Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who’s running for the Democratic nomination for president, responded to President Trump’s Tuesday remarks that Jewish Americans who vote for Democrats are showing a “lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.”
“I am a proud Jewish person, and I have no concerns about voting Democratic,” Sanders said to a cheering crowd Tuesday night at a Sioux City, Iowa, rally.{mosads}
“And in fact, I intend to vote for a Jewish man to become the next president of the United States,” he added.
Sanders’s comments come just hours after Trump told reporters, “I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat — I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.”
It was unclear to whom or what he was claiming Jewish Democratic voters were disloyal, but the comments were made as he was discussing Israel’s decision to ban Democratic Reps. Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (Minn.) from visiting the Middle Eastern nation over their support of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.
The comments were quickly condemned by left-leaning Jewish groups that said the president was playing off anti-Semitic tropes suggesting Jewish Americans have dual loyalty.
The Republican Jewish Coalition defended the president’s remarks.
Trump had urged Israel to ban Tlaib and Omar, two of his most vocal critics in the House, before the nation officially announced it would bar the Muslim American lawmakers from visiting.