Day 100.

I want to talk about the question Jake Turx asked the President today about the coordinated bomb threats against JCCs nationwide over the last month. And he was unable to bring himself to condemn the acts as wrong or to pledge to investigate.

Turx asked – and was answered:

“I haven’t seen anybody in my community accuse either yourself or anyone on your staff of being anti-Semitic,” Turx told Trump. “However, what we are concerned about, and what we haven’t really heard being addressed, is an uptick in anti-Semitism and how the government is planning to take care of it.”

He continued: “There have been reports that 48 bomb threats have been made against Jewish centers all across the country in the last couple of weeks. There are people who are committing anti-Semitic acts or threats —”

“He said he was going to ask a very simple, easy question. And it’s not. Not a simple question, not a fair question,” Trump said, interrupting Turx. “OK, sit down, I understand the rest of your question.”

Trump went on to talk about how he isn’t anti-Semitic, and he isn’t racist.

He continued:

“Quiet, quiet, quiet,” Trump said to Turx, after he tried to ask another question. “See, he lied about, he was going to get up and ask be a very straight, simple question. So, you know, welcome to the world of the media.”

“But let me know just tell you something, that I hate the charge,” Trump went on, returning to the question of anti-Semitism. “I find it repulsive. I hate even the question, because people that know me, and you heard the prime minister, you heard Netanyahu yesterday, did you hear him, Bibi? He said, ‘I’ve known Donald Trump for a long time,’ and then he said, ‘Forget it.’”….

“So you should take that,” Trump concluded, “instead of having to get up and ask a very insulting question like that.”

But then a second reporter pressed. He responded:

When a second reporter tried to press Trump on the issue, the president claimed, without evidence, that any anti-Semitic behavior was the work of his political opponents.

“It won’t be my people. It will be the people on the other side to anger people like you,” he said.

I do not believe the President is looking out for people who are vulnerable.

I do not know how to explain this any other way than that the President doesn’t care. And the tone is being set in his government from the top down. If they won’t stand up for us we must stand up for each other. Like those people standing up for us in East Tennessee.

We have to watch out for each other.