Bill Kristol on Tuesday dismissed an article from the right-leaning Breitbart website labeling him a “Republican spoiler” and “renegade Jew” for opposing presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.
“I haven’t read it, and I don’t intend to read such a thing,” Kristol, the editor of the conservative Weekly Standard magazine, said during an appearance on CNN’s “New Day.”
{mosads}”It’s a big country and a lot of people, and people can build their websites and engage in that kind of rhetoric and put on headlines on pieces like that I suppose,” he said, brushing off the article.
“I’m a proud Jew, a strong supporter of Israel. I don’t think I’ve ever been called a ‘renegade Jew’ before; that’s something new,” Kristol added with a smile.
“And ‘Republican spoiler’ — I worked in the [Presidents] Reagan and [George H.W.] Bush administrations, I’ve always voted for a Republican for president,” he said, adding that he’s “not happy” that he “can’t vote for the Republican nominee” this year.
David Horowitz, the Jewish author of the Breitbart article, ripped Kristol’s push for a third-party candidate to present an alternative to Trump and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.
“To weaken the only party that stands between the Jews and their annihilation, and between America and the forces intent on destroying her, is a political miscalculation so great and a betrayal so profound as to not be easily forgiven,” Horowitz wrote.
The descriptions of Kristol as a “renegade Jew” left some journalists aghast. Horowitz later defended the phrase.
Kristol said Tuesday that his efforts to identify and woo a GOP figure to launch an independent candidacy are “going fine.”
“I think we’ll know in a couple weeks whether someone serious steps up,” he added.