Yes, Trump and his cronies bear responsibility.

My second ever blog contribution on February 2, 2017 begins:

“Nothing humorous to start with today.  Thirteen Jewish Community Centers across the country received bomb threats yesterday, one quite close to home.  I predicted this escalation the day after the election.”  Thus began my entry into activism, joining the Anti-Defamation League, the ACLU, signing petitions and writing to my representatives.

Yesterday, 11 Jewish worshippers were murdered and more wounded by a shooter shouting, “All Jews must die.”  Yesterday, after stating that the nation’s gun laws had little to do with the shooting and suggesting that the synagogue should have had an armed guard, Trump jumped back on the campaign trail and attacked and name-called prominent Democrats. 

Yes, Trump and his cronies bear responsibility.

During the campaign, Trump chose to repeat the theme of “America First,” the motto of Nazi-friendly Americans in the 1930s, such as Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh.  This reflects an exclusionary America, emphasizing virulent patriotism and restrictive immigration.  “God bless this man,” stated the Daily Stormer, a white supremacist website supporting Trump.  After David Duke, the former grand wizard of the KKK, endorsed him, Trump refused to condemn him.

Yes, Trump and his cronies bear responsibility.

Immediately prior to the election, Trump released a campaign ad with images of prominent Jews financier George Soros, Janet Yellen, and Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein with the description of “global special interests,” and “those who control the levers of power.”  He connected them with Hillary Clinton, saying she “partners with these people who don’t have your good in mind.”

Yes, Trump and his cronies bear responsibility.

In August, 2017, hundreds of torch-bearing white nationalists marched through the University of Virginia campus, changing slogans such as “blood and soil” and “Jews will not replace us.”  Trump said, “There were some very fine people on both sides.”

Yes, Trump and his cronies bear responsibility.

The Anti-Defamation League indicated that anti-Semitic acts in the U.S. rose 57% in 2017.

Yes, Trump and his cronies bear responsibility.

Last week, California Republican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy tweeted a warning that three wealthy Jewish Democrats were buying the mid-term elections.

Yes, Trump and his cronies bear responsibility.

Last Friday, Trump rallied against “globalists,” a code word for Jews used by Nazis to depict them as moneybags and radicals.

Yes, Trump and his cronies bear responsibility.

Today, Eric Trump said that the synagogue shooter doesn’t represent the right.  He is very, very wrong.  Not only does the shooter represent them, he reflects them, he is legitimized by them, and he is accepted by them.

Yes, Trump and his cronies bear responsibility.

And, yes, I will continue to fight.