))): Being Jewish in America in the Age of Trump” context=”body”\]_. Watch TIME’s interview with him in the video above. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5225360/jonathan-weisman-anti-semitism-twitter-harassment/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5225360/jonathan-weisman-anti-semitism-twitter-harassment/"},"headline":"Why Anti-Semitism Is Thriving in the Era of President Trump","datePublished":"2018-04-06T17:10:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:51:06.131Z","description":"A conversation about how bigotry spreads from one group to another","url":"https://time.com/5225360/jonathan-weisman-anti-semitism-twitter-harassment/","keywords":["politics"],"thumbnailUrl":"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=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joey Lautrup","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/joey-lautrup/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"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=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"alt-right-donald-trump-nazi-anti-semitism","caption":"Neo-Nazis and white supremacists encircle counter-protestors at the base of a statue of Thomas Jefferson after marching through the University of Virginia campus with torches in Charlottesville, Va., on Aug. 11, 2017.","creditText":"Shay Horse—NurPhoto/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/politics/","name":"politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5225360/jonathan-weisman-anti-semitism-twitter-harassment/","name":"Why Anti-Semitism Is Thriving in the Era of President Trump"}}]}] ```