Press Reboot Bogus ‘Jewish Insensitivity’ Charges Against Trump

The White House again found itself on the defensive over scurrilous accusations it was insensitive to Jews and victims of the Holocaust on Tuesday when Sean Spicer, White House press secretary, suggested Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad was worse than Adolf Hitler.

When speaking about Assad, Spicer noted that even Hitler did not use chemical weapons.

“Even now, Justice Ginsburg can mistakenly leave the impression she thought Lindsey Graham was a woman, and they pass, pass, pass. Republicans? Mistakes large and small get amplified.”

“You had someone as despicable as Hitler who didn’t even sink to using chemical weapons,” said Spicer. 

But it was soon brought to Spicer’s attention that Hitler used gas in concentration camps, where he murdered at least 6 million Jews and millions of other targeted persons. Spicer corrected himself after a reporter reminded him of World War II history.

But it was too late. MSNBC and others soon began posting chyrons on their screens that mocked Spicer for the mistake. CNN’s Jake Tapper spoke with White House reporter Jeff Zeleny at some length about the gaffe, as if nothing else important or vital were going on in the world.

Then Tapper told viewers he would return after commercial break to discuss this “and other matters.” And he did — with U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), who took the bait from the often-smirking Mr. Tapper.

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“It’s really important to clear up,” said Zeldin, who noted how many people Hitler killed with chemicals.

CNN’s media analyst Brian Stelter and anchor Brooke Baldwin also took turns bashing Spicer. Stelter, who once claimed Fox News hired a woman to date him and report back information, said Spicer’s credibility had been damaged.

Later in the day, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer topped it all off with a chyron that read: “Spicer omits Holocaust, says Hitler didn’t use poison gas.”

The Daily Beast and other liberal outlets also jumped in.

“Spicer: Not Even Hitler Used Chemical Weapons,” read The Daily Beast headline.

But later in the day, Defense Secretary James Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon that chemical weapons were not used on the battlefields in World War II.

Mattis delivered the talking point on Assad the right way — likely the exact way it had been planned to be said.

The Spicer slip-up demonstrates the danger of employing WWII and Holocaust comparisons in U.S. politics — especially for the Trump White House.

But the Trump-bashing didn’t end with Spicer’s misspoken comparison. The media were upset that Trump skipped a White House Seder, on Monday, that he himself arranged.

“Donald Trump Skips White House Passover Seder,” read the Huffington Post headline.

“Better leave two seats empty at the White House Passover Seder this year ― one for Elijah the prophet, and one for the president,” wrote Alana Horowitz Satlin. “President Donald Trump didn’t attend his staffers’ official Passover dinner on Monday, bucking the tradition that his predecessor Barack Obama started.”

Horowitz Satlin wrote people expected Trump to attend because of his “fraught history” with Jewish people.

What Horowitz Satlin didn’t note that some of the reason for that fraught nature were bogus suggestions, made earlier in the year, that Trump supporters were behind threats and attacks on Jewish cemeteries. It turned out that the threats and attacks were made not by Trump supporters, but by at least two far-left criminals trying to raise a “false flag.”

One Missouri man accused was even a former reporter for The Intercept, a leftist web magazine founded by Glenn Greenwald. The other was an Israeli teenager.

Still, Horowitz Satlin took the opportunity to tar Trump with guilt — by the flimsiest of associations.

“Notably, his campaign received widespread endorsement from Nazi groups and anti-Semitic figures like David Duke and Richard Spencer,” Horowitz Satlin wrote. “Trump eventually denounced their support, but that didn’t stop him from later using an anti-Semitic image in a tweet criticizing Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.”

The image Trump “used” was a star embedded in a graphic — not necessarily a Star of David.

Such dubious accusations and suggestions likely enrage Trump, as his daughter Ivanka Trump, son-in-law Jared Kushner, and their children are Jewish.

“This is just more proof that the liberal media is always tougher on Republican presidents,” said Tim Graham, research chief at the Media Research Center. “[Former Vice President Joe] Biden can make seven gaffes a day and the networks claim they’re ‘part of his political charm.’ Even now, Justice Ginsburg can mistakenly leave the impression she thought Lindsey Graham was a woman, and they pass, pass, pass. Republicans? Mistakes large and small get amplified. . . Liberal media are the PR agents for Democrats, whether they’re in power or out of power.”