Donald Trump pushed anti-Palestinian and antisemitic rhetoric at a campaign rally on Friday, doubling down on his attacks on critics of Israel.
Trump lobbed criticism at Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has been an outspoken critic of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, calling for an election to replace him, at a Chesapeake, Virginia campaign stop.
“Schumer has become a Palestinian. He’s Jewish but he’s become a Palestinian,” the former president said.
The comments, implying that the senator’s denouncement of Netanyahu’s government invalidated part of his Jewish identity, were also criticized for their use of “Palestinian” as a slur.
But the moment was far from the first time that Trump used the term as a slur against an opponent.
On the debate stage Thursday night, Trump called President Joe Biden a “Palestinian,” clarifying that he was a “bad Palestinian.”
The former president also said Israel should “finish the job,” as the country’s military campaign kills more than 150 Gazans a day and pushes over a million people into famine.
Trump, who moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the disputed city of Jerusalem, previously pushed antisemitic rhetoric, saying that any Jewish Democrat or Jewish critic of the Israeli government “hates their religion.”
Trump previously blasted campus protests criticizing the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians, vowing to deport demonstrators.
During the rally, Trump also took time to thank the moderators of the debate, who took no time to fact-check the candidate during the 90-minute rally.
“They treated me very fairly. Very professional, both of them. Jake and Dana, they treated me very fairly,” Trump said. “I think it was great.”
Trump, who claimed a “big victory” over Biden in the debate, also delivered some verbal slips, botching the word “landslide” before giving up, and doubled down on some of his biggest lies of the previous night, including taking credit for Biden’s insulin price reduction plan.
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