Why do all these anti-Semites keep appearing in the Republican Party?

Mary Ann Mendoza and Donald Trump.
(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

On the second night of the Republican National Convention, a member of the Trump campaign's advisory board named Mary Ann Mendoza was scheduled to speak. That same day, Mendoza tweeted that her followers should read a thread containing ancient gutter anti-Semitism — including crack-brained allegations that Jews were conspiring to make "The Goyim Destroy Each Other," and a recommendation to read the notorious anti-Semitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. (The thread also contained repeated references to the QAnon conspiracy, suggesting this has become a pipeline to flagrant hatred of Jews.) Mendoza's speaking slot was canceled.

Republicans were no doubt confused as to how someone who would endorse such a virulently anti-Semitic message managed to land a speaking slot at their national convention. It's not like President Trump has suggested that American Jews are all obsessed with money, that their political allegiance can be bought, or that they are not really American citizens. It's not like he has said that neo-Nazi terrorists were "very fine people."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.