Former president Trump on Friday claimed Jewish leaders have displayed a “lack of loyalty” amid the backlash over his dinner with Kanye West and white nationalist Nick Fuentes.
“How quickly Jewish Leaders forgot that I was the best, by far, President for Israel,” Trump said on Truth Social. “They should be ashamed of themselves. This lack of loyalty to their greatest friends and allies is why large numbers in Congress, and so many others, have stopped giving support to Israel.”
Trump hosted West at Mar-a-Lago for dinner. The rapper, who has drawn criticism for his own series of antisemitic comments in recent months, invited infamous antisemite Fuentes to the dinner.
Trump has not apologized for hosting the dinner but has said he was not aware of who Fuentes was at the time.
“I had never heard of the man — I had no idea what his views were, and they weren’t expressed at the table in our very quick dinner, or it wouldn’t have been accepted,” Trump said.
However, West had already landed in hot water over antisemitic comments he made on social media and during an appearance on Fox News by the time Trump invited the rapper to Mar-a-Lago.
Shortly after the dinner, West appeared on Infowars where he praised Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. He was then suspended from Twitter after posting a picture of a swastika.
Trump previously criticized American Jews in October when he said they need to “get their act together” and show appreciation for Israel “before it is too late.”
“No President has done more for Israel than I have. Somewhat surprisingly, however, our wonderful Evangelicals are far more appreciative of this than the people of the Jewish faith, especially those living in the U.S.,” Trump said in a Truth Social post at the time.
In December 2021, Trump accused Jews of having a “dual loyalty” to Israel and the U.S. and claimed they control Washington, D.C., and the media. Two years before that, he suggested Jewish people who vote for Democrats display “a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.”
Trump’s dinner with West and Fuentes is just one of a series of missteps the former president has taken recently, alienating his remaining allies. Trump’s other recent setbacks include the loss of many of his handpicked candidates in the midterm elections and his recent suggestion that the U.S. Constitution should be terminated over “massive fraud” in the 2020 election.