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Trump calls Jews who vote for Mamdani ‘stupid’
President Donald Trump on Tuesday called Jewish New Yorkers who vote for Zohran Mamdani “stupid.” Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist and critic of Israel, is the frontrunner in the race for mayor of New York City, home to the largest concentration of Jews in the U.S. If he wins, Mamdani would be the first Muslim to hold the office.
“Any Jewish person that votes for Zohran Mamdani, a proven and self professed JEW HATER, is a stupid person!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social, as New Yorkers were heading to the ballot box.
Trump on Monday night endorsed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani. “Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice,” Trump wrote. Cuomo resigned as governor in 2021 after being accused of sexually harassing multiple women while in office. He denied those allegations.
Asked Tuesday about Trump’s assertion that Jews would be “stupid” to vote for his opponent , Cuomo replied: “I don’t know if that’s true.” Nearby, a supporter told Cuomo that the “God of Israel” would help him win, and that people should “not vote for the terrorist.” A Quinnipiac poll released last week found Cuomo leading Mamdani among Jewish voters, 60 percent to 16 percent.
Cuomo asked if he agrees with Trump’s statement this morning that “any Jewish person that votes for Zohran Mamdani, a proven and self professed Jew hater, is a stupid person”?
Cuomo: “I don’t know if that’s true.” pic.twitter.com/Zi9YIE5IEh
— Jacob N. Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) November 4, 2025
A familiar pattern
Trump’s remarks were the latest in a yearslong pattern in which he has equated Jewish identity with political allegiance to him and to Israel, casting dissenters as disloyal or misguided. Since his first term, Trump has frequently questioned why most American Jews vote Democratic, describing it as a betrayal of faith or common sense.
In 2019, he labeled Jewish Democrats “disloyal” and “weak.” During his 2024 campaign, he intensified his attacks, saying that “any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion” and should be “ashamed of themselves.” At a fundraiser that spring, he went further: “Any Jewish person who votes for a Democrat or votes for Biden should have their head examined.”
After President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and Vice President Kamala Harris replaced him on the Democratic ticket, Trump repeated the line. “If anybody I know is Jewish and they would vote for Kamala over me, they should have their head examined,” he said. Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, is Jewish.
In a September 2024 speech, Trump warned that Jews would “have a lot to do with a loss” if he were defeated, and likened the moment to the months before the Holocaust. “You have to defeat Kamala Harris more than any other people on Earth,” he told the audience, and then conflated Israeli and American Jews. “Israel, I believe, has to defeat her.”
Jewish Americans have remained one of the most reliably Democratic constituencies in American politics. In the 2024 election, 71 percent voted for Harris and 26 percent for Trump, according to a post-election survey.
Trump’s strategy of tying Jewish support to a loyalty test for Israel has found its most receptive audience among Orthodox and conservative voters. But his repeated suggestions that Jewish voters are collectively responsible for U.S.–Israel relations, or for his own electoral fate, have previously alarmed many Jewish leaders. The statements have been criticized for perpetuating antisemitic notions of American Jews’ “dual loyalty” to Israel.
Mamdani, for his part, has often had to defend himself against allegations of antisemitism for: refusing to outright condemn the slogan “globalize the intifada;” reiterating support for Palestinians in his statement on the Gaza ceasefire; vowing to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits New York; and saying he doesn’t recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
He’s also drawn criticism from pro-Israel groups for his support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, and praise from progressives who see him as part of a generational shift in Democratic politics. His ascendancy has divided Jews across the country while simultaneously building a coalition of Jewish New Yorkers who support him.
The Mamdani campaign did not immediately respond to Trump’s comments.
Jacob Kornbluh and Louis Keene contributed to this article.
The post Trump calls Jews who vote for Mamdani ‘stupid’ appeared first on The Forward.
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Tucker’s Ideas About Jews Come from Darkest Corners of the Internet, Says Huckabee After Combative Interview
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee looks on during the day he visits the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem’s Old City, April 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – In a combative interview with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, right-wing firebrand Tucker Carlson made a host of contentious and often demonstrably false claims that quickly went viral online. Huckabee, who repeatedly challenged the former Fox News star during the interview, subsequently made a long post on X, identifying a pattern of bad-faith arguments, distortions and conspiracies in Carlson’s rhetorical style.
Huckabee pointed out his words were not accorded by Carlson the same degree of attention and curiosity the anchor evinced toward such unsavory characters as “the little Nazi sympathizer Nick Fuentes or the guy who thought Hitler was the good guy and Churchill the bad guy.”
“What I wasn’t anticipating was a lengthy series of questions where he seemed to be insinuating that the Jews of today aren’t really same people as the Jews of the Bible,” Huckabee wrote, adding that Tucker’s obsession with conspiracies regarding the provenance of Ashkenazi Jews obscured the fact that most Israeli Jews were refugees from the Arab and Muslim world.
The idea that Ashkenazi Jews are an Asiatic tribe who invented a false ancestry “gained traction in the 80’s and 90’s with David Duke and other Klansmen and neo-Nazis,” Huckabee wrote. “It has really caught fire in recent years on the Internet and social media, mostly from some of the most overt antisemites and Jew haters you can find.”
Carlson branded Israel “probably the most violent country on earth” and cited the false claim that Israel President Isaac Herzog had visited the infamous island of the late, disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“The current president of Israel, whom I know you know, apparently was at ‘pedo island.’ That’s what it says,” Carlson said, citing a debunked claim made by The Times reporter Gabrielle Weiniger. “Still-living, high-level Israeli officials are directly implicated in Epstein’s life, if not his crimes, so I think you’d be following this.”
Another misleading claim made by Carlson was that there were more Christians in Qatar than in Israel.
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Pezeshkian Says Iran Will Not Bow to Pressure Amid US Nuclear Talks
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit 2025, in Tianjin, China, September 1, 2025. Iran’s Presidential website/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday that his country would not bow its head to pressure from world powers amid nuclear talks with the United States.
“World powers are lining up to force us to bow our heads… but we will not bow our heads despite all the problems that they are creating for us,” Pezeshkian said in a speech carried live by state TV.
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Italy’s RAI Apologizes after Latest Gaffe Targets Israeli Bobsleigh Team
Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics – Bobsleigh – 4-man Heat 1 – Cortina Sliding Centre, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy – February 21, 2026. Adam Edelman of Israel, Menachem Chen of Israel, Uri Zisman of Israel, Omer Katz of Israel in action during Heat 1. Photo: REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha
Italy’s state broadcaster RAI was forced to apologize to the Jewish community on Saturday after an off‑air remark advising its producers to “avoid” the Israeli crew was broadcast before coverage of the Four-Man bobsleigh event at the Winter Olympics.
The head of RAI’s sports division had already resigned earlier in the week after his error-ridden commentary at the Milano Cortina 2026 opening ceremony two weeks ago triggered a revolt among its journalists.
On Saturday, viewers heard “Let’s avoid crew number 21, which is the Israeli one” and then “no, because …” before the sound was cut off.
RAI CEO Giampaolo Rossi said the incident represented a “serious” breach of the principles of impartiality, respect and inclusion that should guide the public broadcaster.
He added that RAI had opened an internal inquiry to swiftly determine any responsibility and any potential disciplinary procedures.
In a separate statement RAI’s board of directors condemned the remark as “unacceptable.”
The board apologized to the Jewish community, the athletes involved and all viewers who felt offended.
RAI is the country’s largest media organization and operates national television, radio and digital news services.
The union representing RAI journalists, Usigrai, had said Paolo Petrecca’s opening ceremony commentary had dealt “a serious blow” to the company’s credibility.
His missteps included misidentifying venues and public figures, and making comments about national teams that were widely criticized.