Trump vows to be Jewish Americans' 'best friend' as ally is accused of antisemitism

Donald Trump speaks into a microphone with an Israeli flag in the background

By Will Weissert, Brian Slodysko and Adriana Gomez Licon

Sept. 20, 2024 2:53 PM PT

WASHINGTON — Former President Trump decried antisemitism hours after an explosive CNN report detailed how one of his allies running for North Carolina governor made a series of racial and sexual comments on a website where he also referred to himself as a “black NAZI.”

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson vowed to remain in the race despite the report, and the Trump campaign appeared to be distancing itself from the GOP gubernatorial nominee, while calling the battleground state a vital part to winning back the White House. Trump has frequently voiced praise for Robinson, who has been considered a rising star in his party despite a history of inflammatory remarks about race and abortion.

Trump did not comment on the allegations during his Thursday addresses to a group of Jewish donors and to the Israeli-American Council in Washington. His campaign issued a statement about the CNN story that did not mention Robinson, saying instead that Trump “is focused on winning the White House and saving this country” and that North Carolina was a “vital part of that plan.”

Robinson’s reported remarks — including a 2012 comment in which he said he preferred Adolf Hitler to the leadership in Washington, when President Obama was in the White House — clashed with Trump’s denunciations of antisemitism in Washington and his claim that Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, sympathized with enemies of Israel. The story also could threaten Trump’s chances of winning North Carolina with Robinson already running well behind his Democratic opponent in public polls.

“This story is not about the governor’s race in North Carolina. It’s about the presidential race,” said Paul Shumaker, a Republican pollster who’s worked for Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and warned that Trump could risk losing a state he won in 2016 and 2020.

“The question is going to be, does Mark Robinson cost Donald Trump the White House?” Shumaker added.

After allegations against Robinson became public, a spokesman for Harris’ campaign, Ammar Moussa, reposted on social media a photo of Trump and the embattled candidate. “Donald Trump has a Mark Robinson problem,” he wrote.

Harris’ campaign rolled out a new ad Friday it calls the first to link Trump to a down-ballot candidate. The commercial alternates between Trump’s praise for Robinson and the lieutenant governor’s comments that his critics have argued show his support for a statewide abortion ban without exceptions. Robinson’s campaign has argued that’s not true.

The Democratic National Committee is also paying for billboards in three major cities showing a photo of Robinson and Trump and comments Trump has said about him.

The North Carolina Republican Party issued a statement Thursday standing by Robinson, noting he “categorically denied the allegations made by CNN but that won’t stop the Left from trying to demonize him via personal attacks.”

Trump has angled to make inroads among Black voters and frequently aligned himself with Robinson along the campaign trail, which has more frequently taken him to North Carolina. At a rally in Greensboro, he called Robinson “Martin Luther King on steroids” in reference to the civil rights leader, for his speaking ability.

Robinson has been on the trail with Trump as recently as last month.

Recent polls of North Carolina voters show Trump and Harris locked in a close race. The same polls show Democrat Josh Stein with a roughly 10-point lead over Robinson in the gubernatorial contest.

Trump recounts his White House record to Jewish supporters

Trump appeared at a donor event Thursday with Miriam Adelson, a co-owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and widow of billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.

“My promise to Jewish Americans is this: With your vote, I will be your defender, your protector, and I will be the best friend Jewish Americans have ever had in the White House,” Trump said at the event in Washington, titled “Fighting Anti-Semitism in America.”

“But in all fairness, I already am,” Trump added.

Trump also has been criticized for his association with extremists who spew antisemitic rhetoric such as far-right activist Nick Fuentes and rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West. And when former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke endorsed Trump in 2016, Trump responded in a CNN interview that he knew “nothing about David Duke, I know nothing about white supremacists.”

During his four years in office Trump approved a series of policy changes long sought by many advocates of Israel, such as moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and recognizing Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights.

In his remarks, Trump criticized Harris over the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war and for what he called antisemitic protests on college campuses and elsewhere.

“Kamala Harris has done absolutely nothing. She has not lifted a single finger to protect you or to protect your children,” Trump said. He also repeated a talking point that Jewish voters who vote for Democrats “should have their head examined.”

Multiple attendees at the event said they weren’t familiar with the story about Robinson or declined to discuss it. Rep. Virginia Foxx, a conservative North Carolina Republican who was asked about the CNN report beforehand, told reporters she wasn’t taking questions.

Later Thursday, Trump spoke at the Israeli-American Council National Summit to honor the victims of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and painted a dire future for the nation if Harris were to be elected.

He added that if he loses the election to her on Nov. 5, “the Jewish people would really have a lot to do with that.”

Associated Press writers Weissert and Slodysko reported from Washington and Licon from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. AP writer Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines contributed to this report.