When former President Donald Trump warned American Jews to “get their act together” and appreciate him “before it’s too late,” millions across the country were left angry, scared and disturbed. Renowned producer and World War II veteran Norman Lear refused to stay silent.
“I was 9 years old when my dad was found to have committed fraud & was sent to prison for a few years,” Lear tweeted Tuesday. “Alone in bed one night, my father away, I was playing with a crystal radio set and came across the vicious antisemitic voice of Father Coughlin railing against American Jews.”
Coughlin was a pro-fascist radio preacher who attacked American Jews and even defended Nazi Germany after its paramilitary forces and many civilians banded together to destroy Jewish businesses, homes and synagogues during Kristallnacht in 1938.
Lear, who eventually became a writer and producer of beloved shows like “Sanford and Son” and “The Jeffersons,” wrote in his tweet thread that those horrific things he heard as a child inspired his “early enlistment in WWII and the 52 combat missions over Nazi Germany that followed.”
“Today, having recently turned 100, I read Donald Trump’s appalling words about American Jews, and I am nine years old again,” Lear continued. “The phrase, a horse’s ass, was an everyday expression when I was nine and it occurs to me again now.”
Trained in Buffalo, New York, Lear joined the 772nd Bombardment Squadron as a radio operator and gunner on a B-17, according to WBFO. He got married mere weeks before shipping off and lost friends in combat while trying to liberate European Jews from Nazi persecution.
In Trump’s screed on his Truth Social platform Sunday, the former president claimed his approval rating in Israel was the highest “in the world” and that “no president has done more for Israel.” He said Jews had to “appreciate what they have in Israel” and that he could “easily” be elected prime minister there.
Lear wasn’t the only one to critique Trump’s statement.
“His threat to Jewish Americans and his continued use of the antisemitic dual loyalty trope fuels hatred against Jews,” the Jewish Democratic Council of America fired back on Twitter.
Anti-Defamation League President Jonathan Greenblatt told CNN that Trump’s statement was “disgusting.” Countless Twitter users also fired back at the former president.
The White House also responded to Trump’s words. “Donald Trump’s comments were antisemitic, as you all know, and insulting to both Jews and our Israeli allies,” spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. “But let’s be clear: For years — for years now, Donald Trump has aligned with extremist and antisemitic figures.”