Donald Trump has been criticised by Jewish former members of his administration for meeting with the antisemitic singer Kanye West and a far-right Holocaust denier at his Mar-a-Lago home.
Mr Trump has blamed West, now known as Ye, for bringing Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist banned from several social media platforms for hate speech, to their dinner last week. West, who has lost about $US2bn ($3bn) in sponsorship and contracts after making anti-Jewish remarks, said Mr Trump was “really impressed by Nick Fuentes”, as Mr Trump maintained that he did not know who he was.
The fallout from the dinner has cast a shadow over Mr Trump’s launch of his 2024 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.
David Friedman, who served as ambassador to Israel during the Trump administration, tweeted: “To my friend Donald Trump, you are better than this. Even a social visit from an antisemite like Kanye West and human scum like Nick Fuentes is unacceptable.” Mr Friedman, an Orthodox Jewish lawyer, added: “I urge you to throw those bums out, disavow them and relegate them to the dustbin of history where they belong.”
Len Khodorkovsky, a former deputy assistant secretary of state in the Trump administration, who is Jewish and descended from Holocaust survivors, told CNN: “[Fuentes] is an antisemite, he’s repulsive, his views are disgusting, and no one of any substance should give him any forum. It’s frankly beneath President Trump to meet him.” He added: “I can tell an antisemite when I hear one. And I tell you with confidence that President Trump is not an antisemite.”
Read the article by David Charter in The Australian.